| In
Yosemite, we didn't just explore the land, we also helped it. On the
last day, Friday, two hiking groups got together and we pulled up
blackberries. The reason we did this was because blackberries were
planted in Yosemite a long time ago. Since they reproduce so
fast, they have almost taken over Yosemite National Park. The
Yosemite Institute naturalists gave us gloves and shovels and brought
us to a patch of blackberries. The hard part about this was that there
are also native raspberry bushes that looked almost the same as the
blackberry. The naturalists explained to us the difference between the
two, and we got to digging. My partner and I started by puling out the
small ones. Then we got to a big patch of them and pulled out the whole
root. It was huge! Pulling these out was not easy, and the fact they
were really thorny made it even harder. Though it was tough, doing this
job made me feel really good. I felt like I was saving a really
beautiful place from being over populated with unwanted plants. Pulling
blackberries was a really good experience for me because it was a way
to give back to Yosemite. |
