Audubon

Recently, I've been researching issues pertaining to land, air, and water resources. This Saturday I had the opportunity to volunteer with a group of other students from Bioscience at the Rio Salado Audubon in Phoenix. Their goal is, "To further protection of birds and other wildlife and their habitats through science, education, advocacy, and conservation". 
 We were told to arrive at 8am at the building on Central Ave so we could meet up with a larger group of volunteers and create owl habitats, but once we got to the building were told we are at the wrong building, and we needed to walk over to the one on 7th avenue. We walked across the bridge connecting the buildings and found out that, once again, we were in the wrong place.

view from the bridge

We went back to the original building and a different employee told us she needed to check the system to confirm where the group was, so we hung around the lobby area for a few minutes.

the lobby

She told us to go down into the little valley the path of the Audubon trail was in and walk west for about fifteen minutes until we saw the large group. We walked for a while, and then we saw the group, but they were above the little valley far away.

The trail

A couple of members of the group acted hastily and tried to cross the muddy river.

The rest of us decided to look for another path around and found the trail going up the side and we all eventually met up with the large group. By then it was 9, and we followed the leader to a section off the side of the little valley. We had a choice to either collect trash or to build owl habitats. 

Tools for the owl habitats

Our small group from school decided we'd rather pick up littler because it pertained more to conserving resources, so we got on our gloves and garbage bags and set out to collect trash. What struck me was just how much trash people had carelessly tossed into the conservatory. There was everything from ordinary snack wrappers and Gatorade bottles to tires, Styrofoam, couch cushions, and carpet.

I found an edge of trees blocking where the river once ran and I saw some cups sticking out as well as that there was a way through. I called a friend over and we pushed our ways through the trees.

 Initially it just looked like a nice orange area of leaves and mud beneath some trees, but as we walked further on, we discovered a mess of cups. By the looks of it, the river that once ran through had washed them up into heap.

I managed to pick up some of the cups and take a photo with my group, but the volunteer shift ended and I didn't get to pick up everything. By the end, I had almost 3 full garbage bags of trash, and the large number of volunteers did the same. We left the bags in a place for the Audubon crew to pick up, got some water and snacks from the employees, and then the small volunteer group from school and I walked the 1.6 miles back, though this time we didn't get lost. 

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience. Though my group got lost and was tired by then end of it, I got an experience out of it. I saw just how bad litter could be, and in a conservatory nonetheless. It also inspired me to do more research on the subject and how it's impacting the environment (More about the detrimental nature of littering in my next post).