Ramble on!

Wet hike at Rapids Lake Unit.
Photo by Christine.

One of my duties as a Park Ranger cadet is to lead family-friendly wildlife observation hikes called “Refuge Rambles.” I create a different theme for these hikes each week and give people a little educational lesson before taking them out exploring every Sunday afternoon. I’ve had both good and bad experiences with the hikes so far, but have had mostly positive results.

The first hike I lead was about mammals. I called it “Neither Hide nor Tail.” I got the idea in my head to lead a hike about mammals from the taxidermied woodchuck that sits on our information desk in the visitor center. He’s not the correct stance to be in the display for our exhibits, but he's a great conversation starter for our visitors mainly because of the funny look on his face with his buck teeth sticking out. People almost always think he’s a beaver or a gopher, but he’s actually a woodchuck, which is also called a groundhog. I found this out the hard way after a Park Ranger told a visitor that he was a groundhog and I piped up and said “I thought he was a woodchuck?” only to be informed by the Park Ranger that a groundhog and a woodchuck are the same animal. Some Park Ranger cadet I am...

In addition to our woodchuck friend at the information desk, there are lots of other small – medium sized mammals on the Refuge that are commonly confused for being one another, but if you look closely, neither their hide nor their tails are the same. The woodchuck unlike the beaver, has a short bushy tail and is the largest member of the squirrel family. Also unlike the beaver, the woodchuck builds dens near buildings, usually around steps or other structures. They build an extensive tunnel system which is used by other critters such as rabbits and raccoons. Rather than chucking wood, woodchucks prefer to eat green vegetation, especially dandelions, and can be found climbing small trees to eat the green buds in the spring.

Another mammal that we see a lot of on the Refuge is the muskrat. Both the muskrat and the beaver are part of the rodent family and both build dens, but neither their hide nor their tails are the same. Muskrats are much smaller than beavers and while their tails are also flat and covered by scales like the beaver’s, muskrat tails are long and narrow rather than flat. I brought animal pelts along on the hike to show visitors the difference between the mammals. Muskrat fur is probably the softest of all the pelts I had. Muskrat pelts were historically very sought after during the time of the fur trade. Today, hunting and fishing regulations help protect the muskrat.

Bull snake constricting a 13-lined ground squirrel on our front doorstep! Photo by Christine.

Other pelts I brought along were river otter, mink, weasel, and finally a pocket gopher and a thirteen-lined ground squirrel. The last two pelts were to show that the University of Minnesota’s gopher mascot is actually a combination of a gopher and a ground squirrel. Even the U of M has trouble getting their hides and tails straight. Go Squirrel-Gophers!

Unfortunately, I don’t get a huge turnout for my hikes so I have gradually put less and less energy into developing them. My recent hikes have been a lot less formal than my previous hikes, but still fun and educational. While I love being around people and don’t have much trouble talking in front of crowds, these hikes have been intimidating, especially after my first experience froggin’ around.

Grey Tree Frog door greeter at bunkhouse. Photo by Christine.

My second hike was on frogs, which I am not very knowledgeable about. I borrowed the information for the hike from another intern who works at the Rapids Lake Education and Visitor Center by the bunkhouse that I live in. Apparently, he knew a lot about frogs while I had very little knowledge about them and attempted to teach myself and others in the few short days that I had time to prepare. Needless to say, things didn’t turn out so well. 

The plan was to bring nets and an aquarium on our hike so that we could collect frogs or whatever else we could find along the way, but the frogs didn’t cooperate and my fellow hikers were not pleased. One older woman criticized me to the point where I felt I needed to start thinking about a change in career while the mom and her two-year-old daughter who joined us were too worried about getting their shoes muddy to step off the trail and search for frogs. Heaven forbid they track mud through the Mall of America where they planned to go afterwards.  

    

Donnie hiking with us on the Long Meadow Lake Trail.
Photo by Christine.

My self-esteem was a little shot down after that, but luckily one of the volunteers at the Refuge has taken me under his wing for the summer. His name is Donnie and he joins me on each and every one of my hikes to help answer questions and keep people entertained. He is a wealth of knowledge and I’d be lost without him. The past couple of weeks, Donnie, the volunteer, brought his spotting scope along on our hikes which allowed us get an up close and personal view of wildlife we saw on the Refuge. 

Another hike I lead had a waterfowl theme. Prior to working at Minnesota Valley, I had an internship at Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge in Missouri. My boss, Tim Haller, was responsible for coordinating the Missouri Junior Duck Stamp program with my assistance. So, I am fairly knowledgeable about waterfowl. Plus, Minnesota Valley has a plethora of taxidermied waterfowl they like to call “ducks on a stick.” Just in case the waterfowl were as scarce as the frogs on my previous hike, I made sure to bring out the ducks on a stick so even if we didn’t see any waterfowl on the refuge, people would at least get a good view of the birds.

Snapping turtle at our bunkhouse. Photo by Christine.

To my surprise, the waterfowl living on the Refuge turned out to be right on cue. As soon as we got to the wetland on our hike, we saw movement in the water and luckily, Donnie was able to zoom right up on what we were seeing with his spotting scope. Very rare to see this time of year was a female hooded merganser and a trail of ducklings following behind her. No sooner did she swim away before a wood duck and its babies came swimming past. In addition to this waterfowl action, the egrets on Long Meadow Lake were thick and at one point in time a great blue heron came swooping in. Before we headed back we saw on a turtle on a log that appeared to be doing some calisthenics with one of his back legs. The up close view with the spotting scope showed us that rather than doing a yoga pose, the poor little guy was trying to shake a leach off his leg that just wouldn’t come unstuck. One of his turtle friends attempted to help his comrade but couldn’t figure out how to get up on the log.

My last hike was a success as well. This past Friday the other visitor services intern that we have been expecting to join us at the dorm finally arrived all the way from North Carolina. So this time, I had not only my regular helper Donnie join me on my hike but another friendly face as well. Best of all I had a frog expert leading my hike this time.

Christine holding Crayfish.

The Saturday before my herpetology (reptiles and amphibians) theme hike, I went out to catch a few frogs so I would definitely have some to share this time in case we didn’t run into any on the hike. As I was walking out the door I asked an inquisitive little boy and his mom that were in the visitor center if they wanted to join me. They ecstatically agreed to help out and help they did. Alex, the little boy, caught five baby American toads to use for show and tell during my hike and asked if it was O.K. if he could lead the hike the next day. Any reason to take me out of the hot seat is fine by me, so I told me that he sure could. 

It was nice not being the center of attention for a change and both Alex and the wildlife helped with that. On our herpin’ hike we caught even more baby American toads as well as two adult toads, a garter snake, and a crayfish. In the middle of all the excitement, two white-tailed deer came strolling almost right up to us. It was a sight so see. Everyone left with a smile and I was able to let out a sigh of relief.

Peregrine Falcon released on refuge after rehabilitation from injury.
Photo by Chirstine.

Despite some struggles that I had along the way, everything seems to be coming into full circle now. I’ve got to see a lot of Minnesota thanks to some friendly locals and friends and family that have came to visit. Over my 4^th of July weekend, my mom came to visit with a friend for a few days. We stayed in Rochester and biked and tubed along the Root River one day and the Zumbro River the next, biking about 50 miles total over the weekend. All in all, I’ve had a good experience here in Minnesota and I’m glad that things are finally looking up. 

Great Spangled Fritillary

Photos in Butterfly Garden by Christine. Bottom: Red Admiral posed on Purple Cone Flowers. 

I've also gone on hikes on my days off with both Donnie and Warren another volunteer. Warren is a retiree who is very active in the nonprofit organization Earth Watch. He travels around the world helping the environment in a variety of ways through Earth Watch Expeditions. This week Warren took the new intern and I to the the Grey Cloud Dunes Scientific and Natural Area on one of our days off where we hike around and identified wildflowers. With Warren's help, I plan on leading a wildflower walk for my last hike before I vacation back to Missouri for 10 days. 'Til next time I’ll keep rambling on!      

Warren and I at the Grey Cloud Dune SNA with the Mississippi River at our backs.

Deciphering MN

Happy 4th of July! For the first time since I can remember, I am not spending my independence day celebrating Tom Sawyer Days in Hannibal. I have to admit, I kind of miss it. You can't beat Hannibal's 4th of July celebration. To make up for my absence in Hannibal, my mom and her friend are paying me a visit. We will be spending the next few days biking along and tubing down the Root River in southern Minnesota. Having their company is like having a little piece of home here with me, but it's not enough to cure my homesickness.

I thought those would be the last words coming out of my mouth this summer, but this internship hasn't turned out to be everything I expected. It has been a struggle to adjust to my surroundings and at the same time I am having an internal battle trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I also haven't made a lot of friends here, which has made deciphering MN that much more difficult.

While juggling all these things, I have to remain professional at all times. Living and working on a Refuge that sees such a high volume of visitors constantly puts me in the public eye. This will only continue to increase as people flock to the Refuge this summer as an alternative to the state parks which are currently closed due to the Minnesota government shutdown.

Ultimately, this internship is just one more thing I can chalk up as experience. Now I know better than to rush into things before considering my options and I want to make sure that I don't make that same mistake again. After my internship is over, I hope to spend a little time reflecting on life somewhere closer to the people that really matter to me. This time around, instead of focusing on MN the state, I will be deciphering MN the person -- Mandy Noel.

Busy Bee

When I first moved here I had plenty of time on my hands to keep this blog up to date, but that obviously hasn’t been the case during the past few weeks. My introductory and training days are over and now I’ve gotten into the full swing of things. Not to mention I don’t have internet access at the bunkhouse which makes updating this blog a tad difficult. Regardless, I would still like to keep people posted as little or as often as I can.

After a lonely week of having the entire bunkhouse to myself, I now have four other roommates. Three of the guys are from Minnesota so they usually leave me home alone on the weekends, but last Saturday another girl moved in who is from California so I will finally have someone to keep me company on the weekends. The two guys that share a room here were actually lab partners at Stevens Point in Wisconsin and didn’t realize they would be living and working together until they moved in! I guess it is a small world after all.

Speaking of it being a small world, get this! Last Saturday when I was working at the Bloomington Visitor Center, a guy walked up to the information desk and started asking questions about the trails. I noticed he had a University of Missouri hat on so I asked him if he went there. He said that he did and I told him that I went to Columbia College. Then he started talking about his summer job which dealt with him traveling to different airports and working on towers. His description sounded very similar to my friend’s boyfriend’s job. They both go to MU also so I asked the guy if he knew them and he did. Turns out I had actually met the guy who was in the visitor center at my friend’s house in Columbia, small world indeed.

Despite my lonesome weekends, I have been keeping pretty busy. My work days are typically jammed pack from the moment I walk in door. Since the Bloomington Visitor Center is in such in urban setting, the constant incoming of visitors and school groups keeps our hands’ full. Luckily, I really enjoy keeping busy, especially with the type of work I get to do. When I’m not working at the information desk with other staff and volunteers (who have been as entertaining as the job itself), I get to help out with interpretive and educational programs on the Refuge and at the Refuge Partner Schools. So far I’ve helped kids learn how to dip net for macro invertebrates, navigate around the Refuge using a compass, and bird watch among other things.

Yesterday we had two school groups come to the Refuge for bird watching activities. We also had a heat advisory all day and after trekking through trails and the woods with groups of 4^th and 6^th graders I was pretty worn out. Even though these groups of kids were only a few years apart in school, their level of interest was drastically different. The 4^th graders were so excited to be in the woods looking for birds that I had trouble keeping up with them while the majority of the 6^th graders could care less about birds and didn’t dare venture off the path in fear that they might get a tick. Two 6^th grade boys were falling so far behind I had to tease them that they must not play sports or be very good athletes since they couldn’t keep up and even that didn’t work very well. They admitted that they were lazy. I guess that’s hormones for you.  

In addition to helping the visitor services staff with their programs, I also have a few projects of my own. Every Sunday afternoon I lead family friendly hikes called Refuge Rambles. Each week I develop a new theme for the hike. Last week my program was called “Neither Hide nor Tail.” During the hike I explained the difference between woodchucks (a.k.a. groundhogs), beavers, muskrats, otters, and minks. I had pelts available to show that neither the hides nor the tails of these animals are the same and pointed out spots along the trail that these animals might be found. A family of muskrats has been really active near a lookout point of the wetland on the Refuge. A volunteer and I saw an adult muskrat carrying its babies through the water one day and I was banking on us seeing a muskrat during the Refuge Ramble. Unfortunately I didn’t have a big turn out for my program but I did bump into plenty of people along the trails. I was able to show them the pelts and explain the difference between the mammals so it worked out well.

Some other projects that I have in the works are developing geocaching on the Refuge, leading a bicycle friendly wildlife observation tour of the Refuge, and providing an online outlet for Refuge visitors to upload their pictures. All of my ideas were accepted by the Visitor Services Specialist, which was a great feeling, and hopefully they will all be a success!

On my days off I have been spending a lot of time relaxing, biking, and figuring out what I want to do next with my life. I have been watching USA jobs closely and so far I’ve applied for a visitor services job with the Forest Service that did not have a specified location and an education technician at Rock Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado. I’m also looking into getting my masters’ in environmental education perhaps through the Peace Corp.’s Masters International program. The only two schools that have a master’s program for environmental education through Masters International are Stevens Point in Wisconsin (where some of my roomies go to school) and Colorado University in Boulder. Both of these are ideal locations so I will definitely be looking into them and possibly a SCEP position if I’m lucky.

For those of you that aren’t aware of what Masters International is, it’s basically a program sponsored by the Peace Corp. that allows you to begin your master’s program, and then commit to two years of the Peace Corp. while working on projects dealing with your master’s/thesis. After completing your two years of service, you then return to finish your masters program. I’ve always wanted to live in another country, specifically Latin America, but any country would do, to help those in need and really make a difference in people’s lives. It would be fantastic if I could do all of that while getting my master’s.

Another program that would be great to be nominated for if I go on to get my master’s is the SCEP or Student Career Experience Program. This program allows you to work for a government agency while completing your degree then almost guarantees you a position within that agency upon completion of your degree. I’m not sure if I could do both the SCEP and Masters International, but we’ll see what happens and I’ll be sure to keep you posted on what comes next.   

My Backyard

Check out what my backyard a.k.a. the Rapids Lake Education and Visitor Center looks like!

Little House on the Prairie

My life has changed drastically in the past few weeks. At the beginning of the month I graduated from Columbia College with a B.A. in environmental studies and did not skip a beat before leaving my quaint apartment in Columbia, Mo. and returning for a short time to my childhood home in Hannibal, Mo. For quite awhile now I have been itching for some new scenery and to be on my own putting my degree to use. 

Throughout my last semester I searched for jobs all over the country from the Redwood Forests to Cape Cod to the Florida Keys. Luckily, the opportunity to travel out of my comfort zone arose after a successful interview for a visitor services internship at Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge which is located in and around the Twin Cities. Since I found out I landed the position several months ago, I have been dying to get up here and now that I have finally arrived, I am beginning to see that life here is everything I had hoped for and more.

Thanks to my loving and supportive parents who joined me on my trek up country, I am now officially moved in to my summer bunkhouse on the Rapids Lake unit of the Refuge or what I like to call the "little house on the prairie." Minnesota Valley is a very unique refuge. The bunkhouse is on a more remote part of the Refuge, but the visitor center that I work at in Bloomington on the Long Meadow Lake unit is literally a hop, skip and a jump or should I say a drive, bike or a light rail ride away from the Mall of America and downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. 

Despite this Refuge’s highly urban local, the natural resources are rich and pristine. From what I have been able to observe, Minnesotans truly value their environment and work to preserve it in all its glory. I have visited some extremely rural areas in my day, but in the short time I’ve been in Minnesota, I have observed wildlife up close in personal far greater than ever before.

For instance, while on lunch break during my first official day at the Bloomington office, as many as three wild turkey were wandering in the forest only a few feet away from our picnic table. But these game birds don’t even make up half of the song birds, waterfowl, and birds of prey who call the Refuge their home. Bird feeders outside the visitor center see a steady stream of red-wing and yellow-headed black birds, chickadees, orioles, finches, warblers, woodpeckers (one of which constantly has his head buried in holes it has pecked in a tree outside our lunch room) and many more. Some of these birds I’m told are so well adapted to the area, they have managed to maneuver their flight patterns to cooperate with the major airlines from Twin Cities International Airport. 

My supervisor, Park Ranger Judy.

In addition to familiarizing themselves with trains, planes, and automobiles, wildlife in the metro area have also learned to cope with the people that operate these machines. One friendly bird that is commonly spotted at the Bloomington visitor center is a red-tailed hawk who’s not a bit intimidated by the many visitors as he swoops through the Refuge keeping the thriving population of ground squirrels in check. Another fearless animal that has been caught on security cameras at the Bloomington visitor center is a coyote that is assumed to have a den nearby. My boss informed me that one day the coyote nearly walked into the visitor center with its sights set on a St. Bernard hiking with a family on the Refuge trails. Whether it’s the critters or their caretakers that cause wildlife to thrive here is unclear, but there is obviously hard work and devotion on both ends.

In Missouri, which is a mostly an agriculture state, the majority of outdoorsmen I have come across are largely hunters and anglers. Minnesota outdoorsmen on the other hand, seem to be equally as interested in the wide variety of recreational opportunities made available to them in addition to seeking game. The state is known as the land of 10,000 lakes and apparently they have made it their goal to match and likely surpass that number of lakes with parks and trails. Along just about every roadside in this area an additional path is set aside for bikes and pedestrians which are both in abundance.

Just last week I was joined by another intern as we crisscrossed through trails along highways, over rivers, and through woods all the way from the Refuge visitor center in Bloomington to Minnehaha Falls, a waterfall just a short hike away from the light rail which runs through downtown Minneapolis. The ride was exhilarating and the view breathtaking, but to me the people here are just as astonishing as the scenery. 

Everyone I’ve met so far has been extremely friendly and generous which has made me feel right at home. My surroundings haven’t varied greatly from the environment that I am used to. I am still in the Midwest and I basically just followed the Mississippi  River north, but whether it’s the people, the resources, or the recreational opportunities, I am finding that this state is a better fit for me. This summer is not only looking like it will be a lot less humid, but a lot brighter as well.  

Wetland on the Long Meadow Lake trail.