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The single most rewarding memory was the opportunity to help a group of folks in Alabama. We don’t
think about public land in Alabama, but it was a homestead state. Their ancestors had
homesteaded. Civil War came, destroyed all of the records.
What ended up was that these folks owned the property but didn’t own the mineral rights
under their property. It was about thirty-thousand people in Southern Alabama. They couldn’t
sell. They couldn’t do anything. It was a very depressed time. Folks wanted to sell
their homes, sell their property. And they couldn’t do it because of this lien on their
property and mineral rights. And it was working with their local congressman
that we were able to clear up the title for them, make sure that they could own the land
outright, so that they could deal with it as real property owners. It wasn’t anything
the Federal government particularly wanted. There were no mineral interests there. It
was just one of those crazy things in the law that really impacted these people.
And I got a letter from a woman there, and the letter just said, I never knew the Federal
government cared until I worked with you. And I thought, wow, where else would you get
an opportunity to do something that significant for people.
I think when I first started working here, I had a major experience. It was very memorable
because we went on, went to an AO conference. And my supervisor asked that I do a presentation
there. I was fairly nervous because the material was pretty new. And I knew that most of the
people in the audience were experienced BLM employees so why would they want to hear from
an intern? So, my supervisor gave me a good pep-talk and told me to go and do the presentation,
and it turned out to be very good. Everyone was excited. It was an office of the future
presentation, and so it was preparing me for something that I didn’t expect. I got up
in front of a crowd, and it let me know that just because you are new doesn’t mean you
don’t have anything to offer. So, it was a good experience.