Not too much field work went down during this last week of work; went out the Carrizo hoping to collect some bladderpod (Peritoma arborea) and buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium), but neither of them were ready to collect, their seeds were still maturing. This was the only day I went out in the field; the rest of the week I was studying up and getting my GIS training on, hard core :) This coming week though, I'll be doing an overnight trip back up in the San Joaquin River Gorge, where the Bioblitz was last month. There's definitely some good seed up there ready to be collected. And then on Thursday, Denis is going to take us up to Lamont Meadow for some seed recon. work and to fix some fencing up there. Lamont Meadow, part of the Back Country Byway, is up in the foothills of the southern Sierras, so I am super excited as to what this will hold. (Please let it be wetter up there and more lush, please please please...) It's also supposed to be in the low 100's this week - I am not looking forward to the summer in southern California!!! :-/
In other work aspects, I am still looking for jobs back in Oklahoma, and actually found three to apply for this week! Hooray! I am really happy at the productivity I was able to make, and excited at the prospect of getting back home, aaand finding jobs that I would really enjoy, not just a job that I would have to take. None of them are in Stillwater unfortunately, but they are all within an hour or two which works for me! Keeping my eyes peeled for more jobs and my fingers crossed that one of these three comes to fruition. Until then, I've got my nose to the grindstone as always, learning learning learning! While I'm trying not to get my hopes up, I really am getting anxious to come home and stay home. It's unbelievable that I only left Scott and Oklahoma a week ago; it already feels like it's been a month. I'm trying not to think of how much longer I'm here though, since no one has the answer to that. Just trying to stay positive and stay busy looking for jobs, the former of which is surely only been made possible thanks to the love and motivation of my friends, family and wonderful boyfriend.
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| And I need to get home so I can be with these girls before they're all grown up! Can you believe they are just over 5 weeks?! |
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| Ah, they're so cute and almost all feathered out!! Did I tell you that Scott and I finally named them - Fern, Ivy and Lily :) |
Yesterday (Saturday) was my chores/catch-up/errands day, but today I had decided to partake in a Sierra Club field trip to the Tule Elk State Natural Reserve. It's about a half an hour west of town and consists of a parcel of about 1000 acres, 600 of which are used for the Tule Elk to roam on. It was nice to get out of the city for a bit and see some good wildlife. Besides the elk, I saw two coyotes, a jack rabbit and a bunch of burrowing owls. We listened to the very informative park ranger, Bill, tell us everything about the elk and the Reserve. The Sierra Club chose this park to visit because it is on the list of 70 state parks scheduled to close this year due to a lacking state budget. The Reserve at current, is only open three days a week, (Fri-Sun), but is scheduled to close indefinitely starting in July, unless more funding is found. Bill said they had located a short reprieve of funding, but that it was only temporary, and after that goes dry, if no more funding is found, the elk will be released to open spaces in the area of the state where they are native. At this point, there will be no protection of these once near-extinct animals from natural predators or unnatural ones, like hunters. It was a wonderful sight, but the overall tone was seemingly demure as the outing leader, Lorraine talked to everyone about writing to your local senator, and as Mike, a local Sierra Club member, explained to his son, 5-year old Lucas, why the elk might not be here in a little while. I understand that there are a lot of things that a budget has to include, but it just makes me so incredibly sad that budget choices have to be made between what I think is important and what someone else thinks is important. Parks, natural spaces and open areas are considered a luxury, a gluttonous expense, when a multi-source-income state can't budget its money appropriately. Anyway, I won't start soap boxing, don't worry. Here are some pictures I took out at the Reserve today, enjoy.
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| Bill, telling us a million great facts about the elk, the area, the people and all of the history |
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| Solar panels that pump water from wells into the sloughs and swales on site. The Kern River used to run through this area, but was diverted many years ago, so water is now pumped up for the wildlife when needed. |
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| The females, and 1- and 2-year old calves. The males are the ones with the horns but are too young yet, to survive on their own |
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| The adult males, running away from us. They usually stay away from the rest of the herd until mating season. |
Until next time.
Love & velvet,
Rach
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