Author Archives: mcasanova

Green!

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The rain has finally come to California and it’s amazing! As many of you know California has been in a sever drought. We have been struggling to keep planted native plants alive on restoration sites this past year on Fort Ord and seeing rain falling from the sky was like seeing little orbs of life making their way to the earth.

What a transformation. When I started my internship at Fort Ord it was the middle of the Summer and most of the grasses (invasive and native) had dropped their seeds and had started to turn brown. The only green I saw on Fort Ord was from the Oak Trees and and the evergreen maritime chaparral plants (Chemis, Ceanthus, Manzanita). The grasslands have just exploded with green little seedling and it has been a beautiful experience. I have learned a lot with my mentor going out and botonizing. Pulling up seedings and identifying the seed casing still attached. The wildlife has been so active also. After the first rain we got, I saw 7 bobcats (I might have seen one or two twice) in one day! Before that I had only seen 3 over a four month period. The birds are out and about foraging and for a birder like me there is nothing better! Even the herps have been making their way out. I’m hearing frogs croaking and seeing salamanders wandering the paths. Oh, and the insects have been crawling around in droves. Centipedes and beetles have been teeming around the ground. It’s been a struggle trying to avoid smashing them.

I just find it so amazing to have been able to experience this! I love animals and wildlife and it makes me so happy to be able to see the changes and the life that rain brings. I hope we get a lot more because we really need it!

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Cheers,
Manny

Public Lands Day

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October 25th was National Public Lands Day.  This is the day the public gets to volunteer for a couple of hours in the back country. Afterwards, everyone gets to mingle, eat food, and listen to some good music. It was nice to see the public interacting with everyone from the BLM. It’s always nice to feel appreciated for all the hard work we do managing the trails and the land. Although it was a lot of fun, it was also a lot of hard work.

The week leading up Public Lands Day, we each had specific tasks in order to prepare. One of my tasks was managing the volunteers at the new restoration site on Oil Well Road (it was being restored to decrease water channeling that was causing a gully). The heavy equipment crew had worked all the way until Thursday afternoon. I only had a few hours with the Weed’s Crew (Kelly, Daniel, Alex, and Ryan) to prep the site for the volunteers on Saturday. The plan was for the volunteers to drive up to the site and broadcast seed with sterile Barley (for soil stability) and cover the bare ground with straw (to provide protection for the seed and control erosion). With about two hours to go, the crew and I had to place one bale of straw every 800 feet to provide the right mount of cover. This was a lot harder than it sounds; the bales are awkward and heavy and it basically took two people to move each one. We also had to measure 20×40 feet to know where to place them. That turned out to be way too slow, so we began placing them 10-12 steps away from each other, figuring that the prior ones had roughly that much distance between them. However, even at this point, we still had to move over 200 bales of straw on a huge and steep restoration site. Obviously we didn’t get it done, and on Friday I only had Daniel and Alex to help me. We must have moved over 100 bales of straw, rotating with each other every so often to catch a break. We didn’t end up finishing the whole site, and then to top it off we also learned that it could potentially rain on National Public Lands Day. We figured that our volunteer turnout wouldn’t be as large if it did rain, and therefore they probably wouldn’t finish the entire site anyways.
My other task was placing BLM special event signs from the highway all the way to the back country. I met up with my mentor at 6:30 am on a SATURDAY and began placing the signs while it was still dark. As we are driving and placing the sign, he reminded me that we also needed to set up four plots to test the limited amount of Elymus glaucus seed! I raced up and began setting up 15.9×47.7 meter long plots on the site, which was difficult because it had begun to rain and the mud had caked on my boots and made them feel like 10 pound weights on my feet. By 10 am, I had them set up and as the volunteers arrived I gave them the run down of what the site was and what we are going to be doing. There ended up being about 15-20 volunteers that made it to the Oil Well restoration site, and they got about a quarter of it done.
We stopped, cleaned up, and took a group photo, then headed down to the festivities.
Two summer interns – Mandy and Stephan -got awards for all their hard work, and I was really happy to see them again. After we all ate, I had to run off and collect all the signs. Luckily for me, traffic was light.
I slept well after that day.

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Cheers,
Manny -Fort Ord – BLM

 

 

 

Clean up

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Hello all,

I was recently asked to help law enforcement with a marijuana clean-up in Clear Creek which is located in Central California. Clear Creek was an awesome experience, especially because not many people are allowed to go into the management area due to the naturally occurring high levels of asbestos.

From Fort Ord (Monterey Bay) it took about 3 hours to reach the gate to Clear Creek, and the road leading up to it had not been well maintained which made for a rough ride. We finally made it, however, and the BLM Ranger I was riding with got his gear ready as we waited for the rest of the team to show up. There were three clean up sites that had already had the marijuana removed but our job was to remove tubing (used for irrigation) and trash from the camp.

The rest of the team showed up, including another BLM range and a Department of Fish and Wildlife officer. Our team leader handed us a packet with information on how to execute the clean up; it was surreal to be involved in a project like this even though I am not a member of law enforcement.

After receiving our assignments, we proceeded to the opening of the grow site and waited for the helicopter, or “bird” as they called it, to show up. Once the rangers established communication with the bird, they dropped two more army personnel to assist with the clean up. Watching a helicopter land in a very small clearing like that was a really cool sight to see.

The trail was steep and our progress was slow-going as we scrambled down the trail to the heart of the site. I was required to stay behind everyone else, because I was the only person without a gun. They had done a flyby the previous day and hadn’t spotted anyone, so I wasn’t too worried about it anyways. We finally reached the grow site, and there was trash everywhere: cans, toilet paper, razors, ramen noodles, plastic…the list could go on and on. After I gathered the trash, the helicopter dropped two nets to collect it (this is the way the trash had to be removed due to the remoteness). This whole process was a rather shocking experience: the helicopter gets really low, its wind blows everything into your face, your hat flies off, and you feel like the “bird” and/or the nets are gonna fall right on top of you. Thankfully, they didn’t fall on top of us, and we quickly filled the nets with all the trash, and I learned how to hook them to the helicopter so they could be carried off. It was a lot of work, but it was also an awesome experience.

 

Until the next fun adventure,
Manny

tough but fun week!

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Let me preface this post by mentioning how much I love working at Fort Ord and for the BLM. Watering the plants, finding horned lizards, managing the land — what could be better for a guy interested in restoration ecology?  I could tell you about all these things (and hope that you’re as into plants as I am), but instead I think I should tell you about an interesting and tough week that I recently had. I’m going to tell you how I got the water truck stuck in the sand…twice.

Tuesday. My mentor had to write a proposal, so I had to take the volunteers to El Toro Creek and water the willows that had been planted to restore and stabilize the banks. I was a little stressed out about managing and delegating tasks to six volunteers, but I had faith in myself (not to mention that the volunteers usually know what to do and get started right away).
I have to stop here for a minute and give a shout out to the great volunteers that make this work possible. The SCA volunteers, Jenny and Leslie; two summer interns, “Royal” and Stephan; another great long-time volunteer named Phil; and lastly Matthew, who is working with a grad student who researches the California Tiger Salamanders. What a great crew.
Alright, back to Tuesday. We all pile into the truck and get to El Toro Creek. I drive into a cleared area that is close to the creek’s edge, and we all get out and set up the pump and hoses. I start delegating jobs for the volunteers. Everything is going smoothly until we ran out of hose and needed to move the water truck, a seemingly simple task. So I step on the gas…and the truck doesn’t move. I try reversing…nothing. I try rocking it back and forth…nothing. I check out my options: stump on my right (could cause some damage to the truck) and the edge of the creek to the left (could possibly roll the truck down ten feet to the creek bed). I’m between a rock and a hard place…or a stump and a creek bed, I suppose. By this time, people have noticed my absence and find me, my stress level building, staring sheepishly at the situation I had gotten us into. Embarrassedly, I explain to the volunteers what had happened, and we finally decide that the best option is to reverse out. So I put it into 4×4 low (or so I thought), gun it in reverse, and…
Buried. I feel like everyone’s eyes are on me. Ugh. I call my mentor, Bruce, who assures me that “this stuff happens” and that he would find someone to come pull me out with the winch. In the mean time, the crew and I dig out the tires and put down logs, rocks, and bark. I try again, no luck. Bruce then informs me that I hadn’t, as I had previously thought, put the truck in 4×4. Could this really get any worse?! After locking the front tires and getting the truck into 4×4, we dig some more and I’m feeling a lot more optimistic. Lock the wheels, everything is in place, and…

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I bury the truck all the way up to the gas tank. I’m so stressed about the truck by this point that it takes me a while to notice the four volunteers watching my failed rescue attempts. I can only imagine how foolish I must look at this point.
We take lunch. I considered figuring out what the volunteers could do while I try to get the truck free, but I decide to relax and just eat instead. We all deserve a break. When lunch was over, Jennifer and Leslie recommend that they and Matthew take the other truck with a big bladder full of water and continue to water the willows. Great idea — why didn’t I think of that? Phil, Stephan, Royal and I once again dig out the tires and prep the truck to hopefully be driven out. By this time, I’ve attempted to get the truck out about six times and Kenny, the park ranger, had driven by during one of these failed attempts and noticed I was stuck. He promptly asks if I have tried rocking it back and forth. I had, but honestly my focus has been on not destroying the vehicle. I offer him the chance to be a hero and attempt to get the truck out for me. He seems hesitant, but he decides to try (against his better judgment I think). Starting slowly he reverses with little progress, drives forward and gains a little ground, then guns it forward running right over the stump with both the front and rear tires, somehow avoiding any damage. 

 

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The truck was finally free from the clutches of the El Toro Creek sand. What a day! Stay positive Manny,tomorrow is a new day. And Wednesday goes off without a hitch. Whew, I’m finally feeling better…until Thursday.
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Once again, I’m with the same crew (minus Matthew) and we’re going to water the willows further down stream than where we were Tuesday. I decide that we should make this the last job of the day (intuition, perhaps?). Okay,Tuesday had happened, but I wasn’t going to let one bad experience dictate my decision-making for the rest of my internship, right? On Wednesday, Bruce and I scoped out a nice terrace with what seemed like sturdy soil next to the creek, and this is where I park. Everything is going as planned. The truck was close to the creek, we watered a lot of willows, and I felt good about our success. Well, not that good because I decide that we will pack up and head back to the compound 30 minutes early, just in case anything went south. I start up the truck, the tires locked and the 4×4 on for reals this time, and I go for it. The top layer of soil breaks and it becomes like quick sand! I keep driving and slowly inching my way to the embankment (which is about 3 feet tall), but I soon realize that there is no way I’m making it up. I call it in, let the crew go home, and wait for Bruce to winch me out. But even the winch can’t get the truck up the embankment.
Two hours later, we too give up and head home. The next morning, however, we’re back at it. Leslie, Jennifer and I take a bunch of ply wood and 2×4’s and start digging and laying down the wood. After all the prep, I’m back in the hot seat. Pressure’s on and…
The truck is out. Imagine my excitement, perhaps matched only by the look of relief on Bruce’s face that we didn’t need to pay for a tow. Finally, a little bit of luck.
Until next time!
Manny

Just started at Ford Ord National Monument

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So I just started working at Fort Ord National Monument in Marina, California a couple of weeks ago and it has been a blast so far. Bruce Delgado (my mentor) has taught me so much about California flora and has let me get right into the mix from day one. He allowed me to drive the F-450 flatbed truck loaded down with 4500lbs of water, translate for a radio show interview with Philipe the sheep herder, and get smelly re-baiting the pig traps.

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I drove the flatbed truck loaded down with water on gravel roads up steep terrain to Oil Well restoration site, planted in 2013. The view alone was totally worth it and it was  relaxing to look out over the rolling hills. You can almost forget you are working when watering the plants surrounded by the scenery. I also found this mantis camouflaged amongst the dying Avena barbata at Oil Well which was awesome.

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Philipe uses border collies to herd the sheep into locations for grazing, and while I was watering the Oil Well restoration site he let me hold one of the puppies!

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All in all, it’s been a really fun and awesome experience. I’m excited to continue learning about California’s rich natural history and natural resource management at Fort Ord National Monument.

Cheers,

Manuel Casanova