The End

First, I would like to say that I made a goal for myself during my time at the refuge.  This goal was to see a sandhill crane on the refuge before the end of my internship.  I have seen one before, but never on the refuge.  Well on 8/10/2012, I spotted two sandhill cranes to the northern side of the refuge.  Goal accomplished. 

Second, this is my last blog.  I am sorry to say, but this thing has to be turned in and graded.  Well it is not graded, but I do need to turn this in for the USFWS.  Time has gone by way too quickly.  It seems like just 11 weeks ago I was starting to post on this thing telling you about my adventures at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.  I do wish I had more time in this position.  I had an amazing time doing everything I did and have met some great people along the way.  Its just too bad things are coming to an end. So with that being said, I am going to break down the summer for you.  For those of you that might have missed some of my posts, this is your chance to get caught up on anything that you might have missed.  These are my accomplishments since the beginning of my time as a visitor services intern. 



It all started off with a week long orientation.  Here we learned a little about the SCA and USFWS.  During my time there, I met some great people, got an idea of what I could expect during my internship, and got to make out with a blandings turtle.  Definately fun times.

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Welcome to Montezuma.  This is where it all started.  June 4th was the first day of a great summer that I will never forget.  I will miss it here. 










1.)Removal of Invasive Species:
    -Spraying for swallow wort
    -Handpulling Frogbit
    -Handpulling Water Chestnut
    -Weedwhacking Canada Thistle

      

Black tern survey: 

Youth Summer Program:

Canoeing Program:

Goose Banding:

Duck Banding:

Work in the dry marsh:



Program preparation:

Other Random stuff:



Alright, so I think that concludes my summer here at the refuge.  If you had trouble understanding some of the pictures or need some explaining, please feel free to read all my posts that I put up on this blog from beginning to end.  The pictures are explained there.  Like I said earlier, this has been an amazing experience for me.  The SCA and USFWS have been great for me.  I have gained so much from everything I have done at Montezuma.  I have learned and expanded on something that I love to do and something that I live for.  I want to thank the SCA and USFWS for putting together such a great program that opened my world to a number of possiblities. And thank you to everyone out there for reading my blog or at least skimming it and checking out the pictures.  I hope you all enjoyed reading about my great adventures because I know I enjoyed every bit of it.  The End!!!!