During my first official experience doing “field work,” I stared out into the sun, my back soaking wet from being in a tractor for an hour, and I wondered what had led me to work at this rural national forest in upstate New York. As a foreign national from Hong Kong who now attends college in Baltimore, Maryland, all my life I’d been surrounded by and thrived in the city.

Truthfully, I never expected to spend my summer working for the Forest Service. I applied for an internship through the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership, a public policy program based in Washington, D.C., that places undergraduate Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students into federal offices across the country. It was by sheer coincidence that I—an international studies and political science major—was sorted into the Forest Service.

I didn’t immediately jump into field work during my Forest Service internship, which focused on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative program. In fact, I spent most of the summer working from my apartment in Baltimore, doing office projects that suited my strengths: creating streamlined data tables to reflect GLRI expenditures, drafting sections of congressional reports and summarizing invasive species information in Lakewide Action and Management Plans.

Then came an opportunity to attend an Environmental Protection Agency public meeting in Rochester, New York, informing GLRI planning. It was just a one-day event, but my supervisor, GLRI program lead Sadie Stevens, suggested I take advantage of traveling to upstate New York and spend some time at the Finger Lakes National Forest.

Doing field work was outside my comfort zone, but it was also a fascinating experience. The constant movement and pace starkly contrasted with the office work where I’d mostly sit in a cushioned chair. There was a particular charm to knowing that your socks were going to be drenched in mud as you ventured deeper into the woods, surrounded by wildlife and the peculiarities of nature. Whether I was setting up equipment for late-night bat monitoring or observing the nests of northern goshawks, I was overcome by the sheer excitement of not knowing what was going to happen next.

More importantly, I gained a newfound respect for those working behind the scenes at the Forest Service. Throughout my visit at Finger Lakes National Forest, I observed Forest Service staff at the ranger station, who guided me through their daily tasks, as well as the field crew who poured their hearts and souls into digging ditches and chopping wood, preserving this invaluable piece of wildlife habitat. I listened to stories of how an ex-Marine ended up working at the national forest and watched a crew tirelessly dig to deepen ditches along natural ponds, cracking lighthearted jokes and shouting encouragement as the sun rose to noon. It was these human interactions that gave purpose to the job I had behind the desk, which had once seemed so detached from reality.

I’d be lying if I were to say that I now think of myself as an “outdoorsy” person. As somebody who grew up knowing concrete and skyscrapers as my home, I can never fully understand my colleagues’ experiences, many of whom share that they miss the excitement of field work and being surrounded by rural greenery. What I learned is that it’s good to take a chance, to venture into the wild every so often and to see the world through a brand-new lens. Who knows? You may end up driving a tractor and gaining a new perspective.

Editor's note: Information on hosting a CAPAL intern is available online (internal link).