I can’t believe it has been a month since the last post, time sure flies around here. As usual, there are way too many items on the to-do list and not enough time to finish all of them. Recently, a lot of the staff members left for vacation or personal time off so Corey and I are the only interns left. Corey is an American Conservation Experience intern picked up by Harry (our preserve manager) to manage the Badger Creek restoration area. Since now I’m the person with the most experience about wetlands, I was left in charge of managing the water levels around some of our ponds. I’m starting to see species of waterfowl return to the area.

I’m also working with a volunteer who is a GIS expert. We’re trying to QA and QC (quality assurance and quality control) the location of all our valves, standpipes, air vents and water control structures. It has been a challenge to finish this little project due to lack of knowledge about the Citrix server and issues with the Trimble Juno handheld unit (battery discharge). However, after installing the proper background imagery and having a functional battery, I was able to finish that task this morning.

The YCC crew came back to our preserve after departing for the Pine Hill preserve several weeks ago. They were extremely valuable because they helped with weed wacking and moving rip rap, tasks that are really demanding in 100 F temperature. I really enjoyed meeting the crew members and hope them the best. I’ve attached a picture of me and the crew, not sure if that went through…

I’ve also been involved with pesticide applications this month. The water primrose is getting out of control around our sloughs, it is the worse that is has ever been. This could be attributed to the longer growing season, I think. We typically use Roundup custom in addition to Renovate to spray. The thing I find most tedious with pesticide applications is the clean up process.

We also had a move! Our center is going through some renovations, so we have to move all our supplies to another location. It took us several days to coordinate and move all our supplies. I can’t believe how much those giant folders weight. The heaviest thing I lifted alone was probably one of our printers. Probably not a smart idea now that I think of it.

I recently starting using the Kubota to mow some of our trails and ponds. Such a fun experience! Growing up in the city, I’m not really used to operating heavy equipment. This is one of the perks that I really enjoy about this job. I’m trying to work myself up to using a tractor to disc the ponds sometime in the future.

Chau