Today is my last day working on the Stanislaus. I have gotten used to living my life in pine forest and will miss it. After growing up in the darker fir forests of the Pacific Northwest, the smell of the sun on the ponderosa and jeffery bark is delightful!
In just over two weeks I will be moving from a vacation town of several hundred folks (Long Barn, CA) to a major metropolitan city (Madrid, Spain). I doubt my fellow Fulbright scholars will understand what it is like to drive a field vehicle two hours into a burned area on washed out roads, clearing fallen saplings out of the roadway all the while, in order to hike steep slopes and end up covered in charcoal. And I very much doubt they will understand how much fun it is! Who knows, there will be another ecologist among them…
Throughout the season I have had the opportunity to participate in various projects. I began monitoring populations of several sensitive species post Rim Fire (2013), moved on to protecting sensitive orchids on rangeland, and, after acting as the botanist for several wetland delineations in restoration sites, I spent several months surveyed reforestation units for sensitive Clarkia and noxious weeds. While my past experience has been mostly data collection with an academic purpose, this summer has been steeped in application. It has at once been grounding (to put theory into practice), and a little tedious (to cover such a large burned area with our survey crew).
However, each project offered its own opportunity for learning. In the surveys for weeds and sensitive species I learned GIS (from scratch!!), and became very adept at mapping populations in rough terrain. We made countless maps, outlined each population we encountered, and updated data from previous years. During the wetland delineations I learned to determine the boundary within a gradient of plant communities, and how to interpret the wetland status of different species. Working with an Americorps crew to construct cages in order to protect the mountain lady slipper orchid I considered my position on conservation/restoration. Questions like: How can we be the most effective in protecting large, complex, systems? What is the value of a man-made ecosystem? A “traditional”, “untouched” ecosystem? A “novel” ecosystem including invasives? Honestly, I’m still looking for answers to those questions, and I think that this momentum will lead me to my next opportunity.
Alright, that’s all for now. A warm farewell to all and a hearty thanks to Krissa and Rebecca for making this program possible.
Cheers,
Emily
Clarkia australis
Lush Claytonia after the burn
A brushy drainage greening up after fire
