Learning by doing in the New Mexico desert, written by Hanna Hardt

Horned lizard at Boles Wells

Baby horned lizard at Centennial

Boles Wells

Finding a snake at Centennial

Previous Next

There wasn’t one big, cinematic moment that defined my summer working at Holloman Air Force Base. No single breakthrough, no dramatic turning point. Instead, it was the accumulation of the little moments that made the experience feel meaningful—and made me undeniably grateful to be there.

It was driving out into the sand dunes and watching Dr. Sarah Lucht absolutely own a stick shift. Pulling over on the side of the road because Will and Frank spotted a snake, or because Dr. Lucht saw a horned lizard. Waking up at the miserable hour of 4 a.m., eating cereal with an energy drink on the side, and setting out for a beautiful four-mile hike to deploy monitoring units in Boles Wells. But more than anything, it was the early mornings in the field—when the sun was just coming up, and I was exhausted out of my mind—knowing I was about to spend another day doing something I genuinely love, alongside people who made the work even better.

One of the biggest challenges I faced that summer was also one of the simplest: walking miles through White Sands to set up monitoring units. It sounds silly, but that experience has become my personal benchmark for “hard.” Anytime I’m doing something strenuous now, I tell myself, nothing will ever be as hard as walking through White Sands, and somehow that gets me through it. More importantly, the experience taught me something about teamwork. If we lacked a skill or struggled with a task, someone was always there to help fill in the gaps. The work environment was efficient, collaborative, and supportive, and that made even the hardest days manageable.

There is only so much you can learn about natural resources and wildlife biology from lectures and textbooks. Getting out into the field, putting your hands on equipment, learning through mistakes, and adapting in real time is where the real learning happens. Everything I learned in New Mexico will always beat learning the same thing from a textbook.

The project at Holloman Air Force Base focused on conducting biological surveys across the installation. Our work included mammal, vegetation, bird, and fish surveys—including work with the White Sands pupfish. Because Holloman is an active Air Force Base, maintaining stable and well-documented populations of native flora and fauna is essential. Conservation in this context isn’t theoretical; it directly supports land management decisions that must balance military operations with ecological responsibility.

Dr. Sarah Lucht’s leadership played a huge role in shaping that work. She was patient, encouraged questions, and fostered an environment where learning was constant. At the same time, it was always clear that we were there to do a job, and that expectation wasn’t negotiable. I appreciated that balance. The work environment was fun and enjoyable, but it never lost its sense of purpose.

Much of my role involved team-based fieldwork. During vegetation surveys, I was often responsible for recording plant codes as the team called them out. When setting up monitoring units, I helped with data sheets and the deployment of game cameras. That process came with plenty of mistakes—mistakes that eventually led me to sorting through nearly 10,000 game camera photos. When I wasn’t physically in New Mexico, my work continued at Texas A&M University, where I reviewed images from the monitoring units and recorded wildlife detections. I also had the opportunity to digitize the entire Holloman AFB plant collection at the TAMU Plant Herbarium, thereby connecting fieldwork directly to long-term data management and research accessibility.

There were countless memorable moments in the field, but many of them centered around wildlife. Seeing snakes, horned lizards, gemsbok oryx, pronghorn, and multiple species of waterfowl made every long day worth it, and somewhere along the way, the horned lizard officially became my favorite animal. The landscape itself left an impression, too. Coming from Southwest Texas, where the scenery often means the Rio Grande River and an unhealthy amount of mesquite trees, working in New Mexico meant stepping outside each day to mountains, open desert, and vegetation I wasn’t used to seeing. That change alone made the work feel special.

The mentorship and team experience defined the summer just as much as the fieldwork. Working with Dr. Lucht was genuinely enjoyable because expectations were clear and support was constant. Caitlynn, Will, and Frank made working in the New Mexico heat something I looked forward to. Being treated as a colleague rather than just a student changed the way I approached my work. I realized that my effort didn’t just affect me but also affected the entire team. That awareness pushed me to take more accountability than I ever had before.

This experience taught me the realities of work in natural resources. It is not a walk in the park. It can be physically demanding, frustrating, and exhausting. But the payoff—being outside, contributing to meaningful research, and working with people who care deeply about the land—makes it worth it. The internship solidified my love for working outdoors and clarified the direction I want to take my career.

Working at Holloman influenced my interest in wildlife research and field biology and reinforced how much I enjoy being surrounded by plants and ecosystems rather than confined to a desk. I also gained a kind of confidence that only comes from doing the work yourself. Before this job, I hesitated to throw myself into things I had no experience in. Now, I find myself asking, why not? and going for it anyway.

I also learned how much communication and coordination go into working with military partners, landowners, and interdisciplinary teams. Conservation in these spaces requires trust, authorization, constant collaboration, and seeing that process firsthand was invaluable.

Looking back, my summer at Holloman Air Force Base wasn’t defined by one big moment. It was defined by early mornings, long walks through White Sands, countless wildlife sightings, and a team that made hard work enjoyable. Those little moments are the ones that taught me the most, and they’re the ones that continue to shape how I see my future in natural resources.