Yesterday, the biologist and I did a vegetation monitoring survey. Basically, we got to drive around in an ATV all day, and then we'd look at random points (generated by a GPS tool) to determine the kind of vegetation that grew in 25 meter transects: native or exotic? Grass or forb? (forbs being plants like wildflowers, shrubs, and basically everything that wasn't grass). The day went by pretty smoothly, except for one point - I will forever loathe #4! Transect 4 was down a ravine (or "cleuch," I think the call it here? I couldn't tell...), which, if you aren't familiar with the term ravine, means a small valley-ish thing, with VERY STEEP sides, and a stream at the bottom. As such, the vegetation there was of a marshy type, mainly thistles, cattails, and Reed-Canary grass, which grows taller than me! We spent literally over an HOUR trying to locate the point, because the GPS unit couldn't find the spot. We had it narrowed to probably a 50 square meter area, considering we had a map and such, but needed much more precision to accurately measure the spot. Finally, after walking around in circles for what felt like forever, the GPS finally cooperated and gave us the location, where we promptly spent about 30 seconds walking the transect, as it was was almost entirely Reed-Canary grass, anyway.
The rest of the day went without much trouble, so I suppose one bad point out of 23 can't be too bad. Although, apparently I'm "crooked as a jaybird," as it was pointed out on numerous occasions that I can't walk a straight line, but I feel it was his fault, as "aim for that set of bushes" over there isn't very descriptive, when you are in an entire field of bushes! We sorted things out, though, so all's well that ends well.
Today was another day of hanging around the office, not too much to report. Only one week left...
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Duck, Duck, Goose
Monday and Tuesday were awesome, the biologist and I did a brood survey - driving around counting ducklings and goslings (say it with me now: "awwwwwwwwwwwww!"). Basically we hopped in the biologist's truck as soon as we got to work (we're late, for a very important date!), since we were technically supposed to start at sunrise...oops. It was pretty cool, and fairly low-key; we couldn't get out of the truck lest we scare the babies, so we basically just drove around in the truck all day. It was tiring just to sit around, not to mention that I'm used to being outside all day, so it was a weird change of pace. We saw everything from "teenagers," that were nearly all grown up - had almost all their feathers and whatnot - but just couldn't fly yet, all the way down to the itty bitty fuzzy guys. I'll admit, I was a total dork and kept exclaiming at how cute they were...poor biologist man, having to deal with that! haha. Really though, it was a blast.
We finished up the brood survey Tuesday afternoon, so we drove around while he did inspections - we're cutting down and/or spraying a bunch of trees that need to go (prairie and all, trees are not welcome here!), so he was making sure that everything was going according to plan. Then he took me to one of the restoration fields, where they plant the seeds of native plants on a once-farmed land, in hopes of returning it to a prairie. This one was really successful, there was a huuuuge variety of plants there, the biologist was really impressed. Our main objective was to uproot some Queen Anne's Lace (nasty invasive!), but once we saw that there was hardly any out there, he took to quizzing me on the plants, since we'll be doing some vegetation monitoring sometime this week. He tried to trip me up (say, by asking about a plant when the flower is gone, so it's just green), but I managed to do pretty good!
Today was rainy, so I didn't do too much. In the morning, a YCC crew from another refuge came by to take a tour, and I somehow got nominated to lead it! It was kind of intimidating, but the kids were pretty cool so the whole affair ended up being pretty fun. In the afternoon I mostly helped out around the office, putting stuff away from the festival this weekend, organizing cupboards, filing away all our surveying crap, that sort of thing. I went out with the big boss - aka the refuge manager - to talk with some people from the Army Corps of Engineers, because apparently a man owning neighboring lands is trying to drain water from his property onto the refuge, so that he can farm it. We were basically out there trying to decide whether he should or not, and what to do about it. That was an experience...ugh, I do NOT want to go into management.
Tomorrow: veg, hopefully!
We finished up the brood survey Tuesday afternoon, so we drove around while he did inspections - we're cutting down and/or spraying a bunch of trees that need to go (prairie and all, trees are not welcome here!), so he was making sure that everything was going according to plan. Then he took me to one of the restoration fields, where they plant the seeds of native plants on a once-farmed land, in hopes of returning it to a prairie. This one was really successful, there was a huuuuge variety of plants there, the biologist was really impressed. Our main objective was to uproot some Queen Anne's Lace (nasty invasive!), but once we saw that there was hardly any out there, he took to quizzing me on the plants, since we'll be doing some vegetation monitoring sometime this week. He tried to trip me up (say, by asking about a plant when the flower is gone, so it's just green), but I managed to do pretty good!
Today was rainy, so I didn't do too much. In the morning, a YCC crew from another refuge came by to take a tour, and I somehow got nominated to lead it! It was kind of intimidating, but the kids were pretty cool so the whole affair ended up being pretty fun. In the afternoon I mostly helped out around the office, putting stuff away from the festival this weekend, organizing cupboards, filing away all our surveying crap, that sort of thing. I went out with the big boss - aka the refuge manager - to talk with some people from the Army Corps of Engineers, because apparently a man owning neighboring lands is trying to drain water from his property onto the refuge, so that he can farm it. We were basically out there trying to decide whether he should or not, and what to do about it. That was an experience...ugh, I do NOT want to go into management.
Tomorrow: veg, hopefully!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
What a hectic time I've had these past few days!
Wednesday, I woke up bright and early to drive into The Cities for a conference. After an uneventful 4 hours (well, except for getting lost at the end of it...), I made my way to the federal building(!), and my, is it big. After riding the elevator for a few minutes (I accidentally got on an "up" elevator instead of down...oops!), I found my way to the conference room, and the meeting began.
The conference was a sort of networking, meet-and-greet sort of deal for all the interns within the region (which is made up of 8 states: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota), not only to meet with each other, but to meet up with all the big important people, to get ourselves "out there" to get hired permanently by these people. My, was it intimidating! The first day consisted of the department heads of all the different sections talking about what their position/department is, why their job rocks, why we should join them, that sort of thing. While the presentations were interesting, after 3 or 4 hours, attention spans were definitely waning.
After the day was after, I was driving back to the hotel when it decided to pour for only the 15 minutes it took for me to get there, throwing in some hail just to spice things up. I made it there okay, though, and got settled in. Later, I went over and explored the Mall of America...my, it is HUGE! Although they kind of lie, a lot of the shops have multiple locations in the Mall!
The second day started off much the same, hearing from some more of the higher-ups. Then there was a sort of "how to get a job" dealio, where some people were talking about what they look for in a resume, good interviewing skills, et cetera. We also worked on "elevator speeches," which is basically how to give a good summary (of say, what your job is) within 30 seconds - literally a speech that you would give in the span of an elevator ride. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to the start of the intern speeches, where everyone had to do a kind of "what I did this summer" kind of thing - introduce ourselves, talk about something interesting we learned, that sort of thing. After the day ended, we had a little barbecue at the local refuge, so that was fun.
Friday started off with finishing the student presentations, and I had my turn. Man, I was so nervous...I'm not good with public speaking in the first place, and with all those important people there! I think even the Regional Director was there that day...oh boy. I survived, though, so that's all good. We had more presentations by some more important people, and a Q&A session about how to get into the Service. After some chatting with the people that matter, a few of us got together for lunch, and then it was time for me to make the long drive home.
Everyone there was so nice, it was amazing. Every time I turned around, there were a gaggle of other students to say hello, and we all hit it off pretty well. If all goes to plan, we'll be the "new generation" of the Service, so in theory we'll get to know each other more over the rest of our careers.
Saturday was the local anniversary celebration of the town by the refuge, so we helped out with that. As soon as I get there, though, somehow myself and two guys got shanghied into making the mud pit for their Tug of War contest, so we got to shovel dirt for an hour and a half - I'm still a little sore from that! After we finished with that, we went back to the refuge to help people (mostly little kids, but there were definitely some older people, too) build birdhouses, along with other crafts. That was fun! The fire team had their truck out, so the guy in charge of that crew got to have kids mess around with the hose and the lights and their radio, it was so cute! I can't tell who had more fun, the fireman or the kids.
Today I hung around my apartment all day, glad for a day to relax. I researched into picking up a minor in biology, because at the conference (and this entire summer, for that matter) it became very apparent how important biology is in this field. Lets hope I can go for it!
Wednesday, I woke up bright and early to drive into The Cities for a conference. After an uneventful 4 hours (well, except for getting lost at the end of it...), I made my way to the federal building(!), and my, is it big. After riding the elevator for a few minutes (I accidentally got on an "up" elevator instead of down...oops!), I found my way to the conference room, and the meeting began.
The conference was a sort of networking, meet-and-greet sort of deal for all the interns within the region (which is made up of 8 states: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota), not only to meet with each other, but to meet up with all the big important people, to get ourselves "out there" to get hired permanently by these people. My, was it intimidating! The first day consisted of the department heads of all the different sections talking about what their position/department is, why their job rocks, why we should join them, that sort of thing. While the presentations were interesting, after 3 or 4 hours, attention spans were definitely waning.
After the day was after, I was driving back to the hotel when it decided to pour for only the 15 minutes it took for me to get there, throwing in some hail just to spice things up. I made it there okay, though, and got settled in. Later, I went over and explored the Mall of America...my, it is HUGE! Although they kind of lie, a lot of the shops have multiple locations in the Mall!
The second day started off much the same, hearing from some more of the higher-ups. Then there was a sort of "how to get a job" dealio, where some people were talking about what they look for in a resume, good interviewing skills, et cetera. We also worked on "elevator speeches," which is basically how to give a good summary (of say, what your job is) within 30 seconds - literally a speech that you would give in the span of an elevator ride. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to the start of the intern speeches, where everyone had to do a kind of "what I did this summer" kind of thing - introduce ourselves, talk about something interesting we learned, that sort of thing. After the day ended, we had a little barbecue at the local refuge, so that was fun.
Friday started off with finishing the student presentations, and I had my turn. Man, I was so nervous...I'm not good with public speaking in the first place, and with all those important people there! I think even the Regional Director was there that day...oh boy. I survived, though, so that's all good. We had more presentations by some more important people, and a Q&A session about how to get into the Service. After some chatting with the people that matter, a few of us got together for lunch, and then it was time for me to make the long drive home.
Everyone there was so nice, it was amazing. Every time I turned around, there were a gaggle of other students to say hello, and we all hit it off pretty well. If all goes to plan, we'll be the "new generation" of the Service, so in theory we'll get to know each other more over the rest of our careers.
Saturday was the local anniversary celebration of the town by the refuge, so we helped out with that. As soon as I get there, though, somehow myself and two guys got shanghied into making the mud pit for their Tug of War contest, so we got to shovel dirt for an hour and a half - I'm still a little sore from that! After we finished with that, we went back to the refuge to help people (mostly little kids, but there were definitely some older people, too) build birdhouses, along with other crafts. That was fun! The fire team had their truck out, so the guy in charge of that crew got to have kids mess around with the hose and the lights and their radio, it was so cute! I can't tell who had more fun, the fireman or the kids.
Today I hung around my apartment all day, glad for a day to relax. I researched into picking up a minor in biology, because at the conference (and this entire summer, for that matter) it became very apparent how important biology is in this field. Lets hope I can go for it!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Nice mishmash of different things today.
Today started off working around the office. Entered in some cactus data, helped organize the new filing system, carried in a bunch of drills that we'll be needing for saturday (needed to charge the batteries!), things like that. The biologist and I drove around for a while, meeting up with the tree contractors (basically watching them RIP SMASH TEAR, pretty entertaining), filling out a paperwork survey for one of the wetland pools (asking about the percent cover of invasive species, the depth of water, amount of foliage, etc; this is to determine how suitable it is as a habitat for breeding birds), and various odds and ends.
For the afternoon, we went out for our LAST BIT OF CACTUS WORK (hooray!). Although it was left last because he didn't know where the stake was, time constraints, etc, I think unofficially it was saving the best for last. This outcrop was basically a really tall hill, and once we (finally) got to the top, we could see a ridiculously large portion of the refuge. It was absolutely breathtaking, I wish I had my camera with me! The area was a little bit wetter than most of the other outcrops, so it had a relatively high biodiversity, since it was still dry enough in areas for most of the regular outcrop inhabitants, but wet enough to support different forms of life. I saw a little brown skink, he was so cute!
When we were finally done, we drove around a bit more, then headed back to the office, where I finished entering in all the data(!) - we ended up with roughly 1600 cacti, phew!
Tomorrow I head out bright and early to drive out to The Cities, where I'll be sitting through a 3 day workshop; therefore, I don't know when I'll be posting next!
Today started off working around the office. Entered in some cactus data, helped organize the new filing system, carried in a bunch of drills that we'll be needing for saturday (needed to charge the batteries!), things like that. The biologist and I drove around for a while, meeting up with the tree contractors (basically watching them RIP SMASH TEAR, pretty entertaining), filling out a paperwork survey for one of the wetland pools (asking about the percent cover of invasive species, the depth of water, amount of foliage, etc; this is to determine how suitable it is as a habitat for breeding birds), and various odds and ends.
For the afternoon, we went out for our LAST BIT OF CACTUS WORK (hooray!). Although it was left last because he didn't know where the stake was, time constraints, etc, I think unofficially it was saving the best for last. This outcrop was basically a really tall hill, and once we (finally) got to the top, we could see a ridiculously large portion of the refuge. It was absolutely breathtaking, I wish I had my camera with me! The area was a little bit wetter than most of the other outcrops, so it had a relatively high biodiversity, since it was still dry enough in areas for most of the regular outcrop inhabitants, but wet enough to support different forms of life. I saw a little brown skink, he was so cute!
When we were finally done, we drove around a bit more, then headed back to the office, where I finished entering in all the data(!) - we ended up with roughly 1600 cacti, phew!
Tomorrow I head out bright and early to drive out to The Cities, where I'll be sitting through a 3 day workshop; therefore, I don't know when I'll be posting next!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Took myself to watch Harry Potter tonight, since I didn't want to wait a month until I was in civilization. As I was driving home at 9:30 at night, though, it struck me odd that it was still light enough that I could easily see beyond my headlamps. I'm still not used to being this far north; I had so much trouble falling asleep my first few weeks.
Sunset, at 9:30! This picture doesn't do it justice.
Sunset, at 9:30! This picture doesn't do it justice.
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