Hello Boone County! Welcome to my very first summer intern blog. My name is Jaron Cooper I am currently Boone County Conservation District’s (BCCD) forest health intern. A little bit about me: I am a sophomore at Eastern Kentucky University studying Wildlife Management. I was born and raised in Boone County and am so grateful for this internship experience not only for the fact that I am getting priceless experience in the field but also just as exciting is the fact that I get to give back to my community that I have gotten so much from. 

My first couple of weeks at BCCD have been focused on the Conservation Kids camp and getting my toes wet with the ultrasonic wildlife recording of bats in Boone County. Conservation Kids camp is always a great experience, getting to see the kids get excited about conservation is always inspiring. The theme for camp this year was the Lewis and Clark expedition, the children got to learn about the animals and plants that the expedition had experiences with on the journey. Learning how to work the bat boxes which are specialized microphones to record bats is a process I am finding very enjoyable. 

I am looking forward to the rest of my summer with BCCD and the projects to come! Stay in touch as I will be writing a couple more blog posts before the summer is over.

Hi all! I cannot believe that it is already August or that this will be my last blog post. It saddens me that this summer flew by so quickly, and I wish this internship was not coming to an end already!

Our summer programs have been winding down since LEAF Academy ended, so I’ve had time to finalize my independent project. I created a lesson plan on specific flower-pollinator relationships that teaches students what adaptations plants have to attract different types of pollinators. It’s exciting to see students explore less popular pollinators like birds, bats, and flies. I was able to put this lesson plan in action by running a program at Conservancy Park, which was an exciting and gratifying conclusion to my time as BCCDKY’s Education Conservation Intern. I’ve been really fortunate to have Susan as a mentor, and she’s taught me so much about environmental education this summer.

We’ve continued to work with SD1 on hydromodification assessments and stream monitoring, as well as assisting with bird research using our Song Meter. From wildlife monitoring to education programs, I’ve had countless valuable (and fun!) experiences during this summer. In a few weeks, I will be returning to Loyola University Chicago to finish my undergraduate degree. I will be graduating with a B.S. in Environmental Science in May 2022, and I’m eager to find other opportunities in environmental education after that. This internship exceeded any expectations I had, and I am grateful to everyone at BCCDKY and at all the organizations and agencies we’ve worked with this summer – thank you!

Thanks for reading!
Kathleen Reilly

Hi everyone! It’s been a busy and fun few weeks since my first blog post, and I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer and getting outside!

We’ve spent the past few weeks preparing for and running LEAF Academy, a week-long program for teens that BCCDKY runs with Boone County Parks. LEAF stands for Leadership, Exploration, and Fun, and there was an abundance of all three of these the week of July 12-16! I really enjoyed working with this older age group, and I learned countless lessons about environmental education from Susan throughout the preparation process and the program itself. In addition to helping out throughout the week, a few personal highlights were teaching a fire building lesson and running an “each one, teach one” activity where the students were able to teach each other. It was beyond exciting to see the next group of naturalists and conservationists in action!

Wildlife and stream monitoring are another great part of my experience at BCCDKY. From mapping out transects for bird research in Boone Cliffs to helping SD1 with a hydromodification assessment, this internship has been full of exciting opportunities to gain new skills and knowledge. It’s been great to see Stephanie’s bat research develop and to assist with monitoring, including going on a very cool night hike to observe a potential bat roost. I’m currently working on my independent project: a lesson plan on flower-pollinator relationships. My goal is to increase students’ awareness of pollinators outside of just bees. I can’t believe I have less than a month left at the Conservation District, but they say time flies when you’re having fun!

Until next time,
Kathleen Reilly

Hi again! I hope everyone has been having a great summer so far! I’m so excited to share what I have been working on with BCCDKY!

Since my last blog post I have chosen to pursue an independent research project regarding bat diversity in Boone County. In order to gather data, I have been placing stationary bat audio detectors in Conservancy Park Belleview, Boone Cliffs Nature Preserve, and Dinsmore Woods State Nature Preserve. In addition to stationary data collection I have also gathered mobile data through a predetermined driving route and through the use of Echo Meters. After the audio data is collected, I have been analyzing the bat calls through the use of two different software’s called Kaleidoscope and EchoClass. It has been extremely exciting to see how many bat species are present in Boone County! Not only is knowing the biodiversity of an area exciting, knowing what species are present can help the District in their efforts to protect and conserve the biodiversity of Boone County, as knowledge of the presence of specific species can lead to different forest management practices. If you would like to see what bats are in your area, BCCDKY has Echo Meter Touches that you can rent out and attach to your iPhone in order to see what bat species are living near you!

Aside from my independent research project, I assisted in running L.E.A.F. Academy, a program put on by the District that teaches young adults ages 13-15 not only information regarding the environment, but also skills needed in order to be a young leader. It has been great to see the students grow and learn throughout the program!

Working with BCCDKY has been amazing so far and I’m excited to continue updating y’all with what I’ve been doing!

Best Wishes, 

   Stephanie Spence

Hello everyone! I hope that y’all have been staying safe and enjoying the wonderful summer weather! My first few weeks at BCCDKY have been very busy and exciting and I’m itching to let y’all know what we have been up to!

My first few weeks at BCCDKY have been mainly focused on preparing for our summer Conservation Kids Camp. I aided in programming exciting and educational activities, such as lessons surrounding bird adaptations, edible plants, and cicadas! It was extremely rewarding getting to see the kids engage and enjoy activities that I had helped plan. I also enjoyed getting to lead my own station at camp surrounding cicadas, in which I got to not only teach the kids the information I had learned about cicadas but they also got to partake in cicada collection as well as other hands on projects that helped cement their knowledge.

Apart from planning CKC and L.E.A.F.! Academy programs, I have also been placing audio monitoring equipment out at Dinsmore Woods and Boone Cliffs. Placing audio monitoring equipment out is crucial in identifying the biodiversity of the areas, as well as identifying what bat species are present in Boone County. Knowing what species are present can help the District in their efforts to protect and conserve the biodiversity of Boone County, as knowledge of the presence of specific species can lead to different forest management practices.

These first few weeks at the Conservation District have been amazing, and I am excited to finalize my individual research project in the coming weeks! Tune in to hear about it in my next blog post!

Best Wishes,

Stephanie Spence

Hello and welcome to my first intern blog! It certainly has been a different experience interning during a global pandemic. But although the available work has been somewhat limited, I have been finding creative ways to really make the most of every hour at the Boone County Conservation District. Over the last few months, I have been working closely with Susan on educational programs, such as the monarch-tagging we did at England Idlewild Park and the birding program at Boone Conservancy. Preparing materials and helping to plan these events has given me very useful experience as an environmental educator. Susan has also been a great mentor and has taught me so much already! We have a few more events coming up before the end of my semester that I am really looking forward to. I am especially excited for the night hike on November 6^th, where I will have the chance to lead my own group.

          On my own time, I have been working on an independent project for a nature story trail at Giles Conrad Park. This will consist of signs along the walking trails with fun activities to get kids connected to nature. I am still very much in the planning stages, and currently working on a proposal to send to the Boone County Parks department, but I am hopeful that it will be a good start to a project that I will get to see the results of in the near future.

          Lastly, one very exciting project I was able to participate in recently was an environmental DNA study at Gunpowder Creek. To do this, we collected stream water in bottles to be sent off to the lab and filtered. Once filtered, they will be tested for the presence of eDNA from hellbender salamanders. It is rumored that they live in the area, and this could prove the rumors to be true, so we are all anxiously awaiting the results!

          I can’t even express how grateful I am to have had this opportunity. The things I have learned during my time as an intern here will be extremely useful moving forward in my career after I graduate in December. Working with BCCDKY has been a truly amazing experience and I have enjoyed every minute so far.  Thanks for reading!

-Kelly

Hi Everyone!

Well, with Thomas More’s fall semester starting this week my time here at BCCDKY has come to an end (kind of, but more on that later).  I really can’t stress how much fun I had working with Susan, Mark, and Pavla over the summer.  Whether it was searching for Sasquatch, taking bat equipment out into the field, or conducting my own small mammal survey I always had a blast and learned a lot.

            Over the last month or so we mainly focused on my independent project for this summer, a small mammal survey of the Boone Cliffs nature preserve right here in Boone County.  While it was a little warm while navigating through the Cliffs and conducting the study it was really fun to get back into it!  At the conclusion of the study (today actually) we had captured 33 unique individuals with 14 recaptures.  These results will serve as a baseline for future research at Boone Cliffs!

            Anyway, wrapping up, although my internship is ending, I won’t be done with BCCDKY yet!  This semester along with my classes at Thomas More I’ll be setting up an independent study with Susan where I work on the district’s bat monitoring efforts full time!  So, I’m sure this isn’t the last you’ll hear from me.

Yours Truly,

Joe Pedro