Daily archives "March 16, 2015"

No Place I Would Rather Be

After having worked the last two days in the swamps along side some of the most knowledgeable and interesting young adults I have met in quite some time, there is only one word that comes to my mind. (No, it is not cornbread.) This word happens to be respect. Each person on this team is incredibly passionate about what we are doing. The passion of each individual seems to circulate within the group, igniting and energizing the team as a whole. This I believe, is what makes this team so unique. Each of us could be lounging pool side in California, enjoying Spring Break. Instead, we are crawling through blackberry bushes, allowing ourselves to be bait for the mosquitos, and lets not forget, mastering our machete skills simply because we care. I have the utmost respect for the amount of effort each member has contributed and feel honored to be a part of this team.

Tunnel of Blackberry

The blackberry is thick and this is what we do to it, make lovely little sharp, thorny tunnels! 



Day 2 in the Swamp! 

Day 2 felt a lot better than Day 1. We now have an idea of what was in store for us and we are all loving it! But it is still really hard work and long hours. That doesn’t matter because we are out here to do a job and all have a common goal. 



We are all smiles after lunch ready to start out next transact, or finishing an existing one. 

Thank you to the Kubota for transporting us back and forth! 

Day 1 in the swamp! 

What a tiring and amazing day!! We started nice and clean, not knowing what to expect. 





And we left being able to identify all these different plants and all muddy!! 



Treking through this was pretty fun! But watch out for snakes!



I was given the task of “Data Recorder”, which I really enjoyed because that gave me the time to learn the characterics and shapes of different plant leaves of interest. 

One Big Beetle

I stumbled upon one of the largest beetles I have ever seen while cutting my way through thick blackberry. This darkling beetle was quite a spectacle to watch as it ventured into different parts of a decaying tree.

Blackberry? No problem

Second day in the field

We spent a long day in the Woodlands Conservancy continuing to survey vegetation transects. Lauren and Kelsey from my group discovered a plant species that hadn’t been found in the conservancy before.

Day Number: I’ve lost count

Five maybe? Time flies when you’re out of your mind. As this was the second day in the field, things went much smoother as species identification and machete technique became practiced. Despite blackberry thickets, disturbingly large spiders and general bumps in the road, we managed to finish a few more transects before the sun went down.

Day 5

 Alex Greene today was chopping down blackberry bush. The blackbush in this picture was around 3 meters high. Good job on creating the road for our research Alex.

Day 5

Today was the first full day of doing restoration research.  It was exhausting work filled with blackberry and mosquitoes.