A Day in the Life of a Conservation Specialist

"Since 1964, the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy has worked to conserve and protect the natural resources of the Perkiomen Creek Watershed"

The Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that works on water quality and habitat issues across a total of 231,680 acres in four different counties in Pennsylvania, including: Berks, Bucks, Lehigh, and Montgomery. Its mission is to protect and conserve the land and water assets located in the Perkiomen Watershed area through education, stewardship, and conservation programs.

Growing up, Beth Myers was influenced by nature at a young age and developed a great understanding of the intricacies of different environments and what they entail. Her father was a landscape specialist who helped introduce her to crucial knowledge about plants and the spaces they inhabit, the difference between native and invasive species, and different land management techniques. This knowledge of the outdoors grew into a strong passion for many outdoors oriented recreational actives, such as paddling on nearby waterways.

Beth has always found comfort and interest in nature, another influence of her father on her. It's a part of what inspired her to pursue an Environmental Studies major at Ursinus College, the school from which she graduated in 2017. Her experience in the Department of Environmental Studies at Ursinus led to her finding a job with the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy (PWC) directly after graduation. Since joining PWC, Beth's work has focused on the multitude of tree plantings the organization undertakes each year.

While the Conservancy hosts many tree planting events, Beth's work in the conservation department means she specifically manages past plantings, making sure they are successful over the long term, not just in the short term. As she described to us, “I do spend a lot more time maintaining planting projects than new plantings, because at this point we have thousands of trees all over the watershed and maintenance is a really big thing for us. We definitely want the trees to grow to maturity, so that they can actually do what they're supposed to do”. For Beth and the Conservancy, it is one thing to simply plant a bunch of trees and call it a day, but it's a completely different thing when you want to see your newly planted trees through to maturity. Doing so ensures that the surrounding environment and community will be able to reap all the benefits these new trees are intended to provide.

In order to ensure the success of newly planted trees, a few key maintenance activities must take place. First, small trees are often staked to ensure they grow in an upright manner. Second, adequate mowing in and around the planting site is key. This allows the freshly planted trees to get enough sunlight and water so they can grow properly. Beth also mentions that they put some sort of tubing around certain trees if they are particularly susceptible to being eaten by deer.  

The job does not end with simply creating space and reducing competition of other vegetation that might hinder new trees from growing. Beth and the Conservancy take things a step further and work to to promote the continued growth of those trees that are already well-off. This stewardship includes pruning and trimming branches, and all too frequently, cutting back invasive species that may have moved into the area and are competing with the native trees for resources.

Beyond these direct interventions, a critical final step is documenting everything. Beth described how she is fairly meticulous when it comes to documenting what she has done at each project site and what needs to be done in the future.

"I keep a thorough map and Excel spreadsheet of all our projects we are managing"

This map and spreadsheet detail exactly what is going on with the project, when the trees were installed, what they need, when the last time they received maintenance was, and what they did not do while they were out there. All of these items ensure that their projects are well attended to and in great shape from a management perspective.

“I definitely have a big concern about invasive species; they plague the health of our local forests”

Invasive species present a multitude of problems for the health of our ecosystems, as they agitate natural communities and slow or completely disrupt ecological progress. As a result, invasive species in the watershed present a large challenge to Beth’s work and are typically at the top of her management to-do list when arriving at a work sight.

Because of the warming climate and the resulting warmer winters, many invasive species that were previously frozen over and killed are now surviving through to the spring where they spread in ample amounts. One such way invasive species pose a particular challenge to Beth and the Conservancy's work is that they love disturbed ground, just like the soil after a new planting. This habit of moving into freshly disturbed ground requires that Beth constantly monitor new planting sights and consequently has to cut back or remove invasive herbaceous plants, shrubs, and even trees.

"Yes, we definitely do a lot of invasive species removal in our project management”

When invasive species move into an area, such as at a new planting site, they can often outcompete native species for the surrounding resources and severely hinder native growth. But invasive plants are not the only concern when considering invasive species. Insects like emerald ash borers and the now infamous spotted lantern fly (SLF) have devastated native tree species and as a result have forced the hand of the Conservancy to avoid planting certain species. “Unfortunately, we have to think twice before planting specific species like maples or black walnuts”, due to concerns about their host relationship to SLf, says Beth.

Beth also informed us that some local home improvement stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot are contributing to the invasive plant species problem in our area. “It’s crazy to me. You walk into a Lowe’s or Home Depot and you really can’t buy anything that is native to your area. Almost all of the plants in there are non-native and some are highly invasive”.

Beth’s proposed solution to addressing the issue is education--of kids, landowners, and more. But it starts with kids. Growing up, her father taught her early on what was invasive and what was a native species. The sad reality, she says, is that most people are uninformed when it comes to this type of ecological knowledge. “One thing I would like to see our society address is education on different plant species, specifically native versus non-native species. That was a basic part of my education growing up.”

Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment and is continuing to be an ever increasing threat to our world and its future welfare. Global temperatures will continue to rise and climates will continue to change which will both have direct negative impacts on the planet including melting ice caps, rising sea levels, increased ocean temperature, and larger, more powerful storm systems, among countless other effects.

"I don’t know how we can turn a blind eye to climate change anymore. It must be addressed on a global scale, and soon"

Climate change has become so prevalent in recent years that work at the Conservancy must now take rising global temperatures into consideration when figuring out what species to plant, and where to plant them. Beth explained to us that some of the species in Pennsylvania have continued to decline as the climate warms, and the Conservancy must be very selective to ensure the species will be able to survive 30 or 40 years down the road. “It’s been really hard for us to plant a lot of species that are climate sensitive, such as hemlock or ash trees”. Beth also mentioned they must consider additional water in the coming years from more intense rain storms and need to be careful not to plant water-sensitive species too close to creeks, streams, or flood plains.

While climate change is an increasingly important issue, there is still time to potentially dig our way out of the hole we have gotten ourselves into. Beth’s work at the Conservancy has provided us with reassurance that we can work to fix this problem, and specifically the inspiration for us to get out and do something. Planting trees and seeing past plantings through to maturity may seem like a small contribution when compared to the global scale of the problem, but it is people like Beth Myers who are giving our planet hope that we can have a better future. 

“I am definitely hopeful moving forward”

Beth shared her opinion on the activism surrounding climate change recently and argues that there has been more passion for change now than ever before. “As a society it seems we are finally taking climate change more seriously”. Our group couldn't agree more, adding to her point that there has been a lot of activism on social media platforms recently and it seems the whole culture surrounding the issue is moving in the right direction.

Hearing about Beth’s day to day life was extremely inspiring and we commend her and the conservancy for doing their part to address the climate crisis. The more our group spoke to Beth, the more we realized how rewarding her work is to not only her but her community as well.

Listening to Beth and her experiences at the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy have helped us greatly in bettering our understanding of not only forests and their creation, but the stewardship necessary to help them reach their full potential. This distinctive learning experience provided us with a very personal understanding of what goes into ensuring the success of newly planted trees, and what types of key considerations are necessary for successful reforestation efforts on a larger scale.

One of the more important themes we were able to take away from our discussion with Beth was the role that proper management plays in ensuring the health and longevity of a forest ecosystem. Yes, tree plantings are the first step in addressing climate change and are extremely important for the environment as a whole, but the world only reaps the environmental benefits if these trees flourish into mature, long-living individuals.

Arguably the most important of the many management techniques Beth was able to outline for us was the emphasis on tending to invasive species, because of the role they can play on the health of individual trees and entire ecosystems. With invasive species, ecosystems often can become much less diverse and more susceptible to disturbances, such as natural disasters or disease, that might lead to extirpation and extinction events. This fact alone reinforced the importance of proper forest management and its goal of seeing trees through to maturity and bettering our communities.