Conservation Intern – Boone County Conservation District

Starting Summer at the Creek!

By Fiona Southers

This month has been incredibly exciting and busy, I have met so many fun and intelligent people this summer spending time doing fish surveys in Gunpowder Creek, being a counselor during our conservation kids camp, kayaking to split rock, setting up a song meter to listen to frogs and birds, tabling at ARI for their Adventure Trek, forest monitoring plots, and doing research on Middle Creek.

We have done multiple fish surveys for Maxwell’s project with the help of Thomas Moore interns, Liz from SD1, Boone County Parks and their interns, Kenton county conservation district, and other people in the environmental field. It took multiple people to use seine nets to trap fish and collect them for identification. On other fish surveying days we electrofished to temporarily stun the fish while the rest of us worked together to collect them in handheld nets. We went through various areas such as riffles, runs, and pools to collect different types of fish. We found Long Eared Sunfish, Bluegill Sunfish, Rock Bass, Largemouth Bass, Bullheaded Catfish, SpotFin shiners, Fan Tailed Darters, and more.

For the first time, I got to be a camp counselor for BCCD’s conservation kid’s camp which lasts for two weeks in June. I created a fun activity for the kids to practice being archaeologists and paleontologists to dig for their own artifacts and fossils. I made four bins with artifacts and fossils in different layers to represent the different geological times and ground layers. I had some of the kids dig through with trowels to find the artifacts/fossils and then a separate group at a different table with water buckets, sifters, and toothbrushes to clean them off and identify whether they believe they are ancient or modern. After they are cleaned off I had the kids separate them into two different buckets for ancient and modern. Overall, I think that the kids enjoyed this activity, but went through it very fast and it took up less time than I expected. Other than this we took the kids to the vernal pool, creek, hiking, and other various activities. My favorite find from leaf camp was what we believe may have been a young red spotted newt and tadpoles that we found with nets!

In between both weeks of camp I kayaked with Maxwell, Mark, and Susan to Split Rock where we will be taking the older students during LEAF academy in July. It was a very pretty day and I got to explore a little of the wetland at Split Rock as well. I found a Southern Leopard Frog and a Spring Peeper just by walking through the grass. We kayaked to Split Rock which is next the mouth of Woolper Creek and it a natural formation along the Ohio River.

During my free time I decided to set up a song meter to record frog/toads along the vernal pool on Earl and Hazel Jones Center. I mounted it on a tree in a popular amphibian area and let it record the sunrise and sunset for a few days. I only heard what I believe are Green Frogs and Cope’s Gray Treefrogs by listening to the files on Kaleidoscope and using USGS frog sound list.

I also got to see a tour of the Center for Mussel Conservation in Frankfort KY where we saw the Mussels and Hellbenders being raised and eventually released! This was great to learn more about Mussels, their importance, and see a hellbender for the first time!

James and I worked a tabling event at ARI which I previously volunteered at and completed a field school with, so it was good to go back to the guard site and see people I know. I also got to talk to many different kinds of people both public visitors and workers from other companies. This was good to gain skills in talking to people about what BCCD does and the importance of conservation. I enjoyed talking with other companies to learn about what they do as well.

Maxwell, James, and I with the help of Thomas Moore interns, have worked on multiple forest monitoring plots where we measure the size and species of trees in a 50 by 50 meter plot with dbh tape. This has helped me learn how to better identify trees and learn what kind of species both native and non-native are present on the property as well as the forest canopy density.

In return we have helped the Thomas Moore Interns and Liz from SD1 with hydromods and macro invertebrate surveys at Middle Creek. Here, we collected macro invertebrates to determine the health of the creek and measures the banks of the creek to keep data for erosion over time.

Finally, I have been working on starting a preliminary watershed plan for Middle Creek by hiking the trails, taking photos, collecting online data, making maps and working on putting it all together in one document for the benefit of the creek and park. I have also been working on a public informative flyer to put on the website that explains the stream restoration that will be happening in Middle Creek and why it is happening. It has been a lot to put together because of how much there is, but I am excited to see how it continues to come together and the benefit that it will have for the local community and the future of Middle Creek.

July 1, 2026

Conservation Intern

Reaching out And Researching

Maxwell Holt

June marks the real beginning of summer and I have jumped in head first! This month we had our conservation kinds camp during 2 weeks of the month. We had 42 kids come and learn with us. Our theme this year was history, where we learned about the Native Americans that once called this land home, pioneers, settlers and early American life! The campers got to do many hands-on activities like wheat grinding near the mill, atlatl throwing with Big Bone Lick State Park, and presentations from our director Mark and Archeological Research Institute. With this we learned natural dyes, food, medicine and a general appreciation of the flora and fauna of our region!

As some of you may know, my research project is a study on the fish population we have here at our stretch of gunpowder creek. The methods I am using to catch the fish are with a seine net, electro shocking backpack and some minnow traps. Some of you I am sure have noticed as well it has been a very rainy month, which makes collection quite difficult in higher, muddier faster flowing water, and you need at least two days after rain to get back to normal levels. But I have made the most of what good weather we have and have already gathered and looked at over 400 fish and over 20 different species! As the summer and heat turn up I look forward to getting back in the water and preparing for our leaf academy session and whatever July has in store!

July 1, 2026

Conservation Intern

A Gateway to Conservation

By Maxwell Holt

I have worked across the state and country, and I am so excited to be able to do work here in my own back yard! Before I started this job I had never heard of conservation districts before. I was glad to hear how widespread they are and some of the work they do. I can say that in my first month here I have already done a lot of fun and helpful work.

As of this first month I have been busy doing some public events like our open house, preparation for conservation kids camp, and work on property like trail maintenance or invasive species removal.

Our summer is just getting started and I am looking forward to doing more work with the public and learning how to serve the community through conservation. On property I have enjoyed getting a rough estimate of what calls the center for conservation, and by extension our county home. I have seen over 50 species and counting being birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, and amphibians! I'm just about to get started doing some electro shocking and seining for fish for my independent project, where I plan to do a figure out what species of fish live in our stretch of gunpowder creek. I look forward to getting started with this and starting our summer camp in June as well. Also I will be working on some posts for the social media platforms to help people learn about conservation and what part we're playing to help our community and state!

June 1, 2026

Conservation Intern

Springtime at Gunpowder Creek with BCCD!

By Fiona Southers

Hi, my name is Fiona and this month I started working with the Boone County Conservation District as one of their new interns! I was able to meet the team that does amazing work there and get to know likeminded people that care about the planet. I got to take many tours of the Property known as the Earl and Hazel Jones Center for Conservation that also has ruins of a historic Mill. On Saturday we hosted a public open house, but before that I worked to make sure the trails were nice, set up tables, and helped to build a wooden fence along the mill site viewing area. The day of the open house was very rainy, but I invited my family and was able to give people tours of the protected areas to many members of the public.

I have immediately started helping out with their Kentucky Watershed Watch sampling events to check the water quality of different streams in Boone County. After sampling through Middle Creek at their Decker Wildlife Management Area I was inspired to do my summer research project on the Middle Creek Watershed because of its location and its importance to the local ecosystem. I have decided that I want to create a plan for watershed management and to educate the public on why there are needed restoration projects that will be started on Middle Creek.

I have also been helping out with planning for a conservation kid’s camp by planning an archaeology digging activity with artifacts for kids to find in different layers. Everything that I am using I have found or BCCD has given me that they have found ranging from pottery sherds, to fossils, and rocks. This activity will have a timeline that kids are going to try and figure out what time period each piece they find is from and the importance of conservation by thinking about what they are leaving behind for other people to find.

This week we have been mostly planning for camp and practicing how the activities and other camp things are going to go on people from various environmental organizations. It was nice to meet everyone, learn what to add to the activities, what to change, and hear feedback from others to make this camp even better for the kids this summer!

In just this May I have got training for CPR, chainsaws, camp activities, and water sampling that will be extremely helpful for the rest of the summer and my future career.

Here are some of my favorite photos from May!

Some kind of Millipeed — Some kind of Millipede

My new tomato plant I will be growing this summer given to me by Angie from UK extension office

June 1, 2026

Conservation Intern

Parker’s July Blog

Parker's July Blog

This month has been a very busy one. I finished my independent project (see it here!), helped with both weeks of LEAF Academy, tabling at Raising Hellbenders (a concert for conservation), helped with hydromods, and Pre-K lessons. I am deeply grateful for all of the support and new skills that I have gained while being an intern at the Boone County Conservation District (BCCDKY). Since my time with the BCCDKY is coming to a close I would rather dedicate this blog to my wonderful coworkers.

James:
James is a font of information. Whether it's his specialization (in forestry) or in misc skills I have valued his advice and dedication to conservation. I have enjoyed his can-do attitude and help with whatever task I have had to do. He is a great teacher in helping me understand the native forest species. His willingness to help has no bounds.

Mark:
Mark has a tender heart especially when it concerns those of the younger generation. He has an eagerness to pass on his skills and knowledge to them. His passions for local history and Native Americans has helped me to appreciate all those that have come before me and to build on the foundation that is left behind by their legacy.

Pavla:
Pav is a fun soul to be around. She is very protective and kind hearted. She posses a foresite to see what is needed, when it is needed, and formulates a plan to get whatever it is to where it needs to be at the time that it's needed. You bring a liveliness to the office and have a keen intellect.

Ashton:
Ashton has been a fun co-worker. They make it so much fun and work more enjoyable. It has been an awesome summer. I know you will go far and we will both continue to grow. Thank you for your hard work, passion, and the many laughs we shared. I have full confidence that you will do well in whatever endeavor you find yourself in.

Thank you for an awesome summer! I couldn't have asked for better mentors!

Parker Loertscher, signing off

August 8, 2025

Conservation Intern

Ashton’s July Blog

Hello Boone County, Parker and I are in the home stretch of the internship! July was a productive month for us interns, which consisted of several educational programs, hydromods, and working heavily on our independent projects. 2025 L.E.A.F. Academy was a wonderful time, and we had great, involved kids! Even at their young age (13-15) these kids learned many leadership, teamwork, and conservation skills that they can take with them for their future careers. I am proud of them and glad to have worked with them! Other educational programs that took place were pre-k lessons. The goal of these lessons is to get kids thinking about habitat and local wildlife, even if they do not retain everything, at least it gets them thinking about these important things! As usual, we did hydromods at a few different sites with SD1, helping us refine our knowledge of the hydromod process.

I also spent the past few weeks gathering information and data to complete my individual GIS project. My project focused on locating potential wetland mitigation projects within Boone County using OKI's Greenspace Environmental Mitigation Mapper (GEMM). Wetlands provide incredibly important habitat as well as several ecosystem services (stormwater collection, groundwater recharge, filters pollutants, wildlife reintroduction) that Boone County needs. My goal was to identify potential areas for environmental mitigation programs that would provide the most efficient mitigation process, since these projects are costly in both time and money. After Parker and I completed are posters, we presented them at the Thomas More Field Station. You can view a preliminary version of my poster here - I hope that you guys will find my project interesting and that it opens your minds up to new conservation techniques!

Overall, I had an amazing time working for the Boone County Conservation District and will always remember the Summer of 2025 ! The BCCD staff have given me so many new experiences that I will cherish forever and skills that will help in my future career! Thank you BCCD staff and thank you for reading Boone County Residents!

-Ashton Baxter, Summer 2025 Intern

August 8, 2025

Conservation Intern

Parker’s June 2025 Blog

This past month has been an absolute blast! There has been so much going on.

Kids Camp:
Conservation Kids Camp has been a blast. It has definitely kept me busy during the weeks the district held it. This year's theme was birds. My group's mascot was the Great Blue Heron. Some fun facts
about the Great Blue Heron is that on the front of it there are special feathers that do not ever stop growing. They often fray these feathers and use them to apply/make themselves waterproof. They eat
anything that can fit in their mouth to fish, amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals. In total they weigh only about 4-5 pounds despite their large size. This is due to their bones being hollow. They also roost very high up in the tree tops (up to 100ft) in the air. Recently
when Susan and myself were exploring the creek we went all the way to the end of our property and discovered a Great Blue Heron rookery. Normally Great Blue Herons are solitary especially when hunting but
when it is time to build a nest they nest together.

There were a huge variety of birds that we saw and heard during camp. We set up several bird feeders. Some of the highlight birds that I saw were the Red Bellied Woodpecker, Ruby Throated Hummingbird, and
Goldfinch.

Independent Project:
There was so much I got done for my independent project. One of the major obstacles was understanding where (geologically) the layers on the property belonged. I am deeply grateful for Dr. Hunda who is the curator for the invertebrate paleontology at the Cincinnati Museum Center. She told me (after sending many photos) that my suspicions of the Fairview and Kope formations are present on our property. She also narrowed down what grouping the Kope/specific rocks on the Earl and Hazel Jones Center for Conservation.

Something pretty awesome that I learned about was what BioHerms are.
They are a concentration of Bryozoans or another creature that
dominates and takes over in a specific spot. Their fossils dominate
the area and since these layers take thousands to millions of years to
form it's pretty incredible that they dominate for so long in a
specific spot. Even though we don't have any on the property I did
find one nearby.

Finally I measured the entirety of the siltstone/kope formation that is present on the property. I included areas of groundwater coming over the rock, notable fossiles, and old and new landslides. I will also be measuring the height of the more notable limestone layers on our property. What I find amazing is that in the Kope/Siltstone each
layer of limestone (where most of the fossils are found) are formed by massive storms mixing up all the silt and creatures living on it.

Hydromod/Macro/Electrofishing:
This month in doing several hydromods helped Thomas Moore by taking several macro invertebrate surveys. I held a hellgrammite for the first time and it was interesting to watch it move around. It was a good growing experience. I am still working on my courage to grab a crawdad. For electrofishing we went to Gunpowder where we had a
backpack that put an electrical charge into the water. This would stun the fish and it is a great tool to find out what kinds of fish are in the creek. Besides some catfish we got a lot of sunfish, stonerollers, some shad, spotted bass, and more. After we snorkeled around the property and found a dead but intact Fat Mucket Mussel (both shells
together). I gotta bring it home and now I'm going to clean up its shell.

July 2, 2025

Conservation Intern

Ashton’s June 2025 Blog

Hello everyone, Parker and I cannot believe that June has already passed! We were super busy with Conservation Kid's Camp, hydromods, electrofishing, trail management, and independent studies. Conservation Kid's Camp was super fun and taught me a lot about working with kids. Since we had a bird-themed camp we spent our mornings birdwatching, discussing bird adaptations, bird sketching, and watching live bird presentations. Other than that, the second week of camp we were fighting the crazy heat wave which left us with lots of creek time and eating lots of refreshing snacks! I had a great time getting to know the kids and sharing their fascination with nature!

Electrofishing was really fun and allowed us to look at the different species of fish within Gunpowder Creek. I will admit that catching the fish was a lot harder than I thought- next time I will bring my polarized sunglasses! Our independent projects are slowly coming together, and we cannot wait to show the public what we have been working on. Other than that, it was a normal month full of learning and new experiences! I cannot wait for what July holds in store for us!

-Ashton

June 30, 2025

Conservation Intern

Parker’s May 2025 Blog

Hello everyone! I am a new intern with the Boone County Conservation District. I am close to finishing my bachelors degree in Environmental Geoscience from Brigham Young University Idaho. I grew up in Colorado and moved into Boone County very recently. Besides getting to know the area it has been overwhelming with the amount I have learned since starting my internship. Every day has been different so far. My first day was assisting in performing a hydromod on Gunpowder Creek. This included measuring riffles, elevations, and taking a survey of how large the stream gravels/rocks are. The following day was touring the property and learning tree identification. Since I am from the West the plants, especially the species of trees, are very different then what I was used to growing up and the biodiversity of Kentucky is overwhelming and amazing. Learning tree and plant ID has been very useful in assisting in taking tree surveys throughout the property. Helping in this survey every year helps the county understand not only the tree types and how they have grown over time but the amount of invasive species that are prevalent. This information can be used to measure how effective the county's environmental plan to get rid of these invasive species is going.

My independent study preparation has been stressful and rewarding. Recently I have better understood what exactly I wanted to do for it. I have decided that I am going to map the hazards of Gunpowder Creek, also other creeks within Boone County, involved with mass wasting, plant hazards, and other hazards. I will be looking at how the local geology, which is dominated by limestone, affects stream pH (concentration of Hydrogen in the water) and how it compares to other streams that do not have limestone. Finally, I will be mapping the bedrock layers that are on the Earl and Jones Center for Conservation land and research their formation names and where they can be seen.

Overall this summer is looking to be very busy and full of fun times, learning experiences, and lots and lots of research!

June 2, 2025

Conservation Intern

Ashton’s May 2025 Blog

Hello all, I have had a very eventful May with BCCD! My first day started out with a hydromodification survey, where we looked at the changes in slope of Gunpowder creek and the different pebble sizes. We also spent the week preparing for the Open House event by maintaining some trails, working on plant ID, setting up tents/tables as well as educational material.

Open House at the Earl and Hazel Jones Center for Conservation had a great turnout and the people that showed up had a great time viewing the property! The rest of May consisted of continuing are knowledge about the property, bat ID, tree plots on the property, and mostly preparing for kids' camp. I am very excited to meet the kids in a few weeks, I hope to have plenty of fun and learn lots about nature with them!

June 2, 2025

Category: Conservation Intern

By Fiona Southers

Maxwell Holt

By Maxwell Holt

By Fiona Southers

Parker's July Blog