Another New Summer Intern-Sara Head

Hi everyone! My name is Sara Head and I am one of the NSRWA's new summer interns.  I am from, and currently reside in Marshfield, MA.  For those familiar with the area, I live on Damons Point, located across from the mouth of the North River and The Spit.
Naturally, I developed a love for the rivers and surrounding ecosystems from years of kayaking and boating with my family.  This passion led me to study Environmental Geology in college.  I attended Eckerd College, on Florida's Gulf coast for my freshman and sophomore years, and recently transferred to Bridgewater State University.  I will be a senior this fall, and plan to continue my education in Paleontology and Paleoclimatology later in grad school.

For now, I am the secretary for BSU's Geological Society, where we host guest lecturers and go on field trips to significant geological sites.  We recently went to the Big Island of Hawaii in the Spring to study volcanoes and magma composition!

As an intern, I am extremely excited to put my love for nature to work in the field!  The NSRWA currently has several projects underway, including the removal of Japanese Knotweed, which I took part in with my fellow interns on my first day.

Japanese Knotweed is a highly invasive bamboo-like plant that grows mostly along rivers and streams.  As the name implies, the plant originated in Asia and has now made itself quite dominant here in our watershed communities.  The Knotweed may look pretty, but it actually limits biodiversity of species in an ecosystem, deeming it an "invasive species".  The plant is spread when it is uprooted and transported to new locations, usually through waterways.
Last Thursday (June 6th), we removed nearly all of the Japanese Knotweed from South River Park in Marshfield, hopefully allowing for more plant life to flourish there.  Removal of the leaves and stalk will prevent further photosynthesis and the remaining roots were treated with an organic Sodium Chloride herbicide.

For more information on Japanese Knotweed, please check out these websites:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/weeds/aqua015.html
http://your.kingcounty.gov/dnrp/library/water-and-land/weeds/Brochures/knotweed-brochure.pdf

I am very excited to continue working with the NSRWA and get my hands dirty with more projects, and I look forward to blogging more about my experiences!

Until next time,
~Sara Head