Nature Center Day Three:

October, 10th 2018

During our third time at the nature center we had a new task again. This time we all met at one of their bison pastures near the road, the bison had been moved to another pasture so we were able to open both gates and go inside. When I think of pastures I usually think of a wide-open field with just grass in it, that was not the case with this pasture. This pasture was being invaded by a plant called mesquite. It was explained to us that most people believe mesquite is native to this area, but it is not common. Our task today was going to be to clear the mesquite because bison are grazers and need open grass, not a pasture filled with little trees.

We were split up into teams to cover more area and each team member had a specific purpose. Mesquite has long roots so it is hard to pull it up from the ground, instead we were informed that we would trim down the plant and then be placing herbicide on the exposed part to kill these plants. Initially the mention of herbicide made me think of the excerpt from Silent Spring by Rachel Carson that we read, and how pesticides kill off wildlife, and I found it interesting that for one species to live a better life we needed to kill another. Although, the staff did a good job explaining why using herbicide is necessary, and after spending an afternoon clearing brush I understand better now why they use it. Mesquite grows back easily and they simply do not have the man power to clear pastures of it everyday, even with thirteen of us helping it still took a long time to make a decent dent.

My job though was to just cut down the mesquite along with Reilly, then Davis would apply herbicide and Michaela would make piles with the branches. While our group worked every time Reilly and I cut down a branch we would inform Davis that we have a little ‘nub’ for him to apply the pesticide to. The hardest part was trying to avoid the long thorns that grow on mesquite and to make sure that when a branch came down, it fell away from us instead of on top of us. I found that after a while my arms would tire, the clippers are biggest than you think, and I believe I had a fairly dull pair this time, because I had to exert extra strength to cut branches that should have not been that hard to cut originally. While cutting down mesquite Reilly and I discovered some bones, and I had fun attempting the name them all.

Overall though my favorite part of the day was being outside in the sunshine but cooler air and feeling as though I was making a difference, and helping the three workers out because they do so much for the Nature center. I also enjoyed our water break when the staff told us stories about the bison chasing them down and how their vaccines work.

Some of the bone we found while cutting mesquite