Adventures in Conservation – CLIP Week 10

Hey it’s Madi and this is week 10 of CLIP!

Our week started off with a rain day on Monday that we spent on two research projects investigating teasel seeds and herbicide. We also worked on lighting our burn pile at Hennen to dispose of all the invasive plants we have been collecting.

Tuesday morning we had the amazing opportunity of meeting with tons of great people to learn about possible careers in conservation. It was super helpful to be able to ask all the questions we want and discuss opportunities that the future may hold.

On Wednesday we traveled to Chain O’ Lakes State Park where we met with alumni from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. We learned how to use electric and gas-powered chainsaws and discussed lots of techniques to stay safe while also trying to cut  down as much invasive species as possible. After lunch we took a tour of the site and learned about some of the geological features and plants that make it so unique.

Thursday was CLIP’s visit to Nachusa Grasslands where we saw bison herds and helped collect Pale Purple Coneflower seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To close off this week our team worked on a site in Wonder Lake cutting, pulling and spraying invasives like sweet clover and teasel. CLIP intern Emily and I also collected some native fox sedge seed! It was a hard and grueling day but the end results were worth it, and this concludes our 10th week!