{"id":7557,"date":"2019-08-29T17:10:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T17:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/?p=7557"},"modified":"2021-06-08T21:31:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T21:31:41","slug":"exploring-the-future-a-guest-blog-post-by-alex-binkley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/2019\/08\/29\/exploring-the-future-a-guest-blog-post-by-alex-binkley\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the Future: A Guest Blog Post by Alex Binkley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By: Alex Binkley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> (CNHP Siegele Conservation Science Intern)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It had been an exciting day. We\nwere conducting a Bio Blitz at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies\n(ACES), and on a tiny 25-acre natural space we had found over 60 plant species\nin the first few hours. I was loving the process because I had been allowed\n(and even encouraged) to ask questions about the plant species we were seeing,\nand I had asked A LOT of questions. My mentors, Sarah Marshall and Denise\nCulver were more than just patient with me, they were just as excited as I was!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"543\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex2-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"7561\" data-link=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/?attachment_id=7561\" class=\"wp-image-7561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex2-1.jpg 512w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex2-1-283x300.jpg 283w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><figcaption>Denise Culver (Senior Ecologist at CNHP) and Adam McCurdy (Forest Programs Director at ACES) exhibiting the proper methodology for walking a botany mile.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In all honesty, by midafternoon I\nhad reached the point of mental saturation where I couldn\u2019t take in any more\ninformation, but I was having so much fun learning about species I had wondered\nabout for years that I continued asking anyway. We approached a beaver pond\nthat had lots of little plants and freshwater shrimp in it and I couldn\u2019t\nresist trying to learn a little more about it. How many chances would I ever\nget to ask two expert botanists about native aquatic plants?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I reached down and pulled up the\nfirst plant I saw, and asked Denise what it was. She looked up after glancing\nat the stringy plant in my hand, excited and wide-eyed. It was lesser\nbladderwort, <em>Utricularia minor<\/em>, one of only a handful of carnivorous\nplants in Colorado and a rare species CNHP tracks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"476\" height=\"634\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex3.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"7560\" data-link=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/?attachment_id=7560\" class=\"wp-image-7560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex3.jpg 476w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex3-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 476px) 100vw, 476px\" \/><figcaption><i>Utricularia minor<\/i> creates negative pressure in their bladders (the tiny black pods on the plant above) and when a water flea (or any other aquatic creature small enough) swims by, it triggers the pod, and the flea is sucked in.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was really exciting to find a\nrare plant on the first day of the Bio Blitz, it made the Bio Blitz feel like a\ntreasure hunt! It made me want to keep asking about every new plant, even if it\nturned out to be a common invasive plant I hadn\u2019t noticed before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was the clearest example of\nthe lessons I learned about botany and the value of curiosity this summer. I\u2019ve\nalways been curious and asked a lot of questions, but frequently under-paid\nteachers and over-worked professors don\u2019t have the time to answer my questions\nor point me in the right direction to answer my own questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Botany, on the other hand seems\nlike it\u2019s entirely question based. How much and what kind of hair is on the\nunderside of the leaf? How much soil saturation can this plant tolerate? How\ndid this plant get here? What is it called? Can I eat this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike math or physics, botany (and biology as a whole) is fluid. For every rule there is an exception. Because of the amount of individual variation among plants, and because there are so many different species to learn about, it is always OK to be wrong and always OK to ask questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before this summer, I thought I\nliked wildlife better than plants. I knew I liked gardening, and learning about\nplants, but I didn\u2019t realize this was a potential career path for me. After a\nfew weeks of helping with riparian surveys and a few Bio Blitzes, I joked about\nDenise, Pam, Sarah, and Dave \u201cconverting me,\u201d but in all seriousness, my\nexperiences this summer have made me reconsider field work, botany, and my path\nforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThank you again to my mentors at CNHP, and\neveryone who helped to make this summer happen! I will always be grateful for\nthis experience.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you for reading about one of\nmy adventures this summer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"911\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"7558\" data-link=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/?attachment_id=7558\" class=\"wp-image-7558\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex1.jpg 911w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/Alex1-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 911px) 100vw, 911px\" \/><figcaption>(Left to right): Alex Binkley, Emma Balunek, Griselda Landa-Posas, Elena Gratton. Me and three of my fellow interns celebrating a successful Bio Blitz (and procrastinating going home).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Alex Binkley (CNHP Siegele Conservation Science Intern) It had been an exciting day. We were conducting a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[81,5,72,9,59,49,73,52,3,18,96,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bioblitz","category-botany","category-cnhp","category-cnhp-in-the-news","category-cnhp-interns","category-colorado-ecosystems","category-colorado-natural-heritage-program","category-csu-students","category-ecology","category-internships","category-siegele-conservation-science-internship","category-students","entry","override"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}