20 Jun Two Weeks in

This past week has been very busy! On Friday we had an event where we searched for horseshoe crabs under the light of the rose moon. Despite being a late night event we had a good turnout. We had a nice size group of people and plenty of horseshoe crabs to see. It was definitely exciting to see so many of them in one place.

On Saturday a ranger and I staffed a table at the Blue Point Brewing Company for the World Environment Community Fair. I never realized how many environment-related organizations were in the area. It was nice talking to all of them and learning about how they get involved. I met some great people who I will hopefully collaborate with during the rest of this internship. It was really exciting to meet others who were interested in reaching out to the Latinos in their community. On Sunday I met members of the Friends of Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) group. This group goes on trips to different sites on FINS in hopes of raising awareness of what it has to offer. We went to Sailors Haven so that we could hike through the Sunken Forest. For most of these people it was their first time going to the Haven. Afterwards we went to a meeting to discuss hosting a multicultural event. The members were asked what they thought and if they had any suggestions. It was refreshing to see Latinos wanting to get involved in their community. Later that night ranger Tom and I went to the lighthouse to conduct a horseshoe crab survey. We counted so many crabs! I have been to beaches where I frequently see horseshoe crabs, but up until this internship I have never seen so many at once. The lighthouse is less than a mile from Robert Moses State Park Field 5, a place where I frequent in the summer. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I could find hundreds of horseshoe crabs a short walk away. There have been so many things going on that the days have been flying by. I can’t believe that this internship is almost two weeks in.