In the summer of 2008, A.C.T.I.O.N. had its first internship. This internship occurred in the month of July,for four Fridays. It included going to Hunter Island in Pelham Bay Park, finishing our Tobacco project with NYC Coalition For A Smoke Free City, and conducting an experiment with NYC Audubon Society.
The toughest task we had to endure was pulling out invasive species in Hunter Island. First, we learned how to identify the invasive plants. The reason we pulled out invasive plants like Porcelain Berry, Mutifloral Rose, and Agiastic Bittersweet was because they strangled our native plants and grew so rapidly that it disrupted the ecosystem. To take on this task we were trained by Rich Love from the Natural Resource Group. We learned how to handle the tools we used which were loppers and how to dispose of the plants efficiently. This was a difficult activity to commit to under the hot sun. We had to wear long sleeve shirts and long pants to protect us from the thorns. Nevertheless, we toughed it out and got more work done than expected.
NYC Audubon Society wanted to see if the soil on North Brother Island, South Brother Island, and Swineburn Island were fertile enough to grow native plants in. Something we found interesting was that some of the trays contained bird feces. We planted seeds from plants like Pokeberry, Virginia Creeper, Goldenrod, Aster, Elderberry, and Cherry. After planting them, all we had to do was water them regularly and record if they were growing or not.
We finished our Tobacco Project over the summer as well. The main focus was getting policy signatures from store owners that promised that they would either remove, reduce, or rearrange the tobacco ads in their stores. This is important to us because these tobacco ads target kids and youth. Therefore, we want to eliminate something that may persuade a child to begin smoking. This is something a simple ad can cause.
The toughest task we had to endure was pulling out invasive species in Hunter Island. First, we learned how to identify the invasive plants. The reason we pulled out invasive plants like Porcelain Berry, Mutifloral Rose, and Agiastic Bittersweet was because they strangled our native plants and grew so rapidly that it disrupted the ecosystem. To take on this task we were trained by Rich Love from the Natural Resource Group. We learned how to handle the tools we used which were loppers and how to dispose of the plants efficiently. This was a difficult activity to commit to under the hot sun. We had to wear long sleeve shirts and long pants to protect us from the thorns. Nevertheless, we toughed it out and got more work done than expected.
NYC Audubon Society wanted to see if the soil on North Brother Island, South Brother Island, and Swineburn Island were fertile enough to grow native plants in. Something we found interesting was that some of the trays contained bird feces. We planted seeds from plants like Pokeberry, Virginia Creeper, Goldenrod, Aster, Elderberry, and Cherry. After planting them, all we had to do was water them regularly and record if they were growing or not.
We finished our Tobacco Project over the summer as well. The main focus was getting policy signatures from store owners that promised that they would either remove, reduce, or rearrange the tobacco ads in their stores. This is important to us because these tobacco ads target kids and youth. Therefore, we want to eliminate something that may persuade a child to begin smoking. This is something a simple ad can cause.
Comments