Working Hard

Well, we are finally done with our training. After five weeks of training, I am ready to get to work. This past Friday, we did our first volunteer service project. This means that we worked with volunteers from the community on a project within the community. We worked with students from an alternative high school to clear areas on a community farm. My group cleared plants from around an electric fence. Apparently, the plants keep making the fence short out. The group worked really hard and we cleared a big area in a short amount of time (two hours). On Saturday, I went to an Environmental Educator Conference in Boston. It was put on by the University of Massachusetts. The conference took place on a small island in Boston Harbor - Thompson Island. We took a boat tour of the harbor before landing on Thompson Island for the conference. The conference was good and I learned a lot. Saturday night, I went square dancing with some of my housemates. I did not know what I was doing half the time, but I had a decent time anyhow. Today I had my first real group service group. We went into a forest and helped build firewalls. These are not really walls, simply areas in the forest that the underbrush is mowed back, 50% of the brush is removed, and all the dead material is cleared. Supposedly, if a forest fire happens these areas are used for firefighters to stand in and fight the fire because the fire can not burn as easily here. It was a lot of hard work, but very rewarding. Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few days.

1) Amanda practicing for WET Fest, which is an educational fair that teaches children about different water concepts.

2) Before clearing plants from the fence.
3) After clearing plants from the fence.

4) Sunset on the beach.

5) Lighthouse in Boston Harbor.

6) I am a top secret CIA agent (carrying water quality kits).

7) These islands were made from dirt from the 'Big Dig'.

8) Me putting a big log into the wood chipper.


9) Carrying wood out of the forest.

9) Boston Skyline