Week 6 from the Fatherland

The days keep rollin’ on here in Germany.
Of course I’m continuing to monitor the movement of wild boar across the 625 acres of our Nature Conserve. Since about 1/4th of the land is adjacent to fields and we are responsible for the Wildschaden- wild game damage to the crops, a good amount of our time is spent trying to keep animals in the forest and away from the fields. The forest has wild game clocks that help track the movements and specific times of wild boar and the footprints they leave in the moist dirt of this area let us know about how old and how many there are in a group. The forest land adjacent to fields is lined with high seats and hunters sit according to where this information we gather leads us to believe they are most likely to be. It’s my hope that my analysis of the Wild Uhren will shed further light on this.
I spent this weekend mainly doing trail management with Julias who originally hails from the Slovakia. He has a manner to him that breaths comrade and likes to give you a strong whack on the shoulder when telling an especially good part of his stories. I thoroughly enjoy his company and working with him. All the while we worked and moved from path to path clipping off overhanging branches he talks and gives helpful relevant hints. On how to best talk to the farmers when they complain of the damage done by the animals, on Jagdsprache- the language of the hunters that really seems to be a old language of its own where the words match up not at all with either my German or English skills, on which plants to cut and how while where doing this trail work, so they won’t return next season in the same place, and generally just what goes on in these parts and the inner workings of the Revier.
There is a large area of forest on our Nature Preserve that we sometimes drive thru but rarely stop at and then only to quickly observe something. The area is called Bannen Wald and until a little while ago I just thought of it as a name. This past week I was told that it is the area of the Nature Preserve that is not allowed to be touched in any way. You cannot log trees in the area or change it in anyway. This makes sense because the name actually means Banned Forest. I look forward to exploring this area further and am going to take some pictures to try to capture it. There are very few places left in the densely populated Germany that are considered wild.

Nils Bell

Week Five...Still Alive

Hello All!

This past week was my fifth and final week of my internship. Even though my hours are completed, I am still working the rest of the summer with my employer. I will most likely be posting about the following weeks just for fun, even though it's not required. I found that I was given a raise during my second week back. I didnt even notice until last weeks paycheck! I went from the agreed $10/hr up to $11/hr. What a great surprise!

Monday, we started the week with another huge slaughter job. We were hired to cut down about 16 trees, that included some Oaks, a Poplar, a Pine, and a Maple, to make way for a pool being put in. This is the second job that we have clared an entire backyard to make way for a pool. Needless to say, it was rainy and humid and the wind was blowing. Most of the trees we were able to set a line in and pull over by hand or with the hand winch (called a come-along). We do this by running a rope through the crown of the tree and back down the backside of the trunk. It is then tied off to the trunk with a running bowline. The other end is pulled on while the cut is being made. I did get to climb one of them. It was a medium sized Oak. I spiked up teh tree, set a line and went crazy cutting brush. It was fun. The reason we didnt crash it was because it was too close to a red-maple clump the homeowner wanted to save.

Tuesday, two of my co-workers, Nick and Greg, attended a safety conference in RI that lasted all day. While they did that, my boss and I went to Upton to prune part of a Norway Maple hedge. I did all the climbing on this one. I threw a line and tied into the center tree of the three needing pruning. I climbed up, maoved to one of the side trees, and raised all the lowers. I then swung to the middle tree and did the same, climbed back up, moved to the last tree, and did the same. When I was done, I swung back to the center tree and cleaned up the stubs I had left as steps. We raised the lowers so that her garden could get more light.The homeowner also left us a bunch of brush to chip besides the mess we made. So, we cleaned up the big mess. Before we could finish, our chiper glogged. Wet leaves mixed with the fact that we didnt clear it properly was the cause. So Dwight and I spent the next 15 minutes unclogging it. We decided that it was good timing and we went to get a coffee. We came back, finished chipping, and started on the next tree. This tree was an old Golden-Chain Tree That was hollow and very structurally unsound. So, we put a cable in it and removed an old metal tie that was put in by the homeowner. I also pruned off a lot of deadwood in it as well as a large branch that had cracked and fallen, but continued to grow.

Wednesday, we went back to the worksite from Monday, and finished the job. Nick was sick, so we were down to three guys most of the day. The log truck came in at the end of the day and picked up a good portion of the wood. The other smaller wood was taken by a neighbor for home heating.

Thursday was a good day. We started by doing a small pruning job. First, I pruned a spruce tree. I took out the top to reduce the height and encourage spread. Then I tipped bak a few branches that were very long up top to encourage a better shape. I then moved on to a sandcherry. I pruned it away from the house, reduced the height, and then my boss came by and took a few more cuts in the front showing me what could have done to help keep it in its own area. Then I moved on to the next plant which was a Japanese Pagoda tree. I took off some wild looking branches ot the top and tipped back a few of the side branches while my boss did the other half of the tree. There was also a Japanese Maple and two birches that my boss pruned while I was doing the others. We chipped our brush and headed to the next job. The next job was a huge Norway maple that needed to be cabled and pruned. My bass one I were in the tree for the rest of the day, setting up a 5-cable hub and spoke system. This is where we cable each leader to a steel ring centered over the base of the tree. We also took some weight cuts off the ends and cleared some deadwood while we were in the tree. It was a fun job, but long and exhausting. Thankfully it wasn't raining, but it was hot and muggy.

Friday was a short and laid-back day (like most fridays at Full Circle Tree). We first went and did some pruning in Upton. I pruned two large leaders off of a Mulberry tree one of which was over some shrubs and a shed. These are difficult to deal with because they tend to be heavy and brittle. My boss pruned a small oak and started a small ash tree while I did the Mulberry. I went to the side yard and front yard when I was done and pruned a Weeping Cherry, then I took a couple weight cuts off of some Ornamental Pear trees. I also removed some lower branches to allow for lawn-mowing and walking on the front walkway. We chipped everything, then went out to breakfast in Douglas. After the food, we went actross the street and pruned a couple of Hemlocks in front of the Post Office. We hand sheared them and clibed them to give them a haircut at the top. We fished just as it started raining, so we called it a day.

My internship at Full Circle Tree has been an awesome learning experience for me and I hope that the rest of the summer is the same. In case I don't post again, I wish you all a happy summer! I cant wait to get back to Unity to teach what I have learned!

Peace,

T-Bo the Treewalker

PS: Check back for photos on this post, I am looking for my SD card so I can upload them.

Hello again reporting live from Camp Farley in Mashpee!! This past week has been a pleasant experience. Although it rained most of the week, the staff was able to put on smiles and be more appreciative of the warm days we did have. We have spent a lot of time talking about how to run a good cabin and how to be a good counselor. I listened intently because I want my kids to have a great time while they are here. I have opened my mind up to any suggestions and I am willing to try something new. The staff continues to surprise me with their friendliness and kind personalities. Earlier this week we played a game called 'reach out and touch somebody'. The game involved everyone, but the assitant director to sit in a circle facing the outside. He then would pick random people and ask them to stand in the middle of the circle while the rest of the group kept their eyes closed. Then he would tell us to reach out and touch anyone whom we respected and so forth. The objective of the game is to show each participant what people think of them and instill confidence and a warm fuzzy feeling inside; well, it worked. After that activity everyone was as joyous as a kid on christmas!

Lats week I got the chance to review a few games with the staff that I will be playing with my adventure group. The games went well and I was proud of myself for doing a good job. I did notice a few things I need to work on though; one was not being a fraid to be the facilitator. It is important for the games to have some type of structure, but I also need to remember when to give my campers the opportunity to explore. At various times during the games I often got flustered and let my voice escape from me. I need to maintain calm in all scenarios because if I freak out, so will my participants. Also this week I retrieved the ropes euipment from the cellar and took inventory of it all. I looked through the ropes manual and discovered plenty of trust games to play with the kids! I am excited to start, but also nervous. I also got a chance to operate the 2 high ropes elements in camp; the zip line and climbing wall. Although I receieved training I was so nervous and found myself slipping up, but in the end I regained my composure and faciliated the elements. With each passing day I am more aware of my own capabilities and these revelations have caused me to further stimulate my mind. I am approaching more challenges with confidence and spunk that will aid me in the succession of each task. Until Next week!

Week 7, home at last!

Well! My last week was a hand full!!

First, 4 of the does in the pen had their fawns! Chatter, O4, Tinker, Maybeline, and C.B. (who had triplets.) When Chatter had her fawns, we took one fawn (Cake) who we were trying to hand raise (but she wouldn't take to the bottle) and gave her to Chatter. Chatter immediately began to care for Cake. Tinker, Maybeline and C.B. all had their fawns in the past 48 hours. Tinker's doe fawn was pulled to be hand raised, as Tinker is too crazy. C.B. had three buck fawns one was pulled because he wasn't eating so well. Both of O4's fawns were pulled because she was not taking good care of them. We named the buck Tank and his sister scooter. Maybeline and Chatter very tame, so their fawns will stay with them. And while this is the first time that they have seen Maybeline raise fawns (she aborted her fawns last year) I think that she will be a good mother. Today when I walked the pen to check on everyone, she was surrounded by 5 fawns and was tending to all of them!

Since the past few days have been very hot and stressful for the deer, we have been putting out sprinklers to help them stay cool. They will run and play in the falling water and will also lay in the cool mud. We also put one in the fawn pen to help them stay cool as well. Its fun to watch the little ones run and jump in the water. The sprinklers have to be moved often to make sure that the ground doesn't get to muddy. Friday was so hot, that we had to take several of the fawns that were in the doe pen, inside with the A.C as their temps were way to high. One we even ran fluids to, to make sure that he was hydrated.

We have also received a new fawn from a customer this past week, Y933. She is doing very well, and has been moved to the three hour eating schedule. Another fawn the we are now raising, is the tiniest fawn in the pen. Her name is Bonnie, and when she first arrived, she was only 2.25 lbs! Being so small, we were unsure that she would even make it through the first 24 hours. But she immediately latched on to the bottle and is now a week old and 3lbs 11 oz!! I have a picture of her in my hat!

This internship, while much shorter than intended, feels like it was very long, and I am very tired. It is good to be home at last. I never truly felt like I belonged there at Fawn Country. I still want to work with animals, but this particular job is not for me. I would rather raise a wild animal only to return it to the wild, as opposed to keeping it in a pen for the rest of its life. And while this internship is not something I would do for a living, it did help me narrow down my options for my future. I now have a better idea of what I would like to do for a career.

It is good to be home!

~peace!

Cape Cod Canal Update

I've been so busy recently that I haven't had time to post much. I came back from my four-day weekend to a week filled mostly by urban First Responder training. The following Friday three of my coworkers -- Aimee, Zach and Gabe -- and I were sent to Southbridge for district-wide training. The training was good; we learned a lot of Corps history, and the trainers did some cool stuff with Interpretation. The training also gave the four of us a chance to get to know each other outside of work. The hotel had a really nice pool that we were able to swim in, and there were pool tables in the lounge. Zach and I, who are both beginner pool players (I'm really bad at it), found ourselves playing on a "tag team" against Aimee, who is quite good. We won a couple of times, but that was only because Aimee put the eight ball in by mistake! Then on Sunday three more coworkers -- Andy, Kevin and Bob -- showed up for part of the training. Sunday included pepper spray training, and anyone who wanted to had the opportunity -- if you can call it that -- to get sprayed with pepper spray. Gabe was the only one from our group who elected to get sprayed, and he said that a person would have to be a "really big" jerk "to deserve that."

After training we had two days off. We came back yesterday to finish our urban First Responder training. Today Ann, one of the permanent employees, took me on a hike on Sagamore Hill to show me the ropes for the tour that I will be giving once the official summer season starts. I spent my afternoon working on the text for the evening program that I will be giving in cooperation with a community partner in August.

The next three days I will be in the Visitor Center, so I plan to take my computer to work so I can work on my Interpretive programs when visitation is slow. So that's what I've been up to. Every day brings new adventures!

Hawk Presentaions Look Promising

I have made so much progress with Jasper the hawk in the past month it is crazy. Two days ago we had a friend named Wendy, who has a lot of knowledge on raptors, come and help us with our birds. We toweled Jasper and put jesses on his legs and trimmed his beak and talons. At the same time we trimmed one of our owls and a broad winged hawk's beak and talons as well. I learned how to put the jesses on and practiced by putting on one of Jasper's. I also got to trim our broad winged hawk's talons myself and I trimmed his beak too and filed it down using a drummel. It was very nerve-racking but I did it. I learned so much from Wendy about not only trimming talons and beaks and putting on jesses, but also how to handle the birds as well. She does a lot of educational programs with the Burlington Science Center so she had so much to teach me.

Ever since we put the jesses on Jasper it has made it so much easier to work with him. Since he trusts me enough to sit on my arm and eat from my hand, I have been walking around the zoo with him and getting him used to other people. Because now that I have the jesses to hold, I can have complete control of him. I never let him be in control even when I bring him back into his enclosure; I am the one to place him back on his perch rather than have him fly to it. Everyone at the zoo is so excited for me to start doing hawk presentations, since right now we do not have any bird of prey shows, and guests always love to see these amazing birds up close and learn more about them.

Right now I'm working on my script for my show. I'm going to talk about the history of falconry and how birds of prey are used today. I'm going to tell the audience how I was able to gain the trust of Jasper by making him realize the only way he was going to get food was if he came to me, and that is how I was able to "man" him. I am also going to teach everyone important facts, not only about red-tailed hawks, but of birds of prey in general. I'm going to focus a lot on hawks' eyesight (which is about 8 times as strong as a human's) since Jasper can not be released into the wild because he has really bad eyesight and therefore, I was able to use him as an educational animal, and I know he was made to do this job.

I know that I want to be able to work with animals like Jasper for the rest of my life. It gives me such joy to work closely and form a bond with such a wild and powerful creature. I hope to teach many people about not just birds of prey but all animals and hopefully they can appreciate these animals the same way I do.

Adventures in Acadia

Hello Unity, and all friends of Unity! I dearly miss life at the college, but it is only a few more weeks and in the meantime I am keeping busy with an amazing internship at the Schoodic Education and Research Center. SERC is located on Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park. My official job title is Science Communications Intern, which means that I (and my roommate/fellow intern) am responsible for making advances in science at the park accessible to the general public. Once I week I go out in the field with reasearchers or park employees and learn about the ways that Acadia is keeping abreast of innovative science and its practical applications. I then write a research or program brief for the National Park Service, as well as at least one weekly blog describing my experience in Acadia. It is a wonderful opportunity, especially since the degree that I'm working towards is in Environmental Writing and in my experience so far writing internships and jobs are not exactly easy to find. So I feel very blessed to have this chance, and very grateful that I responded (on a whim) to the email I received via Unity alerting students of the position. Life is sublimely serendipitous at times. I have never had a particularly strong science background, so sometimes writing about it is somewhat challenging, but I am delighted at how fascinating the research going on here has been so far. My first day of fieldwork entailed working with the invasive plants crew at park headquarters on Mount Desert Island. That was an exciting day; tackling the noxious invasive Giant Hogweed, a nasty plant capable of inflicting severe blistering and burns of human skin through its sap. My second week I went out marsh coring, a method of research I had never heard of before. However I quickly discovered that it is an invaluable tool for measuring carbon sequestration in marshes, a topic that is directly applicable to climate change. Unfortunately my fieldwork this week was rained out but I'll soon be working on a brief about Acadia's peregrine falcon program. In the course of these 10 weeks on the Maine coast I hope to become a better writer, a better scientist, and increase my awareness of the intriguing possibilities of my native state. Despite growing up in Maine I've never really experienced the coast and it is tremendously exciting (although a little lonely at times) to live here for a summer. If you would like to check out my official internship blog through the park service, check out www.northeastparkscience.wordpress.com. I will check back in as further developments unfold. Missing Unity every day!