The Invasives Strike Force Survey Program had an extremely productive month of August. In the year to date, over 50 surveyors have logged and submitted over 713 volunteer hours for standard and intermediate surveys alone, covering over 100 miles of trail. Over half of these hours came within the month of August. The following survey teams have logged over 20 hours of survey work each in the month of August and most will still be hard at work in the coming weeks: Janet Cooper-Wetherly, Loretta Tito, and Toby Perlmutter; Elinor Stapylton and Nicholas George, Greg Smith and Erika Schneider-Smith, and Louise Peterson, Lucy Eldridge, and Jane Peck. The top individual surveyors in the month of August were Raido Oja, Rich Rockwell and Michael Lovell who each completed surveys for over 3.5 miles of trail.
For the Blockbuster program, we’ve surveyed 29 blocks with 91% of assigned blocks completed already. Adrienne Popko, working in Dutchess County, is our most prolific BlockBuster surveyor again this year with data submitted for 6 blocks so far. A close second is Meredith Taylor from NYC DEP and her interns Albert Perez, Jayce Blasso, Raveena Kaul, Keely Terpening, Emily Lyman, Becca Tamanga, Sarah Bickler, and Ethan Pierce who completed 5 blocks. Surveying for invasives across such large regions of New York and New Jersey is no small feat and would simply not be possible without the help of such dedicated volunteers. Your efforts are critical in protecting natural areas and in helping us to make informed management decisions in our valued parks and forested areas. Keep up the great work - the final push is on!
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