Benjamin Michelson is dwarfed by banana trees growing in the Boyce Thompson Institute greenhouses on campus. Charles Harrington/University Photography
Once part of French Equatorial Africa, the Republic of Gabon, sits on the continent's west coast. It is a quiet land, where elephants roam free in the thick jungle and where in 1913 Albert Schweitzer first opened a hospital to attend to the destitute.
Gabon also sits atop a large petroleum reserve. And decades ago, the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company began harvesting oil, leaving behind unsightly sludge and abandoned natural gas flare pits. In the intervening years, Shell has decided to go back to clean those areas and restore the jungle.
Working for a Shell contractor, senior Ben Michelson wanted to help play a part in restoring the Gabon rain forest to its pristine state.
Michelson, who will graduate with a degree in plant science in May, spent last summer in Gamba, Gabon, in charge of a tree nursery preparing plants for the freshly decontaminated soil.
"It's one of the most diverse rain forests in the world," said Michelson
Before the jungle can grow, the oil must be cleaned from the sandy soil. The sand is removed, rinsed through a super wash, and then replaced.
Michelson's role was managing a nursery of 10,000 plants. He watched over varieties of hardwood trees including mahogany, canopy trees and bushes. Apart from keeping the trees in good shape until the planting season, he sometimes had to find ways to germinate native seeds collected earlier in the year.
Some tree, such as Saccoglottis are tricky, if not downright impossible, to germinate from harvested seed. But Michelson learned through local inhabitants that Saccoglottis seeds germinate in the wild when they pass through the stomachs of forest elephants. So he walked along forest trails and collected the ready-to-germinate seeds from coarsely digested elephant dung.
And he watched the seeds grow.
Michelson plans to return to Gabon following graduation. When he arrives there later this summer, it will be the start of the 10-month rainy season, a perfect time for planting.
"It's fascinating work," said Michelson. "It's not really about money. I really enjoy it because of the diversity of the rain forest -- elephants, crocodiles, insects -- and I get to interact with a very warm people. Here (in the U.S.), we don't appreciate the warm, unique African society."
Michelson is very comfortable in Africa. His parents, former high school teachers in North Dakota, left the United States in the mid 1980s to become missionaries in Africa, and now live in Mali helping refugees crossing the border from Mauritania. Michelson grew up in the region and went to boarding school at the International Christian Academy near the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) compound at Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire. While in high school, he knew he wanted to study international agriculture. Friends at WARDA suggested Cornell.
At Cornell he became firm friends with Dutch graduate student Ard Louis, also a graduate of Michelson's school in Côte d'Ivoire. It was Louis's father, the owner of Gabon Vert, an environmental restoration company, who invited Michelson to Gabon to help replant the rain forest.
"One day I hope to work in development and relief in Africa," said Michelson. "A lot of people have given up on Africa because the problems there seem hopeless to them. But, if you look, you'll see a lot of strength in African societies. There is so much to be optimistic about."
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |