Environmental Progress - Summer 1999

Those Dirty Interns!

GEC interns planted and watered 6,000 to 8,000 prairie plants in two days

June 9 and 10 were two days for a group of college-age interns to literally get down and dirty at Lincoln Memorial Garden in Springfield. The Governor's Environmental Corps interns made the trip to the Garden to help out with summer projects already underway. The two main projects included planting prairie plants and maintaining a brush wall meant to protect the stream bank from erosion. The workdays began at 8:30 a.m. when interns gathered outside the Agency's Springfield headquarters and headed as a team out to the Garden, located at Lake Springfield. Once there, Garden Administrator Jim Mathies showed a brief video on the founding of Lincoln Memorial Garden. After the video, the interns were directed to the field where the planting was to take place.

Kurt Neibergall, Quality Coordinator for the Illinois EPA, led icebreaker games to introduce the interns to one another before they were actually put to work. GEC intern Janell Dober said, "My favorite part was the problem solving games that we were given. The games brought an otherwise unacquainted group together to brainstorm ideas concerning given problems. After the games, any tension that was present had disappeared, and the other jobs were completed with a much more cheerful attitude."

Brian Boston added, "[One] thing that impressed me was the openness of the group. It seemed like we were only nervous about being there for a few minutes. It didn't take anyone long to open up and become part of the group." After observing the group for two days, Neibergall concluded, "The group worked extremely well as a team, especially for only knowing each other less than a week."

Interns and Garden staff set out thousands of young plants to restore the prairie and reduce nonpoint source pollution by slowing runoff.

Once the introductions were over it was time to get dirty. Larry Miller, head gardener at LMG, gave the initial instructions and divided the interns into two groups: one group was to plant small prairie plants in the ground and the other group was to follow with buckets of water. Illinois EPA interns along with LMG staffers Chuck Allen, assistant to the head gardener, and Joel Johnson, Alanna Wasem, Bryn Harmer, Beth Brands, Dave Weiner, and Tony Rennard worked together to bring LMG closer to completing the planting of 18,000 prairie plants scheduled to go in before the summer's end. It was estimated that 3,500 plants were planted and watered in the first day. Michael Enervold said, "I enjoyed being out of the office, getting muddy, and soaking up the sun." Christine Johnson, who carried a watering can for most of the day, said, "It was a lot of work, but it was fun." Overall, it seems the interns enjoyed the job despite the hot weather and hard work.

In addition to the prairie planting, some of the interns worked on a brush wall later in the afternoon. The purpose of the brush wall is to protect stream banks from erosion. The interns simply hauled cut brush to the brush wall for reinforcement. Mathies said that this project is ongoing, more of a maintenance project than a restoration project (like the planting). Intern Jessica Alwerdt said, "I learned a lot about the maintenance of a natural area. My favorite part was repairing the brush dams because they were made of natural materials, not man-made [materials]." The brush wall project was made possible by a grant from the Illinois EPA.

GEC intern Laura Edwards pops plants from a bedding flat prior to planting.

The second workday consisted of much of the same kinds of work as the previous day. More plants were planted and watered and more work was done on the brush wall in the afternoon. In two days, between 6,000 and 8,000 plants were put in. Mathies was extremely grateful for the help of the IEPA interns. "The experience was great," he said. " Larry and I agree that we had a great crew out here who seemed to enjoy what they were doing. And they saved us a lot of man hours!" Chris Davis, coordinator of the event from the IEPA said, "I thought that the interns all did a great job. Everyone participated. It's nice to see something being accomplished by a group of enthusiastic people." She said that this year was such a success that discussions of next year's program are already underway. Mathies said he is looking forward to future cooperative efforts with the Illinois EPA and all of their summer interns.

The Illinois EPA Governor's Environmental Corps internship program, currently in its eighth year, had 41 interns from 13 different universities working in the Springfield headquarters and regional offices. The 1999 GEC ran from June 1 to August 6. More than 280 students have gone through the program to date.

Private businesses which helped to make the GEC program possible include: Abbott Laboratories, Archer Daniels Midland, Amoco Corporation, Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., Caterpillar, Clark Refining & Marketing, Inc., Commonwealth Edison, The Dow Chemical Company, Duchossois Industries, Inc., Equilon Enterprises LLC, Mitsubishi, Mobil Oil Corporation, Motorola, Inc., Navistar International Transportation Corp., S & C Electric Company, Solutia, Inc., and Sunstrand Corporation. These businesses provide the financial resources for the program while the IEPA provides the human resources.

(This article was submitted by GEC intern Gail Rodek, in the Bureau of Water, who took part in the Lincoln Memorial Gardens project.)