Best summer job

Everything I could ask for in a summer. That is what this job has
been so far. Not only am I participating in exciting and impactful
research, but I also get to spend a lot of my summer outside! It has
been amazing! The parts of Massachusetts we get to see are beautiful,
filled with winding rivers and spectacular hills. Here is a picture of
me eating lunch by a river. Try to image the soft babbling of the water
and the clean freshness of the air!

I have even seen some really
cool creatures like this
cecropia moth (the large
moth in North America)!!

My day begins with loading up the car with our supplies for the day then heading away from Amherst to our sites. After parking the car, we have to hike up into our sites. While some of them can be steep, it’s still really fun. I am so grateful to be able to have a job that keeps me active and doing things that I love like spending time in nature. Once at each site, we check for hair and reset the lure. Then we continue to the next one. A nice full day of trekking through the woods!

In addition to field work, I have also been doing some work in the lab. While we have begun to extract DNA for our samples, we have also been doing a lot of logistical work such as logging samples and organizing them. Look at how many we have so far! It’s so exciting!!!!

The summer has been great so far, but I really want to see a bear!! At least once and from a safe distance! No luck yet but there is still time. That’s all for now. Peace out!

-Ainsley