{"id":1670,"date":"2010-05-27T12:24:46","date_gmt":"2010-05-27T19:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/?p=1670"},"modified":"2010-05-27T12:24:46","modified_gmt":"2010-05-27T19:24:46","slug":"stepping-beyond-the-familiar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=1670","title":{"rendered":"Stepping Beyond the Familiar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The view as we botanized along the San Pasquel Valley Trail<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Showy

Showy Penstemon (Penstemon spectabilis) a native perennial.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Hillside

Hillside flowering yellow with Deer Weed (Lotus scoparius). <\/p><\/div>\n

\"Wildflowers

Wildflowers along the Sunrise Highway, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, CA.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"View

View of our desert collection area in McCain Valley.<\/p><\/div>\n

Testing the boundaries of my comfort zone has become the theme for my internship experience in Southern California.\u00a0 The coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and desert ecosystems are about as different as can be from the northern hardwood and boreal forests of the upper Midwest where I have the vast majority of my ecological experience.\u00a0 To start the \u2018next step\u2019 in life after graduating I was looking for a new environment to challenge not only my ecological abilities but also give me the experience of living somewhere very different, this CLM internship has proven to do just that.<\/p>\n

Learning all new plants and systems can be an intimidating yet exciting prospective.\u00a0 My fellow intern and I are very lucky to be working with a number of very talented, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic botanists and ecologists.\u00a0 Our first field trip was filled with gasps of excited exclamations of \u201cOh the Pickeringia montana <\/em>is flowering!\u00a0\u00a0 And the Malacothamnus densiflorus<\/em> is blooming so nicely.\u00a0 The Dendromecon rigida<\/em> and Romneya coulteri <\/em>are having a good year so far.\u00a0 Was that a Lathyrus vestitus <\/em>among the Adenostoma fasciculatum<\/em> back there? Oh!\u00a0 What a beautiful swath of Lupinus bicolor<\/em>!\u201d while botanizing out the truck window as we bumped along the dirt road heading up and down the hills.\u00a0 To me all the vegetation was a conglomeration of patches of bright colors interspersed with greens and browns.\u00a0 As a landscape it was beautiful, but my brain could not distinguish all the parts that made up the whole. Gradually, through the weeks, the patchwork of colors has separated into different plants that my mind is starting to define as unique species with accompanying common and scientific names.\u00a0 I learn (and relearn) new ones every day.<\/p>\n

Just learning the plants is only half the battle in becoming acquainted with doing field work in a new environment.\u00a0 Physical challenges such as becoming acclimated to a hot and dry climate and developing the stamina to climb up and down the hills that are mountains to a girl from a glaciated land are overcome with time and the vigilance to remain hydrated.\u00a0 There are also new environmental hazards that I need to be consciously thinking about, such as remembering that certain plants are not friendly and will poke, scratch, or bite. \u00a0And of course, there is the danger of being bit by a snake, something I\u2019m not naturally cautious of since I\u2019ve never lived where snakes are a safety issue.\u00a0 I survived my first close encounter with a rattle snake; I walked away with a pounding heart and the reminder to watch where I step.\u00a0 There are some cultural differences to get used to as well, including the presence Border Patrol as they make their rounds through our collection sites, and the generally faster paced California lifestyle. \u00a0Some things are easier to get used to like the abundance of avocados and oranges that grow on trees in the front yard.\u00a0 Working out of the San Diego Zoo\u2019s Wild Animal Park provides not only the chance to be involved in different research projects, but also the opportunity to work in the hills above various grazing exotic ungulates and to hear the gibbons calling for breakfast in the early morning.<\/p>\n

All in all there are a lot of new things, but when it comes down to it, the field methods are familiar; it\u2019s just a different location.\u00a0\u00a0 Many of the same field work related stories will be created; everybody needs to have the \u2018day we got the work vehicle stuck\u2019 story. \u00a0A month and a half into my internship, I\u2019m amazed at how much I\u2019ve already learned and have had the opportunity to experience.\u00a0 Looking back makes me even more excited for the adventures and opportunities that are in store for the remainder of the internship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Testing the boundaries of my comfort zone has become the theme for my internship experience in Southern California.\u00a0 The coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and desert ecosystems are about as different as can be from the northern hardwood and boreal forests … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1670"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1689,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions\/1689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}