Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

THE FOREST
Jacob

In the summer of 2008, my English class took a trip to the New Mexico Bosque. This greenery region is located near the Rio Grande. Our class was taking this trip because we were going to help restore the tree population that a fire had destroyed. When I first heard that we were going I was saying to myself, â€œThis was going to be the worst and most boring field trip ever. â€œ But when we got closer and closer to the destruction and devastation of this place, I knew it wasnâ€™t going to be boring; instead, it was going to be a very interesting experience.

The trees that we were going to plant are called the New Mexico Olive tree. It is a very beautiful tree and grows very tall. These Olive are just the first step of trees that Martin Martinez and his foresters are planting. Martin Martinez works for the Albuquerque Open Space. Our English class was going to help him save this forest and make it beautiful again like it once was.

The trees sometimes fell apart, but we managed to plant them so they could grow. Other trees were very easy to plant, so thatâ€™s why we got a lot done. We found a lot of interesting stuff when we were digging the holes. We found some weird metal pieces and a lot of other tree barks. It was really hard to dig a hole for the tree because we kept hitting other things and always having to dig another hole somewhere else. This was the only difficult part for planting the trees. Other than that it was a very easy and interesting job.

The weird metal pieces we found in the ground were jetty jacks. We were the ones who put these things here to keep the water from over flowing. We need to remove these so that way the water can flow naturally. This is what is keeping these trees and plants from getting nutrients. The water needs to flow over the banks so that way it can stop forest fires and make are trees grow beautifully.

It was me and Adrian against our whole class. We wanted to see how many trees we could plant before anyone else. It was hot and we were sweating a lot. We drank lots of water to stay hydrated. It was very hard but easy work for me and him. We planted 10 trees in like 8 minutes and worked very hard as a team to accomplish it. I was sort of used to digging holes and stuff because I do landscaping with my step dad. But it still was hard work I have to say.

Next we went to a pond that had frogs and other plants in it. It smelled really bad. It also had a lot of moss all over the water. The water was very dirty and had silvery minnows swimming on the banks of the water. The pond formed from the river. It was a pretty big pond, bigger than the ones that I usually see. We also walked pass this one place where they were going to start digging things up and moving things around until water started to come up. That water helped some of the cotton seeds that fell right on that spot start growing. It was pretty interesting how that had happened.

After we left the Bosque I was really proud of what I had accomplished. I felt so good about myself than I ever have. I learned a lot out there. I learned about the different trees there is, I donâ€™t remember there names though. Also I had a good experience because I hardly ever go out and do something like that. I felt like I became one with the wildlife. There was so much interesting stuff out there. People who go out there must really be prepared because there are a lot of bushes and sticks and trees all over the place. Also its really hot and you will be sweating a lot so make sure you take lots of water or something that will keep you hydrated. I really enjoyed myself and I know other people would to.