TerraCorps is a branch of AmeriCorps that serves Rhode Island and Massachusetts. While serving in TerraCorps you can choose one of four positions: Land Steward Coordinator, Education Coordinator, Community Engagement Coordinator, and Agriculture Coordinator. I chose the Land Steward Coordinator position and Norman Bird Sanctuary (NBS) as my service site.
I had recently moved to Rhode Island and was interested in the local environment, so I was very excited to be chosen for this program. After exploring NBS for a few weeks I selected three projects to pursue during my TerraCorps service: conduct water quality tests, identify all tree species on campus for a future Arboretum application, and implement upgrades to the newly created food forest. During my time with NBS, I learned about a lot of other topics outside of my selected projects. I was sent to “bee school” to become a beekeeper, learned all about invasive plant species from the properties team, became a master of my home garden from the University of Rhode Island Master Gardeners, and much more. The staff and volunteers have such a wealth of knowledge for many topics, that it’s hard to be here and not learn something new.
I enjoyed being at NBS so much that I signed up to serve a second year with TerraCorps at the Sanctuary. Following my first year, I decided to expand the water quality project to create a full program with volunteers as one of my service site projects. My second project involved updating the master list of campus trees with all the new trees we have planted and ordering tree I.D. tags for the future arboretum application.
In my first year, before a big weather event, I would do a caterpillar sweep and relocate them to their host plants away from the area to prevent them from being stepped on. If the caterpillars were Painted Ladies, I would bring them to my home enclosure (I’ve raised many of them over the years) until they reached their wing stage then release them back at NBS. Then I realized I could build an enclosure here and make it an educational opportunity for our visitors. So, I made my third project our caterpillar enclosure. We planted the host plants for the top four caterpillars I find in our event areas in the enclosure (Painted Ladies, Monarchs, Isabella Tiger Moths, and Giant Leopard Moths). When I find these four caterpillars in a walkway or in an event area, I relocate them to the enclosure and when they reach the wing stage of their life cycles, we release them so they can pollinate in nature. It has been a great success so far and I really enjoy watching people see these caterpillars up close for the first time. I have a Woolly Bear caterpillar talk coming up so stay tuned!
I have served two years in TerraCorps with Norman Bird Sanctuary as my service site, and I have loved every second. I am very excited to have been offered a position on staff at the Sanctuary as the Water Quality and Conservation Coordinator. I’m looking forward to growing the water quality program even further, engaging more water quality interns, beginning the aquatic plant/wildlife catalog of confirmed species, starting the vernal pool monitoring program, and much more. I also can’t wait to create more programming around caterpillars, freshwater macroinvertebrates, and host our first marine macroinvertebrate days.
Additionally, I would like to say a special hello to my mom back home in Texas. She reads every blog, newsletter, post on facebook, and website updates from NBS so I know she is currently reading this one, too. Thank you for supporting me, always, even from several states away.
