Hello everyone! In the past few weeks, I finished the last stint of my fieldwork in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and started working remotely. Now that I had all of my data from both Farmington and Carlsbad, I had to make sure that it was all processed and cleaned the same way to move on to the data analysis. For this, I did quality control and cleaning in ArcGIS Pro and followed the same steps I used for the first half of the data a few weeks ago. I was excited to do this because I could see how much I learned after being guided through the process by my supervisor the first time. Overall, the data cleaning went by smoothly, and I exported the combined dataset into R for statistical analyses.

The statistical modeling I worked on was done to compare the different effect (i.e. habitat disturbance, plot slope, and the field office) and response (i.e. wildlife avoidance, habitat disturbance, and noise) categories of each oil and gas plot. I was also able to see the relationships between the effect (i.e., habitat disturbance, transect slope type, and transect position) categories of the transects at each plot. These statistical analyses are being done to ultimately give conservation recommendations for implementing accepted best practices of future oil and gas pad construction.

This week I am writing a report with all of my findings and creating a presentation. Next week, during my final week, I will be sharing my findings with the rest of my DFP cohort, the New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office, and during an interagency botany meeting. As the end of the Quantitative Conservation Safeguards for Oil and Gas Effects project quickly approaches, I find it hard to believe how quickly time has gone by. I learned a lot through the DFP and am extremely thankful for the opportunity to be part of something bigger. I look forward to my next opportunity to work on such impactful conservation projects and continue to pursue a career in wildlife conservation.

Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Program: US Fish & Wildlife Service - DFP

Location: New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office