Since my recent graduation from the University of Redlands in Environmental Science, Public Policy, and GIS, I’ve really delved into natural resources. I graduated in April, and then went on a camping trip to Big Pine Lake. There, I hiked the John Muir Wilderness Trail to a Glacial Lake alongside Grape Soda Lupines, Bristlecone Pines, and Arroyo Willows. I then started at a new job with the Forest Service where I removed invasive weeds, as well as mapped invasive, threatened, endangered, and sensitive plants in montane terrain. Through the early fall, I prepared a poster for the California Native Plants Society conference in San Jose. My poster summarized my work from my undergraduate Senior Capstone, where I made recommendations for a new Habitat Management Guide for rare Pebble Plain ecosystems. Recently, as the weather has turned too cold and the plants have gone dormant, I’ve been inputting the mapped plant data into the Forest Service systems, verifying reliability of the herbarium database, and working on a new Habitat Management Guide for the Pebble Plains in the San Bernardino National Forest. I recently hiked to San Gorgonio Peak through feet of snow at some points alongside Limber Pines, White Fir, and hillsides of Manzanita. It was a fantastic example of the fantastic and unparalleled biodiversity of the San Bernardino Mountains. Protecting the highly biodiverse natural resources has been a new passion of mine, through my college research and working at the Forest Service. 

A pressing environmental issue I’ve been involved in is restoring the habitat disturbances found in the San Bernardino Forest. Along the designated Off-Highway Vehicle trails, some people disturb native plant habitat by driving or hiking through non-designated areas. This is a big problem in that it can affect the habitat of rare plants or wildlife in the area, like Pebble Plain plants, and Horned Lizards or Southern Spotted Owls. In order to help with the environmental issue, I’ve been working with the Restoration team at the Forest Service. (Photo: Kameron Perensovich)

Over the summer, I helped in growing native plants in the forest greenhouse from seed. First, we clean and germinate the seeds in small flat beds inside the greenhouse. After they’ve sprouted and grown sufficiently, we transplant them into bigger and bigger tall pots until they’re ready to be planted out in the forest. Throughout this process, we had to ensure our nursery stock was free from Phytophthora and other nursery pathogens by following Forest Service Best Management Practices. Phytophthora is a water mold that kills plants, and causes the Sudden Oak Death Syndrome we see in Napa. With clean plants, I’ve been helping to plant the nursery stock out in the forest in the disturbed areas to restore them. For National Public Lands Day, I worked on a team to plant 300 native plants in a disturbed area in less than 3 hours. We also maintain our restoration sites by returning to water them when precipitation levels are low in the summer. Some of our restoration sites are designated pollinator sites, so we also monitor the Monarch butterfly populations that frequent our native milkweeds. We’ve also been collecting seeds in dry weather to keep up with the nursery output. The restoration program at the Forest Service is always working to restore disturbed areas with pathogen-free plants and ameliorate further damage by implementing strategic fencing and barriers. I feel proud to be a part of the restoration team with such high survival rates in restoration areas, and having tangible results against a very real and destructive environmental issue of anthropogenic habitat loss. 

Protecting and conserving our natural resources of today are paramount to a livable future on Earth. Some groups in Napa County doing the hard work of cultivating and conserving native plant species are the California Native Plant Society and the UC Master Gardeners. You can see their work in action at the Martha Walker Native Garden in Skyline Park and Las Flores Community Park, respectively. I implore you to support, learn from, and enjoy the native gardens around you. Maintaining native plant habitat will ensure that wildlife can remain where they need to be, and climate regulation and other ecosystem functions can be sustained.