CCT Volunteer Dakota Van Deursen Blog Post (FORRU placement)

The past two weeks have been a true whirlwind. FORRU, the Forest Restoration Research Unit based out of Chiang Mai University, does such great work for the region and the world; it's a true honor to be a part of it all!

                My first week, the other TEAN interns and I were flung head-first into pretty intensive field-work days. Tuesday, we hosted an education day for American college students at the FORRU nursery at Baan Mae Sa Mai. Nestled way up in the hills of Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, it served at the best orientation imaginable -- we got to learn more about FORRU's 'framework species' planting method, then take hikes to visit old planting sites.

                The rest of the week, we spent preparing the plots at Mon Long (near Moncham). Each day, we left campus near 7:00am and didn't return until past 6:00pm! They were long days, but I don't mind it. We spent most of this time removing pine needles from the forest floor to aid in a soil acidity test being performed by one of the staff members.

                It all boiled down to Saturday, though: Big Planting Day at Mon Long with the help of students from MaeJo University, park rangers, the Rajapruek Institute, and others. We put all of the prepared trees in their holes, then began work fertilizing them all. It was certainly rewarding to take a step back and admire our handiwork!

                Following the labor-intensive yet massively successful previous week, our second week was spent mostly in the FORRU office on-campus, working to create electronic copies of Herbology charts. I've gotta say, I'm impressed by how much the simple act of typing differnet species' binomial nomenclature over and over again can affect how you recognize words (and their associated plants).

                Wednesday was spent on the road to and from Tham Pha Thai National Park in Lampang province. In preparation for the next Big Planting Day, we spent the morning loading 2500 seedlings into the truck (learning important Thai words such as "snail," "millipede," and "snake" along the way). The drive that day afforded some of the best, albeit fleeting, scenery I've yet seen in Thailand.

                So, now I'm two weeks in, and I'm totally hooked. I can't wait to see what the next five weeks have in store for me. Not that I want to find out too quickly, mind you! I'd like that departure date to stay as far away as possible, too.