21 Jul Week Eight

It’s amazing how fast this summer has been passing by. This week started with more coordinating for our Latino Conservation Week (LCW) event. We now have about 30 people confirmed for our volunteer clean-up crew, and then my supervisory ranger and I are both going to appear on TV next week to make announcements about the event and talk about Arkansas Parks and outdoors in general. I’ve been interviewed a few times for news networks (one time for Univision), but this will be a new experience to participate on panel. It will be all in Spanish, and while I am confident with Spanish I still see ways I can improve it. This internship has actually helped me a lot in improving my Spanish vocabulary, and I feel I’m more prepared than ever to converse in it on TV. Also this week I had a training day with the USGS (United States Geological Society) on measuring water levels in wells. They first gave us a thorough lecture on groundwater and the geologic processes behind it. Being a geology major with one year left in school, I was glad that I was able to understand all of the lecture and contribute with some questions. After the lecture we got to go out into the field and measure wells. You can use either an electric tape (which beeps when the tip hits water) or a metal tape (which you chalk and then see the water mark on it) to measure the wells. I was surprised with how nondescript a lot of the wells were. Many were just small PVC pipes sticking up from the ground that I would have never guessed were actual wells. The wells we measured were around 28-30 feet deep before you run into water. I was also surprised at how much it costs to dig a well, around $20,000-25,000.