My project is a Buck-I-Serv trip to the Florida Preserve in St. Petersburg, Florida between December 15th through December 22nd during the Buck-I-Serv winter 2023 trip period. The trip involved volunteering throughout the week traveling to island preserves to remove invasive species, pick up trash, and plant trees.
My assumptions about the world came from environmental attitudes and social interactions. I never thought about the benefits of small islands and how much they are impacted by human activity and harsh weather. The Florida Aquatic Preserves showed my group and I how much work goes into maintaining these islands while keeping human stakeholders satisfied. Furthermore, I learned that traveling and living with a large group of people (college students) can be difficult. My group was diverse and thus had different needs, grocery shopping and travel was hard to manage at times.
It was interesting to learn about aquatic ecosystems and the benefits of small islands. When I initially thought of small islands, I didn’t think that they provide much structure to ecosystems. However, they provide habitat to a variety of species, act as a buffer in storms, filter water, and more. It was also interesting to see how human activity can still impact islands through boating, camping, and harsher storms (possibly due to climate change). Overall, this experience has allowed me to appreciate island habitats more and understand the justifications for managing them along with aquatic ecosystems. Having experience in areas with little standing water, this has given me useful knowledge to handle aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
The Florida Aquatic Preserves showed my group and I how much work goes into maintaining these islands while keeping human stakeholders satisfied. It showed the “behind-the-scenes” of management in which lots of unseen work, such as when we went to get mulch. Another issue involves possible old equipment, lack of funding, and lack of staff. This makes the work of managing invasives, trash, trails, and planting even more difficult. Stakeholders (those of camp on the island) also need to be considered for positive views of the preserves and sustainable use of the island’s resources such as snags for fire. This overall improves my interest in the management of ecosystems in the future.
Lastly, I learned about managing myself while being a part of a group. Living with a large group with fun to learn about the little details such as shower time, laundry, and dishes. Going grocery shopping with a large group was a learning curve as everyone wanted different things. Making food was mostly done during breakfast and lunchtime as well, so functioning around other people in a small space was fun to navigate. Taking up decision-making and leadership skills was also necessary when group activities were done. Finally, traveling in general through rental cars, lifts, and even booking flights due to bus issues were all great experiences for independence in traveling.
This trip gave me confidence in being more independent in traveling and living without family. Managing food, cleanliness, and space with a large group of college students gave me great experience in college living as a commuting student. Working with the Florida Aquatic Preserves gave me valuable experience relating to my future career goals. Skills learned include trail building, invasive removal, water weighting, and overall handling work in aquatic ecosystems.
