As
much fun as I am having each week, Week 6 may take the cake for the most
exciting I have had here at Colonial. My siblings were able to make the trip to
the park from different states and spend the holiday weekend with me prior to
working on the week of Independence Day. I was able to show them where I work
with each division and also show them how much more the Park Service has to
offer than what may appear on the surface. Due to some slight scheduling
revisions to ensure that I had the most exposure in different divisions, I
began the workweek with the LE rangers. 4th of July was particularly
exciting because I was able to experience how the rangers here work with
different agencies to run and maintain a festive holiday evening. Fireworks and
related events across multiple counties required the Park Service assistance and
the LE rangers worked efficiently to make sure the events ran smoothly.
The highlight of the night (from an
experiential standpoint) was the DUI case that the rangers and I undertook that
evening. I was able to witness and partake firsthand in the procedures that are
involved in a DUI. We pulled over a gentleman and ran him through SFST’s
(Standardized Field Sobriety Testing) and used a PBT (Preliminary Breath Test)
to determine that he was unable to operate a motor vehicle. He was arrested, escorted
to the corresponding jail, and ran through more testing to investigate his
blood-alcohol level. He was issued the necessary citations, filled out the required
paperwork, and was released to his mother per federal protocol. He will have a
preliminary hearing this upcoming week.
In addition to the number of law
enforcement happenings throughout the days, I was able to work with folks in
the Natural Resources division of the park. The most exciting day was on
Thursday, when I put on some waders and boots and headed out into the swampy
areas of the James River to record birdlife and plant-life in specific areas of
the park, I learned so much, particularly about saltwater vs freshwater
landscapes and how much of an effect that sea-level rise has had on this island
of Jamestown. The more I work with different divisions, the more I understand
about their importance to the park.
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