Takeaways from a year in my wild life
A week after graduating with my English degree, I started work as the Outreach Coordinator for our Long Island Field Office. I was thrust into the unfamiliar territory of Electro-fishing, digging for snails and using acronyms that seemed to encompass more letters than the alphabet. Over time, I learned a lot about our natural resources and the people working to protect them. Here are my three biggest takeaways from this wild year in my life.
1) It’s All Connected
Every species, no matter how small, has a role to play in its interconnected ecosystem.
Small species like the Chittenango ovate amber snail (COAS) and the Piping Plover can have large impacts on their natural neighbors. COAS can be smaller than your fingernail, and this endangered species only counts about 200 members in the wild. The piping plover is a bird that weighs only a few ounces and is considered endangered in the Great Lakes region and federally threatened along the Atlantic Coast. But even small species like these have a big impact on their interdependent ecosystem.
Every species has an effect on those around it based on the food that they eat, the space that they occupy and other subtle impacts of their presence in the environment. We’re lucky that conservation partners such as the Snailblazers, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and New York Audubon are hard at work helping the Service protect species like the COAS and the plovers. The presence or absence of even the smallest creature can be felt much more widely than I initially expected.
2) Simple Actions, Major Impacts
Conservation is a daunting task. It can seem as though only the largest interventions by the most advanced experts have any hope of effecting real change. But you don’t need a PhD or heavy machinery to be an effective environmental steward.
The aforementioned piping plover, for instance, has benefitted from years of research about the issues it faces along its migratory range. But one of the simplest and most influential actions anyone can do for the piping plover is to share the shore. Since plovers are easily scared and at risk for abandoning their young, merely keeping your distance from the birds on the beach is a huge help to the chicks’ safety. It doesn’t take an advanced degree or a Herculean effort to read a sign on a beach and follow its easy instructions.
This is one of many actions that are easily accessible to conservationists of all levels and abilities. Obeying posted signs, keeping trash out of natural spaces and reducing contributions to climate change are all everyday actions that complement the work of biologists and engineers. Like me, you might be surprised at how easy it can be to contribute to conservation!
3) Depth of Dedication
I also learned that there are a few cons to working in conservation. Environmental stewardship can be challenging, prolonged and sometimes disappointing. But the greatest, most encouraging takeaway for me has been the dedication of the many conservationists working to protect our precious natural resources.
My colleagues in the New York and Long Island Field Offices work tirelessly in the field and in the office to provide the most comprehensive approaches to conservation. Their efforts can be physically exhausting, mentally draining and sometimes both at once. They travel all across New York State to ensure the protection of our diverse and dispersed natural resources. They deeply appreciate the importance of every native species, from the adorable piping plover to the less photogenic pearly mussel. They cultivate crucial relationships with partner organizations and individual landowners, and many of them have been practicing this important work for two, three, and even four decades!
The state of wildlife conservation can sometimes seem bleak, but my firsthand experience with these dedicated environmental stewards gives me hope. The Service — and the planet — are lucky to have their service.
