2024 Itasca Internship

By: Connor Adams & Tia Bevins

Presenters Future Plans

I am attending Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in the fall of 2024, to pursue a Masters degree in Nursing, to become a traveling triage nurse.

Attend South Dakota School of Mines and Technology for Biomedical Engineering this Fall.

Tia Bevins

Connor Adams

What is ForestGEO?

Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) is a collaborative network of forest research sites.

- There are currently 78 forest sites across the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

- Approximately 13,000 different tree species comprise the 7 million trees that have been cataloged.

What Did We Do?

• Cataloged information about trees
• To catalog the information we used specialized calipers
• We recorded:
• Tree ID Number
• Tree Species
• Number of Stems
• Whether the tree was dead or alive
• DBH
• Distance from Center Stake
• Azimuth
• We also completed some other tasks

Stats

Total Trees Measured In The Plot: 31,796

Total Trees Measured In June 2024: 5,587

Connor’s Tree Measure Count: 983

Tia’s Tree Measure Count: 525

Average Trees Measured Per Hour: 87.3

Trees Measured Per Person Per Hour: 21.83

What we mapped this year

What is ForestGEO Used For?

• The data from all ForestGEO plots is available for scientists to use in there research in any way they want. So the possibilities are endless!
• Some of the possibilities are:
• The impact of climate change on forests
• How different types of forests adapt to climate change
• Which tree species have higher survival rates
• Whether or not certain tree species becoming more prevalent

The 2024 ForestGEO Team

Briana

• Our Boss/Mentor
• She is currently finishing her Masters in Plant & Microbial Biology and then she plans on going for a Masters in Science Education.
• From Hopkins, Minnesota
• Likes giving ironic advice

Erica

• Will be starting her PhD in Plant and Microbial Biology
• From Rapid City, South Dakota
• Likes stomping on fungi
• Finds everything funny

Josie

• Working towards her degree in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior with a minor in Biological Anthropology
• She’s from Houston, Texas
• Likes the Kardashians

Justice

• Working towards her degree in Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering with an emphasis on Environmental and Ecological Engineering.
• From Naytahwaush
• Did this last year
• Likes hugging/munching trees

Ratz

• Recently graduated with a double major in Ecology, Evolution, & Behavior and Plant & Microbial Biology with a minor in Environmental Geoscience
• From Lino Lakes, Minnesota
• Likes Rummy Cube

Favorite Thing About The Internship

Least Favorite Thing About The Internship

How Was Our Work Experience?

• Great!
• We learned a lot about trees
• Riding bikes was interesting
• How to “Never push ourselves” -Briana
• We learned a lot about how people have had different experiences
• And we had tons of fun outside of work with our team!

After Work Activities

Played Board Games

Went Swimming

Spent Quality Time with Our Team

Kayaked/Paddle Boarded

-The Metagame

- Catan

-Yahtzee

- UNO

Explored the Park

-Headwaters

-Preachers Point

-Minnesota’s Largest White Pine

-Firetower

What We Learned

Much needed to get up the hills in the morning.

Learned how to identify trees not only by leaves but shape of tree and bark.

We learned the names of random fungi, lichens and other plant names as we found them along our way the woods.

We not only learned how to get to the plot, but also how to get around the plot effectively. As well as learning to navigate around the station and park.

Tree Identification

Determination

Random Understory Identification

Navigating the Area

We did a lot of repetitive work, but we were still able to have fun with it.

How to Make Work Fun

Any Questions?