BSCN – UBC Lori Daniels
I had a terrific summer with my team in the UBC Tree Ring Lab. We spent nearly every day outside at different plots around the Williams Lake Community Forest, measuring and coring Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine and hybrid white spruce. The project I assisted with is interdisciplinary and I was involved with the ecological component, which intends to discover what roles wild and human-stewarded fires may have played in the evolution of habitat diversity in the region, particularly concerning grasslands of the IDFxm. The data we collected will be used to create a spatial-temporal mapping of tree age distributions in the area—I am especially excited to see what comes of the data we collect in areas of traditional use by the ancestors of the Williams Lake Indian Band. I loved identifying the local shrubs and herbs, and thinking about their presence or absence in the context of our project. I’ve learned innumerable skills already: from GPS wayfinding, to the planning of thorough safety procedures, to use and care for our field instruments. Most importantly, I’ve had the opportunity to apply the knowledge I’ve attained during my first three years at UBC, and appreciate the value of committing work to the pursuit of good data. I have no regrets for where I ended up my first work term and look forward to seeing it through.
