Hello,

My name is Noah Savastio. I will be going intomy senior year at Siena College this fall, and I have been the Summer Land Steward for MHLC this year. This past spring while I was browsing for an internship, there were few that stood out to me more than this position at MHLC. As long as I can remember, I have had a great appreciation for nature. So, this job was the perfect opportunity to start my career because I would get to be outside every day.

This summer, I had the privilege to get involved with a wide variety of projects and workdays.  I had a wonderful time working with Bob, Marshall, my oo-steward Andrew as well as the dozens of volunteers that helped out with all the projects this summer.  Working to install the log staircase at Normans Kill West Preserve was a particularly difficult undertaking. It took place over a dozen or so different workdays and involved several stages. First, we spent several days harvesting the black locust logs, then after they were cut to size, we had another few days of peeling and notching the logs. After all that we could finally begin breaking ground,which proved to be a very difficult process. This was because the preserve entryway is located on an old dumping ground filled with chunks of concrete so large that a jackhammer was needed to break it up. In the end I think that thestaircase looks phenomenal and will hopefully be there for many decades tocome. This entire process would certainly not have been possible without thehelp of dozens of volunteers that helped with all stages of the process.

 As my time working for the conservancy comes to an end, and I reflect on my time and experience this summer, I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to do something that I enjoyed so much. There were many hot, muddy, and sweaty days, but working in such a beautiful environment makes it worth it!

 Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end as I will be entering my final year of school at Siena this fall.  In the future I hope to find work in protecting and preserving state or national parks.  I think that my time here at MHLC has given me a good start for my career. I would, once again, like to take this finalopportunity to thank all the staff and volunteers I worked with this summer forall the valuable experience I gained. I will still be in the area and intend to help with some workdays this fall, so I hope to see some of you then!

Best,

Noah Savastio

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