Experience at Mac has Biology undergrad aspiring to be a rural Batman – “plant scientist by day, farmer by night”.

Renee Twyford has spent her summer saving birds, surveying snakes, battling buckthorn and moving a mountain of mulch.

It’s been everything the biology undergrad had hoped for when she scored a paid internship with Nature at McMaster. The experience at Mac tops her stint as a horticultural intern at the Cincinnati Zoo in her home state of Ohio. “I get to combine science with hands-on outdoor work – it doesn’t get better than that.”

Even the dirtiest and most demanding job’s been a joy for Renee. All of the interns, along with a crew of volunteers and faculty members plus a pair of spouses, hauled 80 cubic yards of bark compost into the new teaching and research greenhouse – that’s just over 61,000 kg or roughly the weight as 10 African bush elephants. It took the compost brigade just shy of two weeks, making around 800 trips with fully loaded wheelbarrows down a ramp and through a circuitous route to the greenhouse garden beds. Renee came away with a few blisters but had a blast lending a helping hand.

“I can’t wait for everyone to see the greenhouse bursting with life,” says Renee. “It’s going to be such an amazing place to geek out over plants and see things that can’t be found anywhere else in Hamilton.” There’s even a reminder of home in the greenhouse for Renee – the Dutchman’s Pipe with its heart-shaped leaves is native to Ohio.

Renee’s still helping out at the greenhouse with calloused hands. She comes in on weekends, volunteering alongside biology professor Susan Dudley to water and fertilize the hundreds of trees and plants that made the cross-campus move from the old greenhouse between The Phoenix and Hamilton Hall.

Susan’s grateful for the help and not surprised that Renee is such an enthusiastic and dedicated volunteer. Susan says Renee was a stand-out student and “absolute pleasure” in her experiential field course. “Renee thrives on learning by doing. She happily identified plants in September and was the first to pull on waders and head down muddy creek banks in December to net invertebrates.” It was also in that course that Renee met Wayne Terryberry at his goat farm and learned about summer internships with Nature at McMaster.

Along with pitching in at the greenhouse, Renee and the Nature at McMaster interns have scouted every building on campus to recommend which windows should be covered in feather-friendly adhesive dots to help prevent bird strikes. They’ve worked with Ontario Nature to conduct snake surveys in the 115-acre McMaster Forest Nature Preserve just west of the campus – it’s home to a whole lot of snakes. In another collaboration – this time with the Adopt-A-Park program – the interns are restoring newly acquired greenspace behind Mayfair Cresent by cutting and digging out invasive species like buckthorn, garlic mustard and multifora rose. And they’re maintaining the McMaster Forest trails, along with the McMaster Carbon Sink Forest and the five vernal ponds that have just been added to the West Campus.

Renee will remain a greenhouse regular after her Nature at McMaster summer internship wraps up. Along with volunteering, she’ll be working in one of the greenhouse labs on her final year thesis project. Working under the supervision of biology professor Robin Cameron, she’ll be studying how plants react and respond to disease. The lack of controlled conditions in the old greenhouse made plant science research next to impossible. “The technology in the new greenhouse to support research is amazing.”

She also predicts record-setting community outreach – the old greenhouse drew more than 3,000 visitors annually. There’s now far more space to see the plants from different angles and vantage points. “Telling someone about plants is one thing – letting them see, smell, touch or even eat some of the plants gets people really excited about botany and our natural world.”

The summer internship and greenhouse confirms Renee’s decision to follow her grandfather and dad to Mac. Her grandfather fled The Troubles in Northern Ireland, settled in Hamilton and earned his Bachelor of Arts in Labour Studies after seven years of night school. Renee’s father started in McMaster’s natural sciences program before moving south of the border and switching to engineering. Renee’s taking the same path as her dad but only in reverse – she completed a year in engineering before switching to an honours biology research specialization with a minor in French and statistics. “The opportunities for research, getting involved in the community and sharing a love and passion for plants and the environment have been endless at McMaster.”

Renee arrived five years ago with dreams of owning a sustainable, self-sufficient farm. She’s since tweaked that aspiration. She plans to become a rural Batman – “plant scientist and researcher by day, farmer by night.” But she won’t be wearing a cape – that’s nothing but an occupational hazard when you’re working in a greenhouse, out in the field and out on a farm.