The Invasives Strike Force is excited to introduce our new Trail Conference Conservation Corps Crew Members Jillian Aldridge, Kasey Lane, Jessica Kathe, and Crew Leader Alex Perri.
Jillian originally hails from Point Pleasant, NJ and is a recent Environmental Science graduate of Drew University with a passion for forest restoration. Her hobbies include gardening, hiking, kayaking, birding, yoga and soccer.
Kasey is from Northern New Jersey but has spent the past three years going to school in the Adirondacks at Paul Smith’s College, where she studied Environmental Science and played rugby. She enjoys a variety of outdoor activities including hiking/camping, snowboarding, rock climbing, scuba diving and visiting National Parks. Jessica recently graduated SUNY New Paltz majoring in Environmental Geography with a minor in Biology and is originally from the Adirondacks. She has volunteered throughout the Hudson Valley, including a rewarding internship in the Conservation Department at Mohonk Preserve. She enjoys field botany, biogeography, and being outside. When not working or volunteering, she writes music on guitar, which tends to be entirely based on nature themes.
Alex is an aspiring restoration ecologist who first gained an interest in ecological restoration while attending the historic La Salle University in Philadelphia. During his undergratudate studies Alex volunteered his time to the Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers, an organization devoted to urban forest restoration. After completing his dual major in Environmental Science & Environmental Studies, Alex worked on a variety of restoration projects as a restoration field technician. He hopes to ultimately return to school in pursuit of his Master's degree. Alex's hobbies include snowboarding and exploring new places. They may be new, but the invasives should be shaking in their leaves; just in the past month, the crew, along with volunteers, have already removed 5,500 invasive plants! We can't wait to see what the season has in store.
Also, A BIG Welcome Back to Allison McKenna. Aley just graduated from SUNY-ESF in Syracuse. She rejoins our team for the second year as our Early Detection intern. She'll be out in the Lower Hudson valley searching for those new invaders and checking up on some of our control sites from last year. Aley is also spending some time this year recording the abundance of native plants in our control sites so we can monitor the recovery of the community after invasive plant removal.
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