Week Five

Coming from two weeks of hiking in the Green Mountain National Forest, this was a strange week for the LANDS interns. We spent most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in the office, working on our final Calkins Property report for the city of South Burlington and the smaller report on invasive species infestations for the Green Mountain National Forest. The Calkins report is still in the planning stages, as teams begin to organize their data. The invasive species report involved a ton of data organization, GIS work and map labeling, but it is now nearly finished!

More work on the horizon: interns picked their STPs (Small Team Projects), and have begun to meet with project partners. The three STPs focus on land management, a topic that interns are beginning to feel very familiar with.

On Thursday, we spent the afternoon with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps Richmond Community Crew. The crew was working on trail maintenance at the VYCC’s Monitor Barn, so we joined in and helped to build a rock water bar, found and moved boulders from the woods closer to the trail, and broke larger boulders into gravel for a drainage ditch. It was a physically difficult afternoon, and gave us huge respect for what the VYCC does on a daily basis. We’re also looking forward to another work day in the not-too-distant future, when we get to show the Richmond Community Crew what the LANDS program does!


We are more than halfway through our nine-week program! Where does the time go? Next week, we head back into the Green Mountain National Forest to begin a two-week project sponsored by the Forest Service, delineating wetlands. Thanks for reading!