By TENA L. COOK, CSC Marketing Coordinator
CHADRON – Cooper Reichman, a Rangeland Wildlife Management major, worked as an interpretive ranger at Mount St. Helens National Monument this summer. The native of Chappell, Nebraska, said he likes to tell people he is minoring in adventure.
Reichman felt he was prepared to be a good interpretive ranger based on skills he learned in range classes.
“My coursework gave me the tools I needed, as well as the mindset to understand good land management,” he said.
“Going into the job understanding that you will be living on the longest dead-end road in Washington state and knowing you will not have a lot of connection with the outside world attracts a certain kind of people. I am thankful I got the chance to share that special place with them and experience it in a way most people usually don't get the chance to,” Reichman said.
After graduating from CSC, Reichman hopes to continue working for the U.S. Forest Service or a similar agency such as the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“This opportunity gave me a good chance to see some new areas of the country and to see some career avenues within public land management agencies. I got the chance to live and work with a lot of people from all over the U.S. so that was an awesome opportunity to others with different backgrounds and points of view,” he said.
Reichman and his co-workers lived in government housing with no cell service or Wi-Fi so they entertained themselves in their free time with puzzles, board games, and basketball.
“I learned a lot about Mount St. Helens. For example, after the May 18, 1980, eruption, many ecologists believed it would take hundreds of years before life would return to the area. But 42 years later, 90 percent of the species of animals and plants present before the eruption can be seen there today,” he said.
He said even the drive to and from Washington state was an interesting experience providing fodder he can reflect upon during his classes this fall.
“I feel like I learned a lot about myself and realized I need to take more time for myself and to go outside of my comfort zone more often to embrace exciting adventures,” he said.