I am studying Wildlife at West Virginia University. I began my masters (Wildlife and Fisheries Resources) in January 2004 and I've embarked on the beginning of a habitat restoration project. Another graduate candidate, Jason Love, is currently working on this project along side of me. Dr. Jim Anderson is my Major Professor and he could be classified as a proud "homesteader" (raising his own meat and vegetables and living off of his land). West Virgina is a new experience for my husband (Robbie Edalgo) and I. We love the abundant wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) and whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in this Appalachian region and we hope to get into the woods for some hunting to have fresh meat in the freezer. My study site is in Farmington, Pennsylvania and there is a small population of American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) on-site. Fort Necessity National Battlefield is the specific study site. Finding male American Woodcock displaying, singing, and flying eradically into the air reminds me of being a kid and playing capture the flag at night. They're both a blast and 100% thrilling!

My thesis is focusing on small mammals and earthworm communities in response to exotic Morrow's honeysuckle(Lonicera morrowii) at Fort Necessity National Battlefield. I will determine the importance of prebaiting small mammal traps within an exotic species. Exotic species tend to homogenize the areas they dominate. By homogenizing areas, I mean that non-native species tend to decrease the biodiversity where they grow by outcompeting the native vegetation for available resources. I will also determine if measuring vegetation availability at the trap station is the same as the vegetation actually traveled on by small mammals. I will follow a fluorescent powder-marked trail left by the rodents after I lightly shake them up in a bag and saturate their fur with fluorescent powder.

I am from Georgia, but growing up in an Army household, I've lived in Germany, New York, and Texas. Since I've been in college, I've visited my family in Korea, Arizona, and Kentucky as they've moved around without me. I've been on 3 international mission trips to Russia, Scotland, and Jamaica. I love to travel. Robbie and I went to Costa Rica for our honeymoon. I got to see a sloth, well many sloths, and hummingbirds galore!

One of the highlights of my life was working on Ossabaw Island, Georgia. Ossabaw is a barrier island off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. The island is owned by the State of Georgia and managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Exotic and extremely invasive wild hogs (Sus scrofa) thrive there on the plentiful oak and palmetto mast. Some of my favorite events there included the fishing and crabbing! Fishing involved seining mullet (bait) from slews and then baiting the heads to chum up the water in hopes of hooking a big black-tipped shark. Sting rays bit about as frequently as the sharks did, and they made good shark bait if we ran out of mullet. Crabbing involved stuffing the crab traps with some kind of decaying meat (chicken necks are the most popular) and then tossing them into the brackish water. A day or 2 later I checked the traps and all sorts of creatures would appear as I hoisted the trap into the air and set it down on land. Snow crabs were the prize catch as they have muscular claws. You can legally twist off one claw and then you must throw the crab back. It will re-grow it's claw and live to be about 8 years old!