Rachel Derner

Undergraduate Fellow, Forest Biodiversity Team

“It is really fun to measure a big giant tree. I don't know why. It is just satisfying. I think, ‘Look at this big old guy, it's been here for so long. What has this tree lived through? What has it seen?’”  

Rachel Derner is a member of the Forest Biodiversity Team, censusing the trees in the ForestGEO Plot each day. The plot is 25 hectares, split into 10 by 10 meter subquadrats, in which they measure every tree with a diameter greater than 1 cm.  

“I knew what I was signing up for and I like it a lot. Certain days it can get a little bit old, doing the same thing every day. But the team morale and environment make up for that tediousness and make something that could be boring a lot more fun.” 

Despite the data collection being a somewhat monotonous task, Rachel and her teammates have found ways to stay positive in the field. 

“What keeps me motivated is knowing that no matter what you are doing or how hard that day's part of the census is, you are always making progress. Even if it is difficult, you are still moving, no matter how fast or how slow. It is very rewarding at the end of the day to look back and see how much work you've done. Our team has a chart posted in our lab, and every day we go back and color in the quadrants that we did during the day. That is fun. It is satisfying to visually see the progress that we've made. And the team dynamic helps keep the morale up. For example, we call it Loud Afternoons when we bring out a speaker and play music. That makes the work uplifting and keeps the good vibes going whenever it's super hot and we are tired. All of that helps keep us motivated.”