Monday morning isn’t something one often looks forward to, but yesterday was perhaps one of the best Mondays I’ve ever experienced.

My fellow interns and I spent the first half of the day planting Jeffrey Pine seedlings in a fire rehab area at Indian Creek in California.  In the afternoon, we split up into teams to do some weed surveys near by.  My team went to the Indian Creek Campground Reservoir where we, unfortunately, found its entire perimeter full of mullein, a species that is on our noxious weed list.  We also found a few noxious thistle species, but there were nowhere near as many of those in the area.

Although noxious weeds were abundant, the experience of planting and surveying in that landscape was a lot of fun.  Rarely in my life have I had the opportunity to spend time among mountains, conifers, and the types of wild animals we encountered there.

It was definitely a good Monday.

Indian Creek Campground Reservoir

Surveying for noxious weeds