Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube RSS Feed
Written on: December 4th, 2018 in Outreach
by Brittany Haywood, Wetland Monitoring & Assessment Program
Sunrise over the marsh on the Leipsic River
Working in wetlands takes a certain breed of people, the kind that has to have a sense of humor. You have to deal with interesting smells, sticky conditions, and bugs that manage to find their way into unwanted places (such as your eye or nose). But if you can handle the not so pleasant parts you will find some of the most amazing views, plants, animals, and people, and that is why we do what we do.
For example, did you know that frogs during the winter use high concentrations of glucose (simple sugar) as a sort of “antifreeze” in their organs to keep them alive while parts of their body become frozen? Or did you know that some species of sphagnum moss can hold 20 times their weight in water? These are just some of the tidbits that we learned as we did our work in 2018.
Yoga Instructor: Erin and Kenny in the Assessing Tree Canopy position. This particular position was used during the wetland mitigation/restoration assessment project.
As wetland scientists in our program (DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program (WMAP)), we learn and work in multiple areas and across the entire State of Delaware. Besides hosting this blog, we bring the science to K-12 students with hands-on classroom learning, to scientists, engineers, and other state workers in the form of professional development opportunities, and to the general public by posting all of what we do and learn to the great world wide web. We do all of these things through our research on wetland health and on innovative restoration techniques.
As we close out the year, we like to provide a general summary of some of the things we have accomplished throughout 2018. We also have provided a few behind the scenes photos that might just experiment with possible alternate career paths for us wetland workers. So keep scrolling and enjoy the view.
Fashion Designer: Alison’s shirt was apparently due for a design makeover. Sun’s out, guns out.
Children’s Books: Brittany is going on a wetland hunt, she’s going to catch a big one. She’s not scared. She can’t go over it? …
Assisted with the development of the Delaware Living Shorelines Website, DNREC Perspectives: Wetlands Wildly Beneficial website and Wetlands Work website
Hollywood Actor: Erin tries her hand at acting out the escape from the sinkhole in the Fire Swamp. Or is she acting?
Held the 2018 Delaware Wetlands Conference
Meditation Guru: Kenny, Erin and Alex ponder the meaning of life and wetlands while trying to block out the mosquito distractions.
Thanks for joining us for the 2018 calendar year as we trekked through wetlands across the state, and we hope to see you in 2019! We would also like to thank all of the partners that have made our work possible. If you have any questions for us, you can get in touch with me at Brittany.Haywood@delaware.gov. Happy Holidays, and have a Happy New Year!
Naw, we’ll keep our own jobs. 2018 staff listed left to right: Brittany, Kenny, Alex (Seasonal), Alison, and Erin
Delaware's Governor
State Agencies
Elected Officials
General Assembly
Delaware Courts
State Employees
Cities & Towns
Delaware State Code
State Regulations
Business First Steps
Phone Directory
Locations Directory
Public Meetings
Voting & Elections
Transparency
Delaware Marketplace
Tax Center
Personal Income Tax
Privacy Policy
Weather & Travel
Contact Us
Corporations
Franchise Tax
Gross Receipts Tax
Withholding Tax
Delaware Topics
Help Center
Mobile Apps
E-mail / Text Alerts
Social Media
Built by the Government Information Center
©MMXVIII Delaware.gov
