The second week of work wasn’t as easy as the first, simply because my travel-buddy has left. That road trip was AWESOME! Thanks Ben, for the trip of a lifetime!
But anyway, the week's been cool so far.
On Monday, a professor and doctor in botany from Southern Utah University came to the park to give us a "walk & talk" field trip around the park. I learned so much, I can’t even begin to explain. He taught us everything from plants’ scientific names, to ecosystem characteristics, to wild edibles (definitely valuable information to add to my wilderness survival skills).
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I was put on the “veg” crew. Which is a special team put together to manage invasive exotic plants in the park. Basically, they pull weeds. Hahah
Being as I’ve had almost 6 full years of manual labor in large scale property management and landscaping, this task didn’t really intimidate me. I brought energy and humor to the team like I always do. It actually ended up being pretty relaxing.
Since the plants the team was looking for (Salsify) blend in almost perfectly [in it’s early stages] with the native grasses, the method is actually just to take a leisurely stroll around and pull as many as possible. In Salsify’s later, flowering stage, they’re pretty easy to spot since it’s usually a 12-15 inch tall yellow flower (pictured). The veg crew is also the team local highschoolers sign up with for summer seasonal jobs. So, unfortunately, I kinda have to deal with managing delinquent highschoolers, but they usually behave. I usually just walk and talk with my supervisor the whole time. Some of the highschoolers are actually pretty nice. One of them was kinda fascinated that I was from Florida and actually taught me a bunch about the area. They even showed me my very first horned lizard (pictured)! I thought they would be bigger. Supposedly the biggest ones in Utah are only the size of your palm.
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