This week I started out with a basic tour of the main part of campus.
There is about 500 acres of federally protected land that is under the protection and care of the National Conservation Training Center. During this walk I saw the well-known raccoon that lived in one of the trees next to the catwalk connecting the two sides of campus. Everyone had an unofficial nickname for him/her.
During my first day I met Randy Robinson. Randy is apart of Fish and Wildlife and he works in the archives and library. He also is the liaison between NCTC and the Friends of NCTC group, who I work for. I was able to join them on my first day at the new Shepherd Elementary School and there we had 3 stations demonstrating various information about Eagles to 4th graders.
If you did not know NCTC has had an Eagle camera set up for about 25 year, with various eagles that have lived there. Currently, the newer camera set up has ben there for about 5 years. These cameras are documenting Scout and Bella (named by the community). They have two eaglets that will fledge soon, who are 6 months old.
The first station I was there with Ellen Murphy and Sytil Murphy, no they are not related. There we had pool noodles and we attempted to have the kids build nests after they learned information about how eagles build nests. After that station I went to Randy's station, where he gave a very interesting presentation on Bald Eagles and the cam set up. The last station was Joe Spurgas, where he gave a demonstration on the “Suitcase for Survival.” This was two suitcases that were filled with various animals used for shoes, purses, bracelets, decorations, carvings, and medicinal purposes.
On Wednesday I also helped the Friends group with another event but with Pre-K children that have been learning about Bella and Scout and Eagles in general. They came out to finally see the nest in person. While outside we saw a snake and a small box turtle.
During this week I went to the out field where we have trees growing for replanting from wildfires. While out there, we did some pruning of the trees. I got to learn about the different native trees in the field. From swamp oak to native hazelnut, which I did not know we had in this region. I also started on some personal projects. I had to clear out a couple of garden beds because we are going to repurpose them for other plants.That concluded all of the responsibilities I had for the week.
For my first week working at NCTC, it was fun and I am enjoying what I am learning about the native plants in our region. I am a hands-on learner so it helps me to be able to visualize what I am learning about. I am still getting used to learning about all the native plants but I will learn them, or, at least, the important ones.
I will check back in next week for another update on what I did. (I will say it may not always be very interesting. It will probably be repetitive work.)
-- Allie Page
