Meet Netawn Marsoobian, BLM Arizona public affairs intern

Netawn Marsoobian recently began her public affairs internship at the Bureau of Land Management Arizona.

As a public affairs intern at the Arizona State Office, she has worked on many projects so far, including writing a BLM Daily blog about veterans in the BLM, visiting a solar site in southwestern Arizona, and learning more about digital and social media at the BLM.

However, her experience with public lands didn’t begin when her internship started.

Growing up, she had family members work for the Bureau as well as the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service. Over time, she fostered a love for public lands, exploring them on the weekends and discovering new hiking spots and age-old hieroglyphics.

“Some of my favorite memories on public lands have been going on hikes with my family, going to the shooting ranges,” Marsoobian said.

She also uses public lands to connect with her culture, having both Navajo and Armenian roots.

“Some of my favorite traditions in my culture is learning how to make food dishes from my culture, as well as going back and visiting my reservation,” Marsoobian said. “My favorite tradition in my culture would be each year, we go back and visit our reservation, and I get to hang out with a lot of our Elders and make some of our traditional foods and just learn about our culture.”

After connecting with her family and her culture through public lands, working on and for public lands came naturally.

Most recently, her love of public lands inspired her to work as a wildland firefighter during the summer in between her semesters as a University of Arizona student. She has worked for the Forest Service for three fire seasons at the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, with two seasons on a type 2 initial attack hand crew and the most recent season on a helitack helicopter crew.

“While being a wildland firefighter, I learned a lot about public lands as well as about how fire behavior works. I also experienced a little bit of public affairs work in fire and got to tie it all together,” Marsoobian said.

She is translating this well in her role as a public affairs intern.

“Netawn is a fantastic addition to our BLM Arizona communications team. Her positive attitude, dedication and personal connection to our public lands is apparent in all she does, “ Amber Cargile, BLM Arizona deputy state director for communications, said. “Our team is also learning new things and gleaning fresh ideas from Netawn, who shares some of the curriculum she’s studying in school with us during our weekly team meetings.”

After graduating from the University of Arizona with her communication degree in December, Marsoobian hopes to continue to work on behalf of the nation’s public lands.

Hear more about Netawn Marsoobian, in her own words on BLM Arizona's Youtube channel.