Dustin & Jake

A flooded out county road.

This week, Milnesand got more rain! I am so glad that everything is greening up. The downside of rain - county roads get flooded and you might need a paddle.

This week we did some prairie chicken vegetation monitoring. It was definitely a great time as I got to work with my mentors Dustin and Jake. Dustin works for NRCS(Natural Resources Conservation Service) and Jake works for Pheasants Forever. Charles Dixon with the NRCS also joined us this week and provided valuable information on plants.

I like to think that I have a love-hate relationship with any kind of vegetation work. I love learning new plants and knowing how valuable they are for wildlife and livestock. I hate the repetitiveness of it.  However, I know that at the end of the day this information is valuable for everyone involved.

It has been great to work with Charles, Dustin,  and Jake because they answer all my "Why?"  and "What kind of plant is this?" questions. They also give me background information on the land we are doing vegetation work so that I can see how slight changes in the ecosystem can change the vegetation makeup of a plant community.

Dustin(L) and Charles (R) on the side-by-side that stalled out.

My first day of working with Charles, Dustin, and Jake definitely turned into an adventure with the recent rain. Even though some of the roads were covered in water, we persisted with a can-do attitude.

Dustin (L) and Jake (R) after towing the stalled out side-by-side.

The lesson I learned this week was to make sure all your materials for any project are in working order. Luckily, all the side-by-side needed was a good charge to continue the week's work. I have one more week of working with these three gentleman and hope to learn more plants.

One part of taking this internship with The Nature Conservancy is that we must create a project to show what we have learned over this summer. Hopefully I can put together a plant collection this coming week to use as my internship project.





Stay tuned for next's week blog as I prepare my plant collection.