Hello and thanks for joining me! I am very excited to share my experiences this summer as the 2019 Manassas LEAF intern. LEAF (Virginia’s Link to Education About Forestry) is an educational program partnered between the National Park Service, the Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and the Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources. The goal of this program is to enhance local outreach initiatives and to promote the conservation of our shared natural resources. My first week has been an absolutely incredible experience thus far and I am so grateful for all of the kind people that I have met at the Manassas VCE office, the Manassas National Battlefield Park, and Conway Robinson State Forest.
This week, I primarily worked with NPS conservation interns at the Manassas National Battlefield Park while they began to outline their field projects for the summer. We went scouting for invasive plants across several regions of the park, finding plants like wavyleaf basketgrass, wisteria, garlic mustard, Japanese barberry, and Japanese stiltgrass in different areas of the property. The process of removing these plants varies greatly depending on the species. It was important for us to evaluate which plants were present so that appropriate control methods can be developed.
Later in the week we started locating some of the abandoned deer exclosures from a study used to examine the relationship between deer population density and vegetation growth throughout the park. The exclosures were deconstructed at the end of the study in the early 2000s, but they will soon be re-established throughout the park so that more data can be collected from the sites. The theory behind the study is that native plants have a better chance of outcompeting invasive plants in their habitat when deer are not present to over-graze the forest floor.
Later in the week we started locating some of the abandoned deer exclosures from a study used to examine the relationship between deer population density and vegetation growth throughout the park. The exclosures were deconstructed at the end of the study in the early 2000s, but they will soon be re-established throughout the park so that more data can be collected from the sites. The theory behind the study is that native plants have a better chance of outcompeting invasive plants in their habitat when deer are not present to over-graze the forest floor.
At the end of the week, I was given the opportunity to follow along on a tour of the Civil War Trails throughout Prince William County. We stopped at nearly two dozen markers in the greater Manassas region and learned about the importance of each location in the war. One of my favorite stops was the Ben Lomond Manor House. This 19th-century farm house was turned into a hospital during the war and it has since been transformed into an interactive museum experience where visitors can see, hear, feel and even smell what it was like to be in the home during battle. The house miraculously survived both battles at Manassas and it is in such great condition that visitors can still walk on the original floorboards and view Civil War-era graffiti on the walls of the house. I highly recommend visiting this site for a fully immersive experience in some very unique 19th century medical practices!