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The Nature Conservancy in Maryland/District of Columbia Maryland/DC Home Places We Protect News Room Ways of Giving Volunteer Events Contact Landmarks |
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The Nature Conservancy has more than 200 miles of boundaries along its preserves, so the Conservancy often relies on help from volunteers to help monitor the lands and water we’ve protected. The Conservancy is seeking another dozen volunteers to help watch over our conservation lands on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Nature Conservancy volunteer and Caroline County resident Pat Groller is one of two dozen volunteers who serve as boundary walkers. She took time recently to talk to nature.org/marylanddc about what it’s like to be a volunteer boundary walker for the Conservancy at its Plum Creek Preserve.
nature.org: What got you interested in the Conservancy?
Pat Groller: I have always been an outdoors person and loved crabbing, hiking, kayaking, even hunting. I’ve enjoyed looking at native plants in the area and have always been interested in wildlife looking at their tracks and their scat trying to figure out what they are and what they are doing. I joined the Conservancy in 1994 or 1995 and went to a few volunteer workdays and really enjoyed that. Deborah Barber [director of land management and volunteer stewardship] and Donnelle Keech [Allegany Forests Project director] got me started identifying wildflowers.
nature.org: What does a boundary walker do?
Pat Groller: Basically you are out walking the boundaries of a preserve and making sure signs are where they should be and enjoying the day as you go about. Occasionally you might meet the neighbors and they are usually very grateful to live next to a nature preserve. We have one neighbor who has helped install wood duck boxes as nesting habitat and has even agreed to monitor them throughout the season.
Your role is also to look for any damage being done to the area or any major changes. For example, you watch to see if people are dumping trash at the preserve—that’s always a big one. Then you report it to the Conservancy and they take care of it. You are basically the eyes and ears for The Nature Conservancy.
nature.org: How often do you go out in the field and what are the conditions like?
Pat Groller: I go out at least twice a year, but I really enjoy the preserve so I’m there a lot more often. It’s very important that you are able to get around where there are no trails. You have to climb over logs and go through greenbrier. You also have to realize that you are going to get ticks, chiggers and mosquito bites. That’s just part of getting out in the woods.
nature.org: Tell me about some of the perks of being a boundary walker.
Pat Groller: The upside of being a boundary walker is going into an area and finding some wild flower that you may never have seen before. I’ve seen all kinds of wildlife, like red fox, a black snake high in a tree crawling into the nest of a very agitated hairy woodpecker, beaver giving a warning tail-splash, many bald eagles and hawks, deer, wild turkey, and beautiful butterflies and dragonflies.
One day, I parked in a sandy spot at the preserve and came back to eat my lunch. I sat down on my Jeep and saw a bunch of little turtles coming out from under the car. It took me awhile to realize I had just parked over a nest of turtles. I remained there a while longer to make sure they all found their way to a near by pond.
I really appreciate the Conservancy for giving me the opportunity to get out to a place that is totally wild and just walk around and enjoy it.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Clay Murray (Trail marker); Photo © David Snyder (Pat Groller at Dorchester Pond Preserve); Photo © David Dadurka/TNC (TNC staff and volunteers visit Cranesville swamp preserve).
