Going through the furlough was quite the experience… The first week was okay but then as it dragged on, I became so eager to get back to work. It was wonderful to return to work, go out into the field and see that Redding’s trees had started to go through their fall transformations, covering the land in bright reds and oranges! We had to immediately begin our acorn collections since we missed out on a huge window of opportunity. While we were out collecting, I came across some pretty awesome dead trees covered in holes and filled with acorns; it seems the woodpeckers were busy making their little cubbies while we were away and filled them up with nice fat acorns!

We also visited Clear Creek Gorge which is a nice look out for salmon. They are currently breeding so there are salmon everywhere! The water was pretty shallow and the salmon are so BIG! Occasionally the salmon would flip their tails and splash the water as they prepared to lay their eggs. It was really such an incredible sight to see.

We have seen lots of deer families roaming around, which is always mesmerizing to me. They are just so elegant and graceful. Being from the city and not being around too much wildlife really put me in a bubble in that I never really put much thought into hunting.  But now it’s as if somehow I have barely confirmed that hunting is real 🙁 So, while seeing the deer running around makes me happy, I am equally saddened at the thought that we are in the midst of hunting season. Still, I am comforted by the fact that there are tons of rules and regulations when it comes to hunting.

We recently started invasive weed control. The first plant we tackled was Arundo donax, the giant reed grass.There were two small populations in the Shasta dam area. We prepared all of our equipment; I really don’t have much experience with herbicide, so this was my first time. I was pretty satisfied by the success of our efforts and left with a strong feeling that we did a good job and the Arundo wouldn’t sprout back anytime soon.

We have also continued our work with the students from Happy Valley Elementary. I enjoy being able to show them around the greenhouse and encourage them to get their hands in the dirt and treat our young plants with care. Soon, we will start having them help us plant out some of our seeds for next year’s restoration efforts. There is still a lot of work to be done here in Redding and I am really trying to help out as much as I can before it is time for my internship to end. I truly want to leave feeling accomplished and feeling like I contributed to something amazing!