We would like to give a special welcome and thank you to our Invasives Strike Force survey interns for 2020! Irene Sheldon, Michael Lawless, Annalise Jarski (pictured above) and Ben Binstock (pictured above) have all agreed to take on the challenge of dedicating over 80 hours towards surveying and data processing work this summer. So far, these 4 individuals have surveyed, processed and submitted data for over 94 miles of trail and generously engaged in over 145 volunteer hours for our program. Thank you so much for demonstrating such a high level of commitment to protecting our natural areas! We would also like to thank John Phillips, Diane Alden and several other amazing volunteers for their help with removing Siebold’s and Linden viburnum from the Old Croton Aqueduct as well as Vassar College summer interns Calvin Scanell and Mojan Farid for their help in scouting 22 sites near Vassar for help with managing these same viburnum species, as well as chocolate vine and sapphireberry. The Aquatic Invasive Strike Force would like to thank the Town of Lloyd Environmental Conservation Council, Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance, Putnam County Parks, Rockland Lake State Park, Lake Carmel Park District, Yorktown Parks and Recreation, and Nicole White of NYSDEC, as well as PRISM partners Westchester Parks Foundation and Three Arrows Cooperative for assisting with and facilitating all of the aquatic invasive removal projects.
Special thank you also goes to Ben Norton, a high school student at Millburn High School in New Jersey, who has volunteered 65.5 hours as an Invasives Program Intern in July to write Python scripts for our Invasives Strike Force crew’s database. The crew is very pleased with this new interface and has been using it regularly to produce reports on the sites they plan to visit. We’re looking forward to seeing what other great work he is able to accomplish before he has to go back to school. We also wish him luck as he takes his ACT and SAT exams at the end of the summer! Finally, thank you to Betty McDonald who has agreed to be the site coordinator for the Master Gardeners of Bergen County for our Habitat Helpers team. Thank you, Betty! |