Week 4

Air Boat!

Steve and Sally

Sally

Getting to go out on the air boat was definitely one of the highlights of my experience at Sherburne thus far. It was amazing to see the refuge from the water as opposed to on land. It was the perfect day for a tour; when the water was calm, it perfectly reflected the clouds and sky above. And while I didn't get to drive the boat myself (the first picture was staged), I was definitely one happy passenger. 

Fire Monitoring with Kris and Pete!

Today was my first day on another project I'll be helping with through out the summer: fire monitoring. There are over 100 plots of land on the refuge designated for this purpose. On these plots, the herbaceous layer (what plants are present?), tree cover (how many living and dead trees are there, what kind are they, and how big are they?), and fuel load are evaluated in an effort to examine the the long-term effects of prescribed burning on the land.  

And of course, more interesting plants and animals! I learned way more plants today when we were out fire monitoring (thanks for quizzing me, Pete!), but I didn't have my camera to take pictures! Hopefully I retain that info! 

Painted Turtle

I rescued this little guy from the road!

Spider Web

The morning dew on this spider web made it really visible and pretty!

Columbine

The flowers on the columbine plant have small edible sap pockets that taste like honey!

This week, I also did some mapping of leafy spurge (another invasive species on the refuge), helped to clear out more woody debris from beaver activity, and did some data entry and analysis on ArcMap (the GIS system).

Four weeks down, eight weeks to go! This summer is flying!