During
these past few weeks the park staff has been keeping us very busy. We are
just coming off our two weeks with the maintenance team and boy do they work
hard! Both Jess and I got to do things that we had never done before,
such as operate heavy equipment (which by the way is very nerve racking), use
the chainsaws, paint cabins, mow the grass, and mulch the walkways. We
also learned about what it takes to initiate a project, acquire the necessary
funding, and track all the progress. After getting taste of how the
maintenance division operates I definitely have a new found respect for how
hard they actually work.
This past
weekend all of us ProRangers here at Prince William got to go on a detail to
Fort McHenry for the 200th anniversary of the war of 1812, where we
worked crowd control. This was a neat way for us to experience the way
that rangers have to operate during a large scale event. We got a
firsthand look at the usage of the incident command system and were able to
interact with the public and maintain order. The first two days of the
weekend I worked as one of the leads on the ropeline and now I know how hard it
is to manage a team to people during strenuous situations. The final day
I was stationed in the fort to work the VIP event. While the views form
the top of the fort were spectacular, I knew that I was there for a reason and
I during the air show and naval demonstrations I had to keep an especially
close eye on the visitors making sure that they didn’t do anything that was
unsafe due to their excitement or in an attempt to get a good picture. It
was a stressful weekend with very little sleep but it was a rewarding
experience and I am glad that i was fortunate enough to be able to go.
The last
two weeks were full of new experiences, tremendous learning opportunities, and
of course I had fun along the way. At the halfway point this internship
is everything I expected it to be and more, and I am looking forward to
spending time with the rest of the divisions and whatever opportunities await.
Till next
week,
Subhi
Zaman
During our time
with maintenance, we were given a wide variety of tasks to complete and new
things to try. When we got on the field Subhi, Charles and I were separated to
give as much help to the maintenance workers as we could during our two weeks.
I was sent with two mason workers for two days to fix the chimneys in Cabin
Camp 1. We were sent there because the chimneys on the cabins were deteriorating
from when they were originally built in the 1930s. Our job was to chip away the
old cement holding the roof up and replace it with mortar. My first day on the
job, I was told to pay close attention to how the mortar is made. It’s a good
thing I did, because the next day I was in charge of mixing the mortar. The
chimney is still standing upright and it’s going strong. So I think it’s safe
to assume I paid close attention to how mortar is made. After spending those
two days making the park beautiful, I spent some time making the park fun. I
was reunited with Charles and Subhi and we did some preparations for an event
known as “Paws in the Park”. For that event, the park allows visitors to bring
their dogs and let them off their leash in a fenced in area and we were the
ones to assist in putting up (and taking down) the fence that the visitors
used. Also during our time with maintenance, we had the opportunity to try out
the heavy equipment with the assistance of the equipment operator here at PRWI.
We were taken to the “boneyard” where we could ride and operate the payloader
and backhoe. I have never driven anything that big before, but I am thankful
that I had the opportunity to try something new for those two weeks with
maintenance. During our time there, my summer of learning new things continued.
Jessica
Cooper
While working
with maintenance, I helped out with the Roads and Trails division, cutting
grass, trimming, putting up fences.
Most of the week, I tagged along with Eric Lepinsky, who taught me how
to use zero-turn law mowers and weed trimmers, and a wood chipper. Up to that point in my life I had not
used any mower other than one that you have to push, so it was fun to learn how
to operate one of these machines, and cut some grass in the park. At the beginning of the week, we drove
out to Entrance Road near the Pine Grove Picnic Pavilion, and Eric cut up some
small trees growing near the road, while I threw the limbs into the
chipper. It was cool to use one of
these, and see up close how powerful this machine really is. We also spent lots of time in various
areas of the park grass and weed trimming. The zero-turn mowers go much faster than they look, or
so it seemed when I was cutting a field of grass with one. While lots of fun to drive, safety is a
major concern with them. You always
have to be aware of large sticks, rocks, and slopes when operating one. That said, they can cut they can cut a
large area in seemingly no time.
This week, one of the equipment operators took us out to drive and learn
how to use a backhoe. He took time
to show us both the bucket in the back, for scooping and digging large trenches
or pipelines, and the front-end loader.
We spent the day driving and learning the controls and how to properly
operate the vehicle, as well as move large piles of dirt and gravel. Growing up I was always fascinated with
this type of heavy equipment, and I was happy to have this opportunity to
actually operate it. Later in the
week, I got more experience working with the chipper, helping to clear debris
from a fallen tree on the side of a road.
I also learned about how to use a wood splitter. All of these machines were awesome to
operate, and overall it was a fun two weeks with the maintenance team!
Putting together a fence for an event "Paws in the Park"
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