Welcome to the LANDS 2009 Crew blog

We are excited to include you in our work this summer!

The first week has come to a close, and it went by faster than any of us could have predicted. Here is a brief synopsis of our week.

Monday was filled with introductions to the LANDS program, each other, and our work in the context of environmental conservation on a state, national, and global level led by UVM professor Deane Wang. In the afternoon we began discussing and exploring the natural area we will be working primarily in: The Champlain Valley.

(The interns left to right: Charlotte, Lauren, Lisa, Tim, Andrea B., Gavin, Andrea L., Arthur, and Ellen)

Tuesday morning we practiced compass work, GPS, and other skills important to working in the field. The afternoon was a hands on project in Williston VT with Jessica Andreoletti an environmental town planner. Jessica included us in a buffer zone restoration project and non-native invasive plant removal that had been just begun and needed continued attention.















(James instructing on GPS)

Wednesday morning we were introduced to the Calkins property in South Burlington. We will be spending a lot of time there in the weeks to come, and it will be an exciting property to work on with the town of South Burlington. At Calkins we practiced using GPS, and then in the afternoon we took our GPS points back to Campus for experience with GPS and computers.
















(A glimpse of our home base)

Thursday morning was an intensive introduction to non-native invasive plants in our area through a presentation lead by Sharon Plumb of The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

Sharon also joined us in the field in the afternoon with Emily Seifert also from The Nature Conservancy as she directed us with hands on control methods of invasives management. We then got to practice the management by helping clear out some Japanese Knotweed which had gotten far out of hand in a floodplain forest on one of the TNC's properties in Richmond.
















(Emily Seifert discussing invasive plants with the LANDS team)
















(hands on practice with Japanese Knotweed.)

Friday was back at the Calkins property with our guest teacher Liz Thompson the author of "Wetland, Woodland, Wildland A guide to the Natural Communities of Vermont". It was a real pleasure to have her join us in the field and she was a wealth of knowledge and experience for all of us to learn from. We were also joined on the property in the afternoon by Cathyann LaRose an assistant planner for South Burlington and Craig Lambert the South Burlington Arborist to help give us some perspective on our work on the Calkins property.
















(Liz Thompson discussing soils with us)

Thank you for your interest in our work!