Week 2: The Fence

This week and next, my crew and I are walking the fence line at Walnut Canyon National Monument and repairing any damages.  The fence marks the boundary between National Park Service land (who manage the canyon), Forest Service, and private lands.

Week 1: Introduction to ACE

This week I moved to Flagstaff, Arizona and started working for the American Conservation Experience. ACE is an AmeriCorps program that sends volunteers to maintain public lands through trail work, forestry, and other environmental stewardship work. There are other conservation corps located in California, Utah, Texas, and North Carolina, but the Flagstaff location was the flagship (pun intended, so I’m told).

Sandwiches at 9,000 ft: Mt Elden.

Fun fact: Flagstaff sits at 7,000 feet above sea level and olympic athletes come here to train! There are runners, bikers, and walkers on the trails at all hours of the day.

Week 11: Last week in MANA

 

In costume and post-performance, Natural Resources + YCC + maintenance + housing admin

Our last week in Manassas included a visit to Harper’s Ferry for the National Capitol Region Youth Summit to perform our much-anticipated ghost PSA  skit (every historian is rolling their eyes, but we won most comedic because it’s what the people want…)

Week 10: Last week with the full team

Vegetation surveys are officially done! This week was a short week since I will be gone Thursday and Friday. On Tuesday we celebrated our last day with our boss, Bryan, and today we had our last full day as the natural resources interns, since Marissa will be at Conway next week.

Week 9: Surveying vegetation and ghosts

Being done with bird surveys means we can be at the office at a reasonable hour, but it also means *dun dun dun* – vegetation surveys… 

Week 8: Neature walk

Last survey sunrise

Field of nightmares aka the spiderweb jungle

 

 

 

 

 

This week was the last week of bird surveys. Because the weather was so cooperative, we were able to get all of them done (3 rounds on each of the 19 sites) in addition to the playback surveys! *sweet victory plays in the background*

Week 7: Suddenly hearing all of the quail

This week, the quail finally pitied us. We heard not just one, but three! Yesterday, our very last day of playback surveys, we heard one respond to our speaker at Brawner farm (where they’ve been reported this year). Our experimental playback survey worked! This morning, on our last round of regular visual surveys, we returned to another section of Brawner farm and heard one calling on the walk to our plot and another again at the site itself. Now we know there are at least a few quail, and that the land management strategies we are using at that corner of the park are working. 

Week 6: Mike Pence rode a horse through my yard

This first part is based around civil war stuff. If you’d like to read more nature-y stuff, pls scroll down until you see pictures of some birds.

Week 5: You’ve got quail

Finally, the first reported quail on the park! A visitor reported one calling on Brawner farm, the site of the second battle of Manassas (August 26, 1862). We have not been able to record one on a survey, but now we know there’s at least one here.

Week 4: Surveys, invasive plants, and mulberry jam!

June 3-7

Sunrise over the northeast corner of the park

Officially one month into the internship! We’ve almost completed our first round of Bobwhite quail surveys. Still no sign of them.. eBird has reported one quail spotted on an adjacent road but none in the park so far this year.