Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

In order to reach my goals for this project, I completed was working to stop non-native species from invading at Aquatic Park in Berkeley. I worked with Earthteam on Ceasar Chavez Day on this project and we worked for about 6 hours. I signed up to volunteer with a wonderful organization in the bay area called Earthteam. They work to create a better environment for all species to live in while also teaching people of all ages about the environment and helping us get involved. My friends who agreed to help me I went together to Aquatic Park in Berkeley where the service action project was held. We worked for hours to keep the invasive species at the part of the bay from taking over the homes of the native species. In order to keep the invasive species from taking over, we shoveled large amounts of tanbark and we spread it out around the native trees. My step-by-step explanation of this process is that we first shoveled tanbark and wood off from this very large mound of the wood substance, then we dumped our shovel full of wood into buckets and then once we had all the buckets filled we carried them over to the trees and the ground which the non-native species could possibly germinate on and we dumped out the buckets full of wood. We the used rakes to spread out the wood chips around the trees and ground. This process was intended to protect the ground where the native species was going and to allow those species to receive enough nutrients to survive, while also keeping the non-native species from being able to get the nutrients and survive themselves.
The work was laborious and difficult, but it was also fun. I worked with many of my friends on this project and we had a lot of laughs while completing the task. Even though the project was six hours long, it felt much shorter because we talked and laughed and had a great time; as they say, time flies when your having fun. Therefore, we were able to have fun and build our relationships with one another while also greatly benefiting the environment and helping other species survive. Therefore, I think I was very successful at completing my goals for this project!
I learned many wonderful things during the course of this activity. First of all, I learned that our environment needs help to become cleaner and healthier and that it is very easy to get involved and do your part to make a difference. There are many volunteer opportunities all around the bay area that anyone can take part in. For example, it is extremely easy and very fun to get involved with Earthteam. I definitely appreciate everything that they do for our community and for our world. Specifically, I learned that non-native, invasive species affect many areas in our world, including the Bay Area. In Berkeley, there are non-native species that do have the ability to take over the habitat of native species. I learned successful ways to prevent those non-native species from becoming harmful to the Bay Area. I am most certainly more aware of the environmental issues directly affecting the place that we live in, the Bay Area, and I feel much more connected now to the environment that I live in now that I have completed the project. Finally, I learned that helping our environment is fun! I made many new friends and grew closer with old friends during all of the projects that I completed. I really had a great time working on this service action project. I did not know how easy it was to get involved in my community before I completed this project. Now I have realized that it is easy to get involved and, best of all, it is fun to get involved. There could not be anything better to ask for in this world; when you can help yourself, help others, and help the environment, it truly is a great experience. I have learned a lot during the course of this project and I am extremely glad that I did get involved. I feel that I made a difference in our community and in our world and I am extremely glad to have helped native species have a greater chance of survival.
Therefore, I feel that I proudly completed my goals for this project and I completed it with friends and support, which is the best way to get involved.