Postcards from the Field: Morgan Hill

Shell Conservation Intern Morgan Hill

Greetings from Alberta. It’s great to be back for a second summer as a Shell Conservation Intern based out of Edmonton. The summer is only half done and I’m already having a great time working with my colleagues, Sarah Gardner and Rebecca Vande Griend, learning new plants and animals as we go. We are monitoring ecologically significant properties protected by NCC, recording the plants and animals found there. We are also taking photos on the properties so that we can compare them with photos taken at the very same locations (as confirmed by GPS) in previous years. Taking photos from year to year and comparing them allows us to easily see and document any changes that occur over time.

I’ve started to learn to identify different grasses and, hopefully, will be an expert on all plants in the Aspen Parkland by the end of the summer. I enjoy learning something new every day, so my project this summer is to learn to identify birds and bird calls. It is a slow process, but I am enjoying it every step of the way.

Coyote Lake in the Aspen Parkland

An interesting discovery that we made this summer was a Lance-leaf Grape-fern (Botrychium lanceolatum) at a property near Pigeon Lake, an hour south of Edmonton. This plant is classified as S2 by the Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre, which means there are only six to 20 occurrences of this plant found in Alberta. We have also had many exciting adventures, including being in Drumheller when the Red Deer River was flooding.

In the fall I will be returning to the University of Saskatchewan, where I’m finishing up my degree at the College of Agriculture, majoring in plant ecology. After that I will be close to home, a farm outside of Vanscoy, Saskatchewan.

Excited for my next adventure,

Morgan Hill

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