In the Field with Lisa Donnelly, WRC’s GIS/Transportation Tech
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Working remotely is easy when your office is outdoors! Most of my 2020 field season was spent collecting road erosion inventory data, conducting traffic counts, inspecting Grants In Aid sites, and setting up pedestrian counters in on hiking trails. Because some of this work required several days of long commutes from Brattleboro, I had the unique opportunity to combine my love of the outdoors with my work by setting up camp at some of Vermont's State Parks. For example, camping at Jamaica State Park while working on the road erosion inventory in Winhall shortened my commute from 45 minutes to 10. As a bonus, I got to end my day relaxing by a campfire!
Since my work takes me to towns all over our region, I get to see a lot interesting things in beautiful places. One of my favorite moments this year happened on a beautiful day at the height of foliage season. I was setting up pedestrian counters on Putney Mountain, where I ran into a pair of sheep and a hawk watch group at the summit!
Now that the colder weather is sending us all back indoors, it's time to process all of that data we collected all season. Field season may technically be over, but I will be back out on the trails with our counters for Winter counts soon enough!
