OKAY SO.
I started
volunteer work because I wanted to get outside more. More sun more exercise. If I don't have a purpose I'll happily rot indoors my whole life. Reclusing away into the abyss of the obscure side of the internet. I know that aint healthy so now I forced myself into a commitment.
Its good! I'm working at a nature reservation. I'm on call to help injured birds/can rehab them in a no predator zone. Rarely happens. So my other part of the job is
trail steward I make sure the trails are safe and clean. No one litters thats cool. There's LOTS of dead trees though so lots of dead branches come crashing down of all sizes. I gotta clear em.
I gotta tag big trees at high risk of falling. And trees that are smaller in circumference but still heavy? I gotta saw down. Great arm work out- youd think I'd rarely have to do it.
but the fucking beavers
THEY SHOULD BE CHILLING OUT THIS TIME OF YEAR. WHY.
flailing arms WHY ARE YOU HALF ASSED MUNCHING ON LIVING TREES! YOU DONT EVEN FINISH THE JOB!!!
http://imgur.com/gallery/SeVfOp4
Honestly the dam is kinda a beautiful addition to the reservation? I visited a couple years ago before the beavers built their dam...and it really added a interesting sight. You can hear the stream break through and they constantly work to patch it back up. To prevent them from flooding the entire reservation out- every time they patch the leak in the dam a volunteer has to go out and make the leak happen again. Carefully. Otherwise if you break the whole dam...WHELP K.O. (The beavers would prob fix it quick but dang thatd be a lot of water pouring out - raging even. Please DONT BE MY CLUMSY ASS THAT BREAKS THE WHOLE DAMN (hah.) THING SOMEDAY!!!
(its gonna be me. I know it. I'll be the hated volunteer of the Year huhuhuhu. )
helper of birds. Enemy of beavers I guess
Aside from the "chomping of giant trees and making them more likely to fall down and kill something" headache, I do enjoy this. And we do love and welcome the beavers.
I might like it less come spring when more people are walking around- but right now I feel like a lone ranger lost in nature . listening to my cliche video game music and getting lost in thought while doing mental battle with the beaver brethren. I'm one of two winter volunteers and the other lady prefers to stay near the entrance so I get my alone time still and get excited when I find patches of Reishi Mushroom. (I fail to properly identify turkey tail despite watching a dozen videos orz)
/insert angry beavers theme song/
Edit: lol forgot imgur comments. People jumping like "humans are what is unnatural how dare you be annoyed at beavers" oi ve
