Nevada Wilderness Programme, USA

Hi Andreas! I am very well thank you, how are you? Just got back to normal after being in America, it took a while, we had a fantastic time & didn't want to come home! I feel that the project was very well organised and the work was varied which kept everyone interested! The first week that we arrived was our week off which worked very well as it allowed the group to bond in the cabin and prepare for our first week of work. Also, I had decided to get most of my gear when I got to Reno to save me carrying it when travelling so it allowed me to get everything organised. It also gave us some time to do some sightseeing which I enjoyed! I feel that Joshua (Project Manager) picked a perfect mix of people for our time there, we all bonded almost instantly!

 

If Josh is defined as the manager he was like our dad!! He was ALWAYS looking out for us and always organising interesting things for us to do on our days off. Also, he was always offering good advice when it came to organising ourselves for work and having the correct gear. Josh became more of our friend than our leader! He socialised with us as well as look after us and we all became very close with him he is one in a million! The last week of our 6 week trip all of the internationals got to spend the week with Josh working and this was no doubt one of the best weeks that we had, we were sad to say goodbye to him and we have all kept in touch with him.

The Americans crews who we worked with made us all feel more than welcome! I was on the same crew for 2 weeks which I really enjoyed, the crew leader was Paris Muska and she was a lovely girl. We were in the desert working on Good Friday (the Friday before Easter Sunday) and we hadn't realised that it was Easter, on Easter Sunday when we were about to leave to travel back to Reno our Crew leader Paris had bought us all an Easter egg and left them on our seat in the van, this was a lovely gesture! When we got back to Reno Paris invited us internationals to her home and made us dinner along with the American Crew members! To be honest everyone made us feel SOOOOO welcome!! We are still in touch with some of the American Crew members and made some very good friends!!

 

When it came to our week working in Lake Mead, we were surrounded when camping by holiday makers, they were all very pleasant and often asked us what we were working at and how we enjoyed the work. When working in Ash Meadows we had to stay in a hotel and drive to work each morning, the staff in the hotel were horrible people they looked at us as if we were scum!!! I think it was because we were wearing carhartts and dirty shirts!!!!

 

Nevada is a beautiful state, and we travelled all over!! Although we were based in Reno, we travelled to near Las Vegas when we were working. One day while we were driving through Death Valley I found it really strange how one minute we were in Nevada and then the next we were in California!! I liked the laid lack approach in Nevada, although it was weird that there were slot machines in the supermarket!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The climate was strange, we all ended up with the cold as when we were off work we were in Reno up in the mountains where we were surrounded by snow and then when we were working we were in 30 degree sunshine!!

 

3 positive points: EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING

 

3 Negative points: wish there had of been someone else who could have drove as Joshua had to drive us about a lot which I don't think was fair, American McDonalds is not as good as McDonalds in the UK!!!!  We had to come home!!!

 

I had never camped before I went to America, and it was a very enjoyable experience! One night we camped in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!! In Death Valley and it was just beautiful looking up at the stars with nobody else around us! We were given a daily allowance for food both while we were working and while we were off work, when we were working the crew leaders organised the food for us which was great as they asked us all before and likes and dislikes when it came to food, when we were off we were free to buy whatever food we wanted, which was great! I loved staying in the cabin as well when we were off!!  I feel that this trip was the best thing that I have ever done and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it!! I feel that I was well prepared for the project though I did choose to get most of my gear when I got to Reno which I would recommend as things were a lot cheaper than back home.

LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT, GONNA GO BACK AND VISIT SOMEDAY!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Andreas

 

Simon Hall,  who also volunteered alongside Lisa writes about his experience:

Hello Andreas, good to hear from you. Hope you are well. I would like to thank you and all the people involved in the organisation for giving me the opportunity to help out on the various projects in Nevada. I can say truthfully that it was an enjoyable and hugely rewarding experience. I came away with a real sense of achievement at having helped in preserving and developing the area for everyone to enjoy. From the first communications with yourself and Josh Powell I was impressed with how professionally things were handled. The arrangements were straightforward and I felt that we were looked after and provided for beyond my expectations. One of the reasons I wanted to join the project was to see more of the country, having spent two great months last year in Florida, the southern states and California on holiday. This project gave me that opportunity and I was amazed at the diversity and  stunning beauty of the area as well as the vastness. We don't have that here where you can drive for 7 or 8 hours and still find yourself in total wilderness, absolutely fantastic!!! As far as the work we did was concerned I could certainly see the need for what we were doing and that made it easy to get through the couple of occasions when the weather wasn't at its best or the work was heavy going, but I don't have any complaints about the work as I had a very good idea what was involved before I came out. I took a lot of personal satisfaction from what I and we as a group had achieved. Nevada was so diverse and I was surprised at the range of climate and environment, the weather was so much more intense and changeable than I expected and the change from desert to lush pine forests then snow capped mountains was an incredible experience. I enjoyed working with the other internationals and especially Josh and the American interns who I thought were extremely friendly and helpful and especially patient at times!!   As I said earlier the accommodation we were provided with was marvellous, the cabin had all I could have asked for and the location was stunning. The provision of per diem money for supplies was I thought quite sufficient and the use of a vehicle during free time very useful. Reno itself and the area around provided lots to do during free time and facilities were excellent including those at the institute and university. The Americans on the crews provided lots of ideas for free time and I certainly enjoyed spending some time with them socially, even though I didn't party with them in town till the small hours of the morning. As I found during my holiday in the States earlier in the year the locals were very friendly and helpful. Having spent a lot of time in this country camping I enjoyed that part of the experience and thought the facilities were good considering the places we stayed. I wasn't expecting to spend a great deal of money while in Nevada, that wasn't the reason I went, but the money I did spend was on visiting places of interest such as Lake Tahoe and Virginia City and enjoying a couple of days skiing. This would be my advice to any future volunteers, get out and see as much of Nevada as possible and enjoy the work involved even when its not the best weather or conditions because the state offers so many varied landscapes and incredible views. The people involved in the work, I found were passionate about what they were doing and it was easy to feel the same way about it after working with them. It is hard to list just three good points from the project but the overall organisation of the project and assistance given to the internationals was excellent. The chance to work with the American crews and learn about the impact of what we were doing was rewarding. And finally the opportunity to work in some outstandingly beautiful locations of such diversity both in flora and fauna was marvellous. It is equally hard to list many bad points about the project itself but from a personal point of view I would like to have been able to have worked on one or two of the projects that I didn't get on. I enjoyed the food provided during the project, I have a very healthy appetite and will eat just about anything!!! I hope I will be welcomed back some time in the near future. Tthanks once again for a memorable trip and hope to speak to you soon, kind regards Simon.