Second Year Project (Semester 2)

My second semester project will remain focused on the Fawcett. This semester we are determined to make an impact on the area by continuing many of the tasks we’ve done throughout the year. For example, continuing to monitor the young trees that were planted last spring. Measuring the survival rate of the saplings after the first winter should be a good indicator of what we can expect to see in the future. I’m hopeful that the work we did last year pays off. The Fawcett center was unfortunately also home to a large number of invasive species such as honeysuckle which we attempted to remove. This is an unfortunate circumstance, because these invasive species are incredibly aggressive in their suppression of natives of the are. Planting the trees in the first place will benefit the Fawcett center by improving the local ecosystem with support of native species.

This ecosystem is fragile at this point, and so it is important that we handle it with care. Taking care of trees isn’t necessarily very exciting, but, doing this work now means that it will not be a larger problem in the future. This project has a heavy focus on service, which is important to me. I hope to complete much more service than this over the summer through my STEP program. This is a good starting point for me, and will also provide a lot of benefits to the Fawcett center. In many ways, this project is a service learning experience. I hope to learn some basic management skills through the experience which I could use in a career in natural resource management.

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