Sunday afternoon, I decided to go to the refuge and try and gather up some decent pictures for you all. Apparently the critters thought it'd be wonderful to hide since I finally had a camera for me, so I don't have much aside from plenty of flowers...of course, they've been added to the album!
Yesterday morning, the biologist was in a meeting for a while so we didn't start on cacti right away. Instead, I continued my efforts to try and brainstorm a reasonable craft for the festival we're helping out at next weekend (result: no craft is good enough!) for the kids to do, helped the office manager do errands around the office, that sort of thing. After lunch, though, we got to go out again and do more cacti! It was really depressing this time around, because as the day wore on, it became more and more apparent that a lot of the missing cacti have simply been stolen by greedy guests, as the outcrops are open to the public. It was extremely upsetting to see it; this morning I was uploading the data and on one site there were more missing cacti than found. Not only is it ecologically uncool (the cacti are really rare here, they only grow on certain rocks on the refuge - we have the only population in the state), but extremely frustrating for us - we had to search around the expected area for a few minutes, scrambling around in vain before determining that the gaping hole was, indeed, the absence of cactus.
Today started off in a disappointing way - it was threatening to rain, so we (biologist and I) messed around on our computers for 2 hours trying to wait it out, since the site we had to start with is hard to access and it would be lame to have to wait in the truck, or come back to HQ. Finally, though, enough was enough and we went out to brave the rain, and drove out to the site. Barely 10 minutes into our operation, though, the instrument we needed thought it would be a great time to break! We had to drive into town to buy a new one, and by that point it was nearly time for lunch.
We spent the afternoon with the YCC kids hacking down trees that were growing on the outcrops - they're not welcome here! It was exhausting work, to say the least. After a few hours we were taking a break, and got, er, distracted by the wild raspberry patches that were running rampant throughout our site. Our break got fairly extended, and we spent the last hour or so of the afternoon snacking on berries and chatting. The weather had somehow gotten beautiful and sunny...what a perfect way to end the day.
tomorrow: more cacti!
Showing posts with label YCC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YCC. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
As promised in my last post, I (along with the YCC kids and another summer temp guy) was with the man in charge of the Fire crew, and we had a little workshop. We first started off with a 2 hour powerpoint/presentation, which was very interesting! Although I was already somewhat familiar with what they do, he taught me so much more than I was aware of. We talked mostly about prescribed burns, since that's what their main job is; he taught us really cool things about how beneficial they were, and what happens when they don't get to good burn. He also talked about some wildfires they've had to deal with, the kind of training they go through, and that sort of thing. Then he took us out to their portion of the garages, where he introduced us to all the equipment they use - since they often have to deal with soft ground that isn't ideal for regular fire trucks, they instead use ATVs, pickup trucks, and even a machine called the Marsh Master, which is basically a small tank.
My favorite part was unfortunately also the shortest. He finished the workshop by taking us out to a field to show us examples of burns; there was a path dividing two of the parcels of land, and one side had just been burned in the past few months, while the other hadn't been burned in 2 or 3 years (they can only do these burns every few years, because the wildlife needs a place to say, and burning too much can end up causing more harm than good). The difference was phenomenal! The one that hadn't been treated in a few years was covered almost entirely with Smooth Brome, an invasive species of grass that is the bane of all who know what it is. The sparse scattering of native plants were definitely smaller and generally a poorer quality than normal. The side that had been recently burned, though, had an amazing variety of flora on it! I snagged a few pictures (in the album!), but honestly, I can't do them justice. Some of the species we found were:
-Lead Plant, one of the photos: the leaves are a pretty silvery-green, and the flowers are a bright purple with orange bits
-a type of wild pea that I can never remember the name of: the other photo, these leaves are an even brighter white-silver color
-Purple Prairie Coneflower: ever heard of that echinacea stuff, the medicine that was hyped up a few years ago? Comes from the genus that this flower is part of. If you eat the roots of this plant, your gums will go numb!
-Evening Primrose: a cute little yellow flower
-Big Bluestem: a type of native grass, the tips turn this really pretty reddish purple after a while
-Alfalfa: not just for salads! It has a very gorgeous, dark purple flower - I didn't recognize it at all!
-Prairie Rose: a low wildflower, with pretty pink roses on them
-Blue Vervain: another purple wildflower, really cool looking
amongst others that I can't recall at the moment, my brain is swimming with so many names I can't keep them straight! I really recommend googling some of these flowers if you have a minute, they're absolutely gorgeous! The best part was that the Fire guy was kind of quizzing us to see if anyone recognized them, and after working with the Biologist so much, I actually knew quite a few. I didn't know it, but the Fire guy also has a biology degree, and knew lots of interesting things, which was a nice surprise.
Guys...seriously, this stuff is so amazing, I wish I could properly convey this. When we go out in the field, my heart sometimes actually starts racing because it's all so exciting. There's so much to learn, and it's just unbelievable all the factoids I'm gathering. I wish I could do that kind of fieldwork all the time.
After we got back to the office, there were only a few hours of the workday left. I spent it playing desk jockey, doing the Biologist a favor by organizing a little booklet of the wildflowers that are seen on the refuge; the intent is that these booklets will go in all their trucks as a reference guide while people are out in the field.
Today, after talking about it for WEEKS, the Biologist and I finally got to start the cactus survey. Man...even he said he wasn't a fan of it, to say the least. From 9am to 2pm, we only got 2 of the 13 sites done! Basically what happens is that we have to walk around on the granite outcrops (which are normally very awesome!) and look for these little ball cacti. The last time he did this survey was back in 2004, so we had to use a compass and measuring tape to locate the old clusters, which surprisingly most of them were still left! Some of them were gone, though, and some it took us a few good minutes to find, so that got frustrating pretty quick. The worst part was that we had to somehow count all the cacti in the clusters and measure the diameter of each, even though there could easily be nearly 40 in a cluster the size of a paperback book. They kind of grew around and on top of each other, so it was really hard trying to keep them all straight, and most of them were less than 2cm in diameter, so try to measure that accurately!
I know that's a lot of complaining, but it wasn't so bad, mostly just repetitive and exhausting after a while. There was one cacti that was completely uprooted - like, I picked it up and carried it over to him to show him uprooted - and yet it was still completely green and healthy, which was basically amazing. I learned later that it was uprooted back in '04, and had managed to survive the past 5 years! It's stuff like that that makes the annoying bits completely worth it.
We saw a duck's nest on the way back to the truck, at which point I learned that ducks nest in open fields, NOT by the water - who knew?
Also, we saw a BADGER waddling across the road while making our way back to HQ. A BADGER. Even he said he hadn't seen one on the refgue all his time working here!
From what it looks like, the next few workdays will be out finishing this cactus thing. Wish me luck!
My favorite part was unfortunately also the shortest. He finished the workshop by taking us out to a field to show us examples of burns; there was a path dividing two of the parcels of land, and one side had just been burned in the past few months, while the other hadn't been burned in 2 or 3 years (they can only do these burns every few years, because the wildlife needs a place to say, and burning too much can end up causing more harm than good). The difference was phenomenal! The one that hadn't been treated in a few years was covered almost entirely with Smooth Brome, an invasive species of grass that is the bane of all who know what it is. The sparse scattering of native plants were definitely smaller and generally a poorer quality than normal. The side that had been recently burned, though, had an amazing variety of flora on it! I snagged a few pictures (in the album!), but honestly, I can't do them justice. Some of the species we found were:
-Lead Plant, one of the photos: the leaves are a pretty silvery-green, and the flowers are a bright purple with orange bits
-a type of wild pea that I can never remember the name of: the other photo, these leaves are an even brighter white-silver color
-Purple Prairie Coneflower: ever heard of that echinacea stuff, the medicine that was hyped up a few years ago? Comes from the genus that this flower is part of. If you eat the roots of this plant, your gums will go numb!
-Evening Primrose: a cute little yellow flower
-Big Bluestem: a type of native grass, the tips turn this really pretty reddish purple after a while
-Alfalfa: not just for salads! It has a very gorgeous, dark purple flower - I didn't recognize it at all!
-Prairie Rose: a low wildflower, with pretty pink roses on them
-Blue Vervain: another purple wildflower, really cool looking
amongst others that I can't recall at the moment, my brain is swimming with so many names I can't keep them straight! I really recommend googling some of these flowers if you have a minute, they're absolutely gorgeous! The best part was that the Fire guy was kind of quizzing us to see if anyone recognized them, and after working with the Biologist so much, I actually knew quite a few. I didn't know it, but the Fire guy also has a biology degree, and knew lots of interesting things, which was a nice surprise.
Guys...seriously, this stuff is so amazing, I wish I could properly convey this. When we go out in the field, my heart sometimes actually starts racing because it's all so exciting. There's so much to learn, and it's just unbelievable all the factoids I'm gathering. I wish I could do that kind of fieldwork all the time.
After we got back to the office, there were only a few hours of the workday left. I spent it playing desk jockey, doing the Biologist a favor by organizing a little booklet of the wildflowers that are seen on the refuge; the intent is that these booklets will go in all their trucks as a reference guide while people are out in the field.
Today, after talking about it for WEEKS, the Biologist and I finally got to start the cactus survey. Man...even he said he wasn't a fan of it, to say the least. From 9am to 2pm, we only got 2 of the 13 sites done! Basically what happens is that we have to walk around on the granite outcrops (which are normally very awesome!) and look for these little ball cacti. The last time he did this survey was back in 2004, so we had to use a compass and measuring tape to locate the old clusters, which surprisingly most of them were still left! Some of them were gone, though, and some it took us a few good minutes to find, so that got frustrating pretty quick. The worst part was that we had to somehow count all the cacti in the clusters and measure the diameter of each, even though there could easily be nearly 40 in a cluster the size of a paperback book. They kind of grew around and on top of each other, so it was really hard trying to keep them all straight, and most of them were less than 2cm in diameter, so try to measure that accurately!
I know that's a lot of complaining, but it wasn't so bad, mostly just repetitive and exhausting after a while. There was one cacti that was completely uprooted - like, I picked it up and carried it over to him to show him uprooted - and yet it was still completely green and healthy, which was basically amazing. I learned later that it was uprooted back in '04, and had managed to survive the past 5 years! It's stuff like that that makes the annoying bits completely worth it.
We saw a duck's nest on the way back to the truck, at which point I learned that ducks nest in open fields, NOT by the water - who knew?
Also, we saw a BADGER waddling across the road while making our way back to HQ. A BADGER. Even he said he hadn't seen one on the refgue all his time working here!
From what it looks like, the next few workdays will be out finishing this cactus thing. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
finally added a few new photos to the album!
Monday was kind of painful, in that after our weekly meeting, I spent the rest of the day folding pamphlets/brochures. Six hours of folding those papers into thirds! Talk about mind-numbing.
Yesterday, I was with the YCC kids, helping them around the refuge - we swept out one of the storage bays where they keep all the industrial equipment (like farming tractors, the snowplow, that kind of thing). With 6 people, it still took over an hour! We got a nice break early on, when the leader's wife came in with cinnamon buns for breakfast for everyone - it was the leader's birthday yesterday! After that, we were sanding down the wooden fences and various gas tanks around the building, in preparation to repaint it all. There were some crazy storms brewing, and we got a break midafternoon when it started raining on us.
We went back out soon enough, though, once the rain let up for a bit. At one point, the biologist came out in these really thick coveralls, explaining that he was preparing for the potential tornadoes that were forecasted, pointing out that the padding would cushion him if the twister were to toss him around! Really, though, he just got his shipment of new uniforms and wanted to model off those sweet overalls.
Today we did our last day of fencing! Fortunately there wasn't much, so the work wasn't too hard.
Tomorrow we're going to learn about the Fire crew, and after that I should finally get to work on tha darned cactus survey with the biologist that we've been talking about for weeks!
Monday was kind of painful, in that after our weekly meeting, I spent the rest of the day folding pamphlets/brochures. Six hours of folding those papers into thirds! Talk about mind-numbing.
Yesterday, I was with the YCC kids, helping them around the refuge - we swept out one of the storage bays where they keep all the industrial equipment (like farming tractors, the snowplow, that kind of thing). With 6 people, it still took over an hour! We got a nice break early on, when the leader's wife came in with cinnamon buns for breakfast for everyone - it was the leader's birthday yesterday! After that, we were sanding down the wooden fences and various gas tanks around the building, in preparation to repaint it all. There were some crazy storms brewing, and we got a break midafternoon when it started raining on us.
We went back out soon enough, though, once the rain let up for a bit. At one point, the biologist came out in these really thick coveralls, explaining that he was preparing for the potential tornadoes that were forecasted, pointing out that the padding would cushion him if the twister were to toss him around! Really, though, he just got his shipment of new uniforms and wanted to model off those sweet overalls.
Today we did our last day of fencing! Fortunately there wasn't much, so the work wasn't too hard.
Tomorrow we're going to learn about the Fire crew, and after that I should finally get to work on tha darned cactus survey with the biologist that we've been talking about for weeks!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Of Butterflies and Barbs
Had a short week, thanks to the holiday.
The biologist was gone this week, so I didn't get to hang out with him. :(
Monday morning, I hung around the office, doing paperwork and stuff - the office manager gal got a new filing system, so I spent the morning hole-punching papers that were in hanging folders, and clipping them into binders. In the afternoon, though, I went out with a guy doing a butterfly survey. Unfortunately, the butterflies thought it would be cool to not come out, so mostly we just wandered around hoping they would. We probably saw about 20 butterflies in the entire five hour period! The ones we did see were very pretty, though, so that was cool.
The rest of the week (Tues-Thurs) I, along with the Fire team, helped the high school kids rip up more fencing. Fortunately the weather was cooler this week, so it wasn't quite as unbearably hot...but I guess we're supposed to break triple digits again next week. Too bad the cool weather didn't last!
Sorry I don't have much to report, but it was a pretty simple week. Next week I think I'm checking out cacti (the biologist will be back!), so hopefully I'll have a better post soon.
The biologist was gone this week, so I didn't get to hang out with him. :(
Monday morning, I hung around the office, doing paperwork and stuff - the office manager gal got a new filing system, so I spent the morning hole-punching papers that were in hanging folders, and clipping them into binders. In the afternoon, though, I went out with a guy doing a butterfly survey. Unfortunately, the butterflies thought it would be cool to not come out, so mostly we just wandered around hoping they would. We probably saw about 20 butterflies in the entire five hour period! The ones we did see were very pretty, though, so that was cool.
The rest of the week (Tues-Thurs) I, along with the Fire team, helped the high school kids rip up more fencing. Fortunately the weather was cooler this week, so it wasn't quite as unbearably hot...but I guess we're supposed to break triple digits again next week. Too bad the cool weather didn't last!
Sorry I don't have much to report, but it was a pretty simple week. Next week I think I'm checking out cacti (the biologist will be back!), so hopefully I'll have a better post soon.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Buggy Bugs
Yesterday (Thursday 6/18) started off pretty crazy - we were listening to a lecture on first aid, when one of the YCC (high school volunteers) kids starts having a mini seizure! He was OK, though, fortunately; they think it was due to a combination of low blood sugar and being squeamish about the lecture. After that, though, things quickly became pretty boring. They didn't really have anything for me to do, so I basically filled in the shoes of the kid that had to leave early, and did hard labor with them. Ugh. We had to clean out an old fly and mouse-infested trailer, and other stuff. I don't envy them, having to do it all summer.
Today was more interesting, since the biologist was back. In the morning, we had to work with spurge beetles. They are itty bitty beetles, probably about the size of this letter "o," that ONLY eat a certain type of spurge plant. Problem is, they can wipe out an entire thicket of the plants, and apparently can't figure out how to move on to a better source of food, therefore killing the entire poplulation. To remedy this, another team went out a few days ago to collect about 30,000 of these critters; today, it was our duty to search around the refuge for other unclaimed patches of these plants and chuck the beetles on them. We drove around all morning (aka 8-12), and we found some pretty cool things, including some wild prarie rose, a mink, and a type of butterfly that even the BIOLOGIST didn't recognize! Crazy, huh? I hope he figures it out! It was small (the wingspan was probably about 2 inches), and was black with white blotches on it.
Then this afternoon we had to pin up gypsy moth traps - even though the refuge/area doesn't get them (fortunately!), i guess they're still required to do the sampling. The biologist had to leave early, after we finished this, so the last 2 hours of the day i just kind of hung around my friend, the office manager/administrative lady (not my boss, she's more of a secretary deal...but does a lot more than your normal secretary!).
Anyway, I'm glad for the weekend! A chance to catch up on sleep!
Today was more interesting, since the biologist was back. In the morning, we had to work with spurge beetles. They are itty bitty beetles, probably about the size of this letter "o," that ONLY eat a certain type of spurge plant. Problem is, they can wipe out an entire thicket of the plants, and apparently can't figure out how to move on to a better source of food, therefore killing the entire poplulation. To remedy this, another team went out a few days ago to collect about 30,000 of these critters; today, it was our duty to search around the refuge for other unclaimed patches of these plants and chuck the beetles on them. We drove around all morning (aka 8-12), and we found some pretty cool things, including some wild prarie rose, a mink, and a type of butterfly that even the BIOLOGIST didn't recognize! Crazy, huh? I hope he figures it out! It was small (the wingspan was probably about 2 inches), and was black with white blotches on it.
Then this afternoon we had to pin up gypsy moth traps - even though the refuge/area doesn't get them (fortunately!), i guess they're still required to do the sampling. The biologist had to leave early, after we finished this, so the last 2 hours of the day i just kind of hung around my friend, the office manager/administrative lady (not my boss, she's more of a secretary deal...but does a lot more than your normal secretary!).
Anyway, I'm glad for the weekend! A chance to catch up on sleep!
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