Maddie R.- “We started the day out early by arriving at LREC at 7:30. By 8:00 everyone and everything, including, most importantly, the granola bars, were packed into the van and on the road to Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO. Forty-five minutes (and a good nap) later, we met James, the restoration biologist at the reserve. He quickly started us on seed cleaning, a task which none of us had realized would be so tedious. Finally, after giving up and stomping on the plants to force out the remaining seeds, we took a break for lunch (in which the granola bas came in handy). Afterward, Sean instructed everyone in the use of the GPS units, and we split up and hiked around the area, trying to identify prairie and woodland species with the field guides we had brought. James met up with us again about mid-afternoon and took us out into the prairie to collect seeds from sedges. Although the sun beat down mercilessly and the uncut vegetation was uncomfortable to wade through, hunting down seeds gave us all a sense of satisfaction and brought us closer to the endangered eco-system. Unfortunately, some people had to leave early, but before the rest of us could ge too lonely, the pizza arrived from Domino’s for dinner. We chowed down, famished and thankful that we had agreed to order jalapeños on the side and not actually on the pizza. As boredom set in after the eal, Helen, the ever-friendly Shaw receptionist/shopkeeper, came to tell us about a night hike she had led to the gravel bar on the Meramec river. After inspecting the route on the map, we decided to give it a try. The one -mile trek was rather wet and muddy, but the gravel bar was verty peaceful, and we spent awhile a while skipping stones on the river and watching the sunset. We returned to take showers and go to sleep in our comfy cabin under a darkening sky. Although we battled waves of ticks under the hot sun, our adventure at Shaw Nature Reserve was really fun. We got to learn more about the prairie eco-system, manual restoration work, and each other, bringing us all closer together.