I know that I’ve talked about the volcano before, but I don’t believe I adequately described what it’s like, physically. It’s basically a mound of cinders and loose rocks. It’s not nearly as solid as, say, the Rocky Mountains. That means it erodes very quickly...
Today I spent a good deal of time catching hummingbirds. Unfortunately, our bander isn’t coming back until the end of the month. However, we can still capture them and take various measurements because it is good practice. Until this point, we had only caught...
Where does your wastewater go? It’s not a question everyone thinks to ask (I certainly never cared to), but it’s an absolutely critical question. Why am I asking you this? Well, as an environmental science student, I’ve taken a planning class or two, which was really the first...
A common issue all over the world is invasive species. Capulin Volcano is no exception. The natural resource crew is currently working on a project to restore the native grassland to a more pristine state. As it is, much of the grassland is dominated...
This post is for future MIS interns or, really, anyone trying to get a job in the federal government. Because anyone in the federal government will tell you that trying to get a job there is very different from trying to get a job anywhere...
The staff at Capulin Volcano is thrilled as our acting superintendent, Fermin Salas, has arrived on-site. Fermin has a lot of great ideas for the park and has been a very warm addition to the group so far. I conducted an interview with him about...
There are pollen slides collected from birds going back to 2014. It’s slow work, but I’m planning to get through all the slides by the end of the summer. Just to give you an idea of what I’m looking at, I took a picture of...
With my first week at Capulin in the books, I have a pretty good idea of how I’m going to be spending the summer. For the past few years, people in my position have worked hard to create a pollen identification guide for the local...
Hello! Welcome to the Xavier Rivera edition of the Capulin Volcano National Monument blog. It will be hosted by yours truly, Xavier Rivera. As I write this post, I have arrived at my yurt in Capulin after three-ish long days on the road. I am...