The Invasives Strike Force survey numbers have been pouring in all year helping us to map the distribution of invasives in our region and make better, more informed management decisions. Now that we have uploaded most of the data into our database, we can finally reveal the top surveyors of 2019! In terms of hours spent on the trail, top surveyor of the year honors goes to (drum roll, please...): Barbara Mistler, who dedicated 87.75 hours to field work this year! Unbelievable! Nipping at Barbara's heels were first-time surveyors Elinor Stapylton and Nicholas George who each dedicated 82 hours to field work. Barbara, Elinor and Nicholas all qualified for official volunteer internship status by devoting over 80 hours to field survey work in 2019. Congratulations to all three for their tremendous on-the-ground efforts and completing their internship work. Please contact Invasive Species Citizen Science Program Coordinator Brent Boscarino at [email protected] if you are interested in internship-level work for 2020! Congratulations also goes out to Raido Oja who was our top surveyor for the year in terms of miles of trail survey. Raido surveyed over 13 miles of trail for both standard and intermediate surveys. Close behind Raido was first time surveyor Joseph Perrelli who covered 12 miles of trail in 2019. A special thanks and top honors also goes to Adrienne Popko who dedicated over 90 hours to Blockbuster survey work, focusing in on Dutchess County NY where we still had some holes in our Blockbuster dataset going into 2019. Thank you Adrienne! We would also like to congratulate our three top volunteers in terms of hours spent helping our Conservation Corps Crew members in the field in 2019. Rich Rockwell, Rich Kassel and Artemis Kassel-Venetis each dedicated 17 hours to these invasives removal efforts in 2019. Thank you both Riches and Artemis!!! For our Habitat Helpers Program, our top volunteer in terms of hours served was Carole Baligh with over 50 hours volunteered! A special shout out also goes to Diane VanKempen, Willard Dye, Elaine Silverstein and Thomas Bender who round out our top 5 volunteers in terms of hours devoted to the Habitat Helpers Program. Last but not least, congratulations to Aimee Lusty who took top honors in terms of hours dedicated (35.5 hours) to our Rare and Endangered Plant Program. Close behind was John Egenes who dedicated over 18 hours to the Rare and Endangered Program. We cannot thank our volunteers enough for their amazing efforts to keep the trails and natural areas that we love in good health! |