I can’t believe I have less than 2 weeks left interning for
FORRU, these past 6 weeks went by incredibly fast. A lot has changed since my
last blog post, but one thing that hasn’t is how much I enjoy working for this
organization. I have attended more field trips, been assigned specific projects
to help with, learned even more about forest restoration, and continue to see
the beautiful scenery Northern Thailand offers.
The
past 4 weeks since my last post have been a mix of data work, field trips, and
various tasks around the FORRU office. I was able to help care for the seedling
nursery we have outside our office. I spent an afternoon doing seedling care
for around 300 seedlings which included picking weeds, refilling the dirt to
each individual seedlings, and watering them...basically I was gardening, which
I enjoyed (the only part I didn’t enjoy was the heat that day)! Other tasks
include entering data into spreadsheets for our bosses, making seedling
identification tags for planting days, and attending meetings for the education
events. Although field trips and my individual projects are a bit more
exciting, I recognize this work is very important!
As for my individual projects, I have been assigned a task
of assisting a professor in Chiang Mai University with a project she’s doing
with forest restoration. She is in the process of working to figure out which
tree species could survive in Thailand regardless of changing climates in the
future. She traveled to a herbarium in England to research the diverse tree
species in various countries in Asia. She collected pictures of the data she
recovered and brought the information back to Chiang Mai to continue her
project. I will be helping her transfer information from pictures she has to
data sheets on the computer so it is accessible easier. The pictures are
snapshots of information tags included with each tree species. These tags
include collector, collection date, description of where the species is
located, and description of the habitat where the species grows. However, these
tags date back decades old, and on occasion, over a century old. It can be
difficult to gather the information on the tags due to illegible handwriting or
not enough information provided. Although, it is really interesting to learn of
all the different species in various Asian countries and even learn more about
the geography and habitats of Asia. The professor’s project is a long process
but the translation of the information tags will be a start to her succeeding
in her research.
Another individual project I have been assigned is updating
the FORRU website projects page. The project page has two categories; recent
projects and previous projects. I’m working to move projects that have been
completed to the previous project folder and add the project outcomes and final
reports to them as well. I also am adding new projects to the recent project
page and updating the current projects that are still in the works. I have met
with professors and various people heading each project to get more information
on what they have accomplished and what they're working to achieve. This is
cool because while I’m working to update the website, I am also learning about
projects FORRU has done with forest restoration before I came to intern for
them. I’m able to understand which part of the projects were successful and
what did not go as planned, which is helpful to know in the world of
environmental sustainability.
Away from individual projects, I’ve attended more field
trips. A few weekends ago I participated in a planting day in Mae Takhrai
National Park but this time I was the volunteer (this event was not put on by
FORRU but the organization Flight of the Gibbon). During this planting day we
planted around 4,500 trees with hundreds of volunteers. This past weekend we
did another planting day, this time put on by FORRU at Tham Pa Thai National
Park (3 hours southeast of Chiang Mai!). We left on Friday and helped with the
controlled planting of various tree species all afternoon on Friday. After the
work day, we spent the night in a cabin located inside the national park due to
the national park being far away from Chiang Mai. Saturday was our big planting
day. We planted over 3,000 trees this time. It was hot and a long day, but very
rewarding. I love being outdoors for my job, it’s always in beautiful national
parks and I am able to see more of Thailand. I also am able to participate in
hands on experience, which is beneficial. One of my favorite parts about the
planting event in Tham Pa Thai was our adventure ride to the planting site. We
drove 30 minutes to the site through backcountry roads in the bed of a pickup
truck. We passed several rice fields, beautiful luscious mountain views, and
went through the forest in order to get to the site. It was a once in a
lifetime experience to say the least. Not only was planting the trees really
cool, but also all the breathtaking scenery I was able to see. I definitely
could not have asked for a better summer internship.
During my time at FORRU, I also helped with an education
event. Around 30 Thai high school students came to learn about forest
restoration. This day began with an information session on forest restoration
and was followed by a hike to Doi Suthep (a mountain in Chiang Mai). Although
the information sessions and guided tours were in Thai, my super awesome Thai
co-workers helped translate it for me so I could understand what was going on -
which I’m very thankful for! After the hike we did various activities with the
students, which provided a fun way of learning about this topic. They were able
to engage and do group work to understand all the information they obtained. It
was really cool and such a good idea, I would love to see this kind of thing
happen for American students back home! They also have these education events
for younger students and college aged students, which I think is awesome.
Educating students on the importance of environmental sustainability can be
really helpful for the future of our planet.
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I have to reiterate how
awesome my coworkers are. They’re so fun to be around and are so passionate
about forest restoration which is a great vibe to be surrounded with for the
summer. Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten to know them more and more and love
that I can call them friends. I’m really thankful for FORRU and my summer in
Thailand. This place is amazing and this organization is great work for anybody
with a desire to help the environment.
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