May 22: what now.

Well, another week, another reflection. Unfortunately for me, I have a certain lack of material to reflect on. In science, replication is key, but unfortunately it means that I have little more to reflect on the process itself, my opinion clouded by over a hundred repetitions. I suppose I can wax philosophical on the value of a highly refined system, or I can share little unheeded optimizations I’ve made to the process. It matters how you put the string on the stake, with one handedness allowing the string to slip clockwise, the direction we sweep from the site from north, and the other will clam up and wind around the stake. The reference flagging can orient you to north, saving a single moment of looking down at a compass. When assessing forest structure, don’t immediately look up into the leafy sky, but first around the understory, where visibility is greater. I guess I’m trying to point out the subtle power of changing repetition, where every site is different, and how I’ve learned how to give every little detail conscious thought. Heck, I even avoid stepping on rarer regeneration as I’m hiking, identifying seedlings before my foot falls. Beech still gets trampled. 

I think again I’m running into the problem that I haven’t learned much substantial new for this senior project, but rather I’m solidifying skills I already tentatively had. Most of the insight I’ve had this week falls into one of three categories: sounds dumb is smart, sounds smart is dumb, or sounds dumb is dumb. For example, in no specific order, Red Oak regeneration is present in most sites by Mud Pond, New England Spring nights are cold, and I should tie my pencil to my string. I’ll let you sort out which ones are which. 

But, overall, I wouldn’t change what I’m doing for my senior project. It's a worthwhile use of my acquired skills, and I am having fun doing it. At this rate, I plan to keep helping Laura after senior project, and technically after I graduate, because I’ve realized that the Proctor research forest is greater than any one person’s aspirations, but rests on the backs of a few individuals’ motivation. And I’m one of them, and all we need is 21 more repetitions of the exact thing that we’ve been doing to get all 150 sites done. As of writing this, we have 1762 trees in the dataset, and 21 sites to go. The end is in sight. Site I13 or D13 most likely.