05 Jul Here’s to New Adventures: Lia Twigg

My adventures with RAP have officially begun and I couldn’t be more excited. The last two months have been a whirlwind—uprooting your life does that though. Now I’ve made my way out to Oregon for this new position with Forest Inventory and Analysis at the Pacific Northwest Research Station and am looking ahead to the rest of the FIA season. So far I’ve been at my host site for about two weeks and have learned a ton of new things, but I’m told it’ll take me all season to really scratch the surface of what there is to know.

In the interim between wrapping up my last job with Habitat for Humanity and moving to my duty station, I took a little side-quest adventure around the Southwest. That part of the country is gorgeous, but perhaps the best part of that limbo time was a chance meeting with Smokey the Bear at a firefighter parade just before I left Colorado (see: cover photo). Lucky I had my RAP Forest Service shirt in my car for this picture, yeah? Along with Smokey I had the opportunity to meet some of the US Forest Service firefighters stationed in the Rocky Mountain Region who were there to help with some demonstrations. Seems there are a font of cool opportunities in the Forest Service and all over the country. 

Before the move, I joined all of the other RAP interns for an orientation at Copper Mountain, Colorado. While there I had the opportunity to meet other EftA interns and interns from other partner organizations as well. We participated in sessions ranging from the history of the Forst Service, to conflict management training, to financial literacy. Everyone involved in this program are working hard to set us up for success, that’s for sure. Forging new connections and making friends was undoubtedly the best part—other than the breathtaking views, of course. 

I dive head first into field training next week and there will be lots to share about that later, but for now here’s a little introduction to me and what I’m up to for the next eight months. I filmed the vlog with the help of a few other interns (hi friends!) on our last day at Copper Mountain. The sun came out just as we got ready to film out vlogs, which was a rare anomaly that rainy week, Maybe the ambient noise and setting will help you share the experience of being there with us for a moment. 

Until next time, 

Lia

Video Transcript: 

Hi, I’m Lia! I’m with the Environment for the Americas in the Resource Assistants Program for the US Forest Service. I grew up in Michigan and i’m about to relocate to Oregon, where I will be working with the PNWRS doing forest Inventory. I’m pretty excited to kind of be in the field collecting data and contributing to that part of research and development. Thanks!