Audrey Mechtenberg

This is something to call your reps about. We’re not just going to let this happen.

So many young people, particularly in the conservation field gain their first professional experience by serving in Americorps (for very low living stipends). I did along with so many of my friends. I planted trees, fought wildfires, deployed on disaster response- directly serving my community.

Americorps crew preps tree tubes for tree planting at MLJ service day.

Americorps crew works on a wildfire on the side of a mountain.

Americorps crew poses on a snowy trail as they work to improve drainages and erosion issues.

Americorps member preps biohazard bags for COVID tests while deployed on disaster response.

@Americorps is a cornerstone of conservation and community services in this country. DOGE cancelling grants, ending programs, and terminating members’ terms and scholarships is cruel and intolerable.
#americorps #DOGE

DOGE orders AmeriCorps to cancel $400 million in grants, Washington Post reports Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has ordered the cancellation of around $400 million in grants doled out by AmeriCorps, the federal government's national service and volunteering agency, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing three sources with knowledge of the matter.

DOGE orders AmeriCorps to cancel $400 million in grants, Washington Post reports reut.rs/42wok32

People stand in front of the capitol building in Olympia WA holding signs and protesting the Trump administration on 4/19/25.

Olympia, WA!

Protesters participate in the 4/19 community action day in front of the capitol building in Olympia, WA, holding signs protesting the Trump administration.

Olympia, WA @50501movement.bsky.social 4/19

Headline: ICE came for their neighbor so these Tennesseans formed a human chain to protect him

I can't emphasize enough that the most important thing journalists can do right now is publish exactly this kind of article

Did you know?

There’s a directory of Black farmers: “The Black Farmers Index.”

Buy and uplift local. Many are small-scale specialists and located in urban areas. I found an organic resource in my area that I will definitely check out.

Tomorrow is the
ECONOMIC BOYCOTT

I won’t be making a single purchase.
Who’s with me?

El Capitan displays a massive American flag upside down—the traditional signal of distress or extreme emergency.

This week, approximately 200,000 federal workers have been let go.

Across the government, probationary employees and Schedule A workers—including individuals with severe physical, psychiatric, or intellectual disabilities, as well as veterans—are being let go.

The anticipation of spring blooms is what’s keeping me going right now too 😭

It’s helpful to hear this put into plain terms, identifying the vague concept of “habitat loss” to the industrial scale of monoculture GMOs + spraying. For some reason I always felt slightly conspiratorial making that connection when teaching workshops.

Call your Reps: Two Senators & a Congressperson. Doesn't matter what party they are in. Put their number in your phone. Seriously you can do it every day. "I'm from [zip code] and I don't want this." Waiting in line for a coffee? Call. About to reply to a post? Call. www.congress.gov/contact-us

Reminder:

Rabbitbrush, a large shrub somewhere on the side of the highway in Wyoming. The remnants of the flowers in winter are a pale yellow, which contrasts with deep blue skies and snowy ground.

Showy milkweed seed pods, gray-brown husks that stand among dead grass and other winter wildflower stalks in the winter. Salt Lake and pale blue winter sky scattered with clouds in the background.

My iNaturalist observation map, which mostly has points in West Virginia, Colorado, and Washington, but my travels have filled in a few points in Wyoming, Utah, Georgia, and Ohio.

The most important part about traveling across the country is to #iNat your journey so you can see your observations fill in the map.

I’m fairly new to @inaturalist.bsky.social so I got a lot of work to do!!

This is just outside of Ronceverte, WV at a public access DNR boat launch.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) a bright white spring ephemeral that’s several inches tall with 8+ white petals, prominent yellow anthers and a distinctive basal leaf with 5-7 lobes. Bleeds a reddish, orange fluid when the stem is cut, hence the name “bloodroot”.

Sharp-lobed anemone (hepatica acutiloba), another spring ephemeral that flowers in early Spring. It has 5-10 showy sepals that can range in color from white, periwinkle blue, lavender, or in this photo, a soft pink.

Eastern purple clematis (clematis occidentalis var occidentalis), a vining plant that produces flowers with purple/pink sepals.

Flame azalea (rhododendron calendulacea), a shrub with beautiful, bright orange flowers that stand out shockingly against its dark green foliage.

2024 plant recap; I could add a thousand photos to this post but here’s a random selection of some of my favorite Appalachian species. #NativePlants

It’s hard to stay for multiple years as a field assistant when your contribution to the research isn’t reflected in published work. And field assistants need a way to bridge that experience to permanent positions.

Field work is often necessary experience but so easy to get stuck in seasonal positions and is one of the most frustrating parts about being an early career biologist. We need to restructure this career pathway in more ways than one.

It’s hard to stay for multiple years as a field assistant when your contribution to the research isn’t reflected in published work. And field assistants need a way to bridge that experience to permanent positions.

go.bsky.app/BfudV1S

✋ I work in wildlife conservation under USDA FarmBill programs, and outreach with the public on pollinator conservation

I don’t know much about equipment but more or less! The truex yes

Native seed drill applies wildflower seed mix to field of brown, dead vegetation. Americorp partner in hi-vis vest guides seed drill to avoid rocks and obstacles.

Finallyyy seeded the first project I started in this position- here’s to hopefully a successful wildflower meadow 🤞

Another starter pack, this time attempting to capture the folks working in #ecology and #fieldBiology in (especially southern) #Appalachia.

Happy to add folks to the list who I missed!

go.bsky.app/BfudV1S

I definitely heard this metaphor from Xerces first and it’s a very helpful tool for communicating with folks esp beekeepers

What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?

(Bringing back a 2018 Twitter hit): Keeping honey bees to save the bees is like keeping chickens to save the birds. They're a managed species and not at risk of extinction. The bees at risk of extinction are wild species.

Perfect, thanks 👍