DEEPEST apologies for the trashy pun. I know actions speak louder than words, so I will definitely have a better one next blog… This week the Buffalo National River team, endearingly further referred to as the BUFF team (first photo), spent most of the week doing Operational Leadership Training, which helps educate about and prevent workplace accidents and incidents. Unfortunately, that meant we were cooped up in a conference room, but at the end of the week we had training at the Tyler Bend Visitor Center and got to go on a hike that led us to this beautiful outlook. The trail we took was surrounded by forest where brush and vines covered the trunks of trees and sometimes even the path (fourth picture). The hike passed the Collier Homestead (third picture; I liked the tree more) which is one of the oldest standing original buildings in the park. We proceeded to the massive overlook where the Tyler Bend and surrounding forest can be seen in their near-perfect preservation (fifth photo). Some of the people we met were in the ecology and biology departments of HQ, so I connected with some of them to find some common ground and will hopefully be getting involved in the scientific portions of river ecology along with the future fishing programs! Sorry to keep this blog short, but we were training all week :(( enjoy the photos <3