Last week the resource team went on an adventure to Washita Battlefield National Historic Site in Cheyenne, Oklahoma. The drive from Capulin Volcano National Monument took approximately five hours, and we camped in Oklahoma for three days. The purpose of the trip was to help...
Willow plants are of the genus Salix and Rocky Mountain has a variety of species growing. Recently I have worked on identifying different species growing, exciting stuff! I have become familiar and capable of identifying the common species. One morning an unfamiliar willow plant required measuring...
This weekend, I went down scenic trail ridge road on the way to the East Inlet Trail to help a researcher in the park with her sampling. Her research project focuses on antibiotic resistant bacteria in streams in Rocky Mountain National Park and how human...
Our natural resources team uses pesticides to moderate the spread and propagation of invasive plants. It’s part of our integrated pest management initiative, used to maximize invasive species removal and minimize associated costs. In this regard, “costs” include not only expenditure and labor, but more...
Good news: the first week of fieldwork was a success!!! This past week marked the beginning of the summer field work season for the fisheries crew and myself! It was a busy week filled with many exciting learning experiences as we began a new sampling project...
Jewel Cave keeps me both mentally and physically busy during the work week. In addition to photo monitoring and structure mapping, there are always side projects that need to be done. One such project was installing a 2500‘ PVC drainage pipeline to empty out water...
When you are following an SOP (standard operating procedure), you never know where you are going to go until you read it all the way through and they line it out for you extensively. With the North American bat monitoring program, our park has 5...
This week has been full of adventure from climbing down mountains to throwing plaster on adobe walls. The week started with a very fun trip to Chiracahua National Monument were camped out and went over to Fort Bowie National Historic Site where we were taught on...
Last Thursday I completed my last day of cross-training. I trained with the fish electro-shocking crew. The fish crew goes out at 6:30 every morning and visits the different streams within the park to sample for fish populations. When I went out with them we...