Student Internships
Fighting the Alder Creek Fires her summer break D uring in 2021, ISABELLA
SCHEIBL, a senior at Wisconsin Lutheran College, interned in Wyoming with the Bridger Teton National Forest. In the middle of her internship, she was “loaned” out to help fight the Alder Creek Fires in Montana. “Before I worked at the Bridger Teton National Forest, I was thinking about going to graduate school after WLC. For me, this summer confirmed that I should pursue a graduate degree in this field because I want to keep learning about the natural world with an eventual goal of being a restoration ecologist,” Isabella said. This internship gave her the opportunity to use the background knowledge she’s acquired in classes at WLC, especially leaning on her environmental science classes.
6 | Fall/Winter 2021
“Natural resources connections, stream ecology, marine science, geomorphology, and environmental science were all great classes for me because there is a little bit from each one that was applicable to at least some aspect of my summer. From
“
I got really close to a lot of fire that night. It was by far the coolest thing, and the scariest thing, I have ever done in my life! - Isabella
learning about the atmosphere, to crafting résumés, I found myself employing my education quite often. I saw of lot of natural phenomena that gave me ‘Oh, I learned about that!’ type of moments,” Isabella added. The biggest learning curve for Isabella came in the 16 days she
helped fight the Alder Creek Fires. The hazards of the work, dealing with the elevation while climbing the mountains, and learning how weather parameters can predict fire activity all presented new challenges. “To begin, there are a lot of hazards on fires, so you must keep your head on a swivel. I learned a lot about radio language and how to set the radio frequencies. I learned how to set up a 1,000-gallon porta tank and set up a Mark 3 water pump. I learned how to sleep under the stars and on gravel every night. I learned how to light controlled burns with a drip torch. I learned that you don’t take your boots off in the fire engine under any circumstances. And I learned that being on a crew with great people is everything. My experience would have been totally different if the other crew members hadn’t taken me under their wings,” Isabella commented.
