I just started working out here at the Angeles National Forest about three weeks ago.  California is a much different environment compared to the prairie filled Midwest I’m used to.  There are so many different biomes here its just awesome.  The Angeles National Forest is very unique when compared to other national forests due to the fact that it is constantly being reborn due to disturbances.  A disturbance, ecologically speaking, is when an ecosystem gets wiped out practically and most of  the living material dies.  The Angeles forest is constantly being disturbed by both natural and human influences.  There are many different ways disturbances happen here at the Angeles the largest and most observable cause of a disturbance are wildfires.  The dry arid climate combined with the Santa Ana winds make wildfires a real problem for the forest.  When a wildfire sweeps through an area it can leave very little behind.  Another form of disturbance that we have encountered is not always recognized by people, and that is gas pipeline construction.  Gas companies actually have many pipelines that run right through the forest and the construction and burial of these line also disturb the ecosystem.  So to be clear disturbances are not always bad.  Nature has been coping with some of these natural disturbances for millions of years and the ecosystem becomes healthier and more diverse because of these disturbances.  The problem with these disturbances comes when new invasive species start to move in and take over the disturbed areas.  They are not native and therefore the normal flora and fauna cannot adapt to the changing environment and then struggle to survive.  This is where I come in with a super hero entrance and a utility belt full of all my weed extraction tools.  The Angeles National Forest weed crew consists of me and ten other workers whose job it is to go into these disturbed area and extract all of the invasive species we can get.  Now when I first started the job it felt very lack-luster.  I felt like an overworked gardener, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that what I was doing was making a difference to the ecosystem in a very positive way.  When you go into a burned area that is now just covered with an invasive mustard you can see how these non-native plants can choke out all of the native flora.  It is a hard, long and dirty job but I know that the forest will be a much better place because of it.  It is our responsibility to maintain these ecosystems in order to protect all of the plants and animals that depend on it.  Also we need to preserve these beautiful landscapes so that future generations can enjoy them and learn from them as well.