A Fresh Start

 

Lake Tahoe – one of the most pristine ecosystems in our country, my former home.

I used to walked around UVM as an undergraduate feeling like I was a part of the campus ecosystem, the thousands of students, faculty, and staff passing each other every day, some choosing to stick out others choosing to camouflage themselves. Now, after returning to UVM after almost 10 years, I feel as though I don’t camouflage or stick out, instead I feel I as though I am living in a dream. Campus is the same yet different with the Davis Center, a brand new Aiken building, many of the same faculty I left behind who still are quite confused when they see me walk past (if they even recognize me)…it has been a fun week.

For the past 7 years I have been working at the Tahoe Resource Conservation District, doing conservation education and outreach work focused around protecting Lake Tahoe’s aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Lake Tahoe’s ecosystems are some of the most pristine and isolated in the country, and have been fascinating to become familiar with and compare to the Vermont ecosystems I left behind. I would have to say that Tahoe is one of the most heavily environmentally researched and funded areas in the country yet one of the slowest to produce results, in my experience at least. Throughout the course of our Ecosystems Ecology class (for which I have created this Blog), I am excited to learn more about how ecosystems work to be able better utilize our research capabilities to produce more significant results. My passion for the environment and how ecosystems work stems from growing up in rural Vermont. I have always been fascinated by all ecosystems, whether they are tropical, marine, or arctic.

I arrived for the start of my graduate career at approximately 3am Monday morning this week, only a short few hours before my first class, after driving from Lake Tahoe, California in just a few days to attempt to make it here on time. My drive across the country was a great start to observing the great variety of ecosystems we have in our own country – from the 10 foot snowpack I left behind in Lake Tahoe to the high plains in Wyoming and Nebraska to the cornfields of Iowa. On the last day of my drive from Lake Tahoe to Vermont, I found out that a very good friend of mine lost his house and everything he owned in a fire. His incredibly humble yet noble perspective: an opportunity for a fresh start, a clean slate. I have been thinking about this statement, routinely, throughout the week, while starting a completely new life and routine as a graduate student. My fresh start is allowing me to take a new approach to my education, to work, to my life, and to my return home to Vermont. This can and should be applied to how we study our ecosystems, as our ecosystems are constantly evolving amongst our human impacts. Change is always difficult yet good. The rate at which change is being forced upon our environment and our ecosystems is only increasing the more we alter them. I am excited to gain a more in depth knowledge of ecosystem functions, processes, and services in Ecosystems Ecology to apply to my research, my work, and my life.

Food for thought…

Is it possible to model global ecosystems?

How is a small community in Haiti working to help restore their local ecosystem?

Rustik, an eco lodge in Furcy, Haiti made of recycled materials and working with the local community and partners to restore the ecosystem in the area.