Hi all! I hope that you have all been staying safe and healthy in these crazy times we’re living in. Here at BCCDKY even without our in person summer programming we’ve been keeping busy with all sorts of behind the scenes projects and some of our various programs to be online.
For me personally, I started June off by helping SD1 with macroinvertebrate assessment in several streams in the Boone County area. One of the main reasons we conduct macroinvertebrate assessments in streams is because their presence (or lack thereof) in streams serve as a good indicator as to the overall health of the stream. Both of the sites we went to were crawling with specimen so that’s good news! In between macro assessments Susan and I helped run the planting of the trees meant for this year’s reforest NKY event in Boone Woods, the newly planted forests look great and you can even go see them for yourselves.
I also spent a good portion of June furthering the District’s bat monitoring efforts, by placing monitors out at Boone Cliffs and Middle Creek Park. In fact, I’ve spent so much time in the field working with the monitors and analyzing data that Susan now refers to me as “The Foremost Bat Monitoring Expert in the Area,” we’ll see where that goes though haha.
While I was mainly focused on the District’s bat monitoring project last month Susan and I did make headway on how to proceed with the District’s annual Conservation Kids Camp and L.E.A.F! Academy programs. We also discussed and finalized that my independent project as part of my internship would be a continuation of the small mammal survey that I conducted in Boone Cliffs last summer! This continuation will be incredibly important in that it will further establish a baseline for further small mammal studies at Boone Cliffs in the future. I’m really looking forward to it and can’t wait to get started!
Best Wishes and See You Guys Next Month,
Joe Pedro
