Saguaro National Park BioBlitz! 2011

This last week I started work at Saguaro National Park (as a student biological technician) and was immediately thrown into preparations for the BioBlitz on Oct 21-22. 


What is a BioBlitz, you say?  It is an event sponsored by National Geographic and the National Park Service, together with Friends of Saguaro National Park and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum to involve the public in counting/identifying as many species in the park in a 24 hour period.  During the 21-22 Saguaro had ~150 scientists signed up to lead public and student inventories (collecting/identifying things), 2000 students from around Tucson, and 1300 members of the public.  This, of course, required a lot of planning, and I was lucky enough to avoid all but the last week!  

I was put in charge of organizing a student inventory event with ~30 students and 3 researchers near the Madrona Ranger Station on the southern side of Saguaro National Park.  This location is special, because access to it is only available via a 6 mile hike or direct access through private land, meaning that unless you feel like hiking a lot, you need to be a park employee or scientist to gain access to this area.  

My week consisted of contacting researchers, volunteers, and teachers to make sure everyone knew what was going on, when and where they were meeting, and that shuttles were arranged to bring everyone to and from Madrona at the right times.  Thursday afternoon I learned that the shuttles had been given the wrong departure time, and I had a last minute scramble of recontacting everyone to have them arrive 1/2 an hour earlier than previously told.

The other part of my week consisted of me being a personal assistant to one of the biologists, Dana, who was responsible for all of the researchers doing work in the Rincon Mountain District of Saguaro National Park.  She seemed relieved that I was there to help her out - I think I was mainly qualified because I already knew the organizational system of the computer network, can work Excel, and didn't already have massive amounts of responsibility.  

Day 1 of the BioBlitz went really smooth on my end - I met up with two of my scientists early (5:30am!) and we went to the field site to set up.  My volunteers were two excellent girls from the university who were totally responsible and competent - I was thrilled to have them. Both were PhD students, and had no problem taking on the tasks of signing the teachers/students in and making sure they left on the shuttle on time.  Once in the field the students spent about and hour with each researcher - learning how to mist net for birds, watching the researcher catch dragonflies and butterflies and explain about each species caught, walking along the pools and streams of the area and talking about riparian areas, frogs, snakes, water bugs, and all things aquatic.  One particular hilight was when our group found a red spotted toad, which I think was the only individual of that species found during the BioBlitz, bringing the amphibian total up to 3 species, instead of two.  :)   We had one "medical emergency" when a girl got stung by a wasp.  I took her to the medical tent, where the EMTs there were thrilled to finally have something to do.  One of them actually came up to me later and thanked me for bringing the girl over - I guess it says something that the biggest thing all day for the medical personnel was a bee sting. 


Right around when the kids were getting hot and tired it was time to go home. I said goodbye to them all and stayed at Madrona for an extra two hours, hanging out with the site managers there while my butterfly and dragonfly guy spent time without the kids to hike around and identify additional species.  It was a good time.






Day 2 of the BioBlitz also happened to be my birthday!  I spent the morning leading a reptile walk with some members of the public and then drove over to the Tucson Mountain District to experience the big set-up they had there: science tent, booths, food,  presentations.  It was cool to see it all, as well as meet up with my coworkers/friends who had spent so much time getting this event off the ground. 

Reflections on the Summer

I consider the three months I spent at Sequoia Kings National Park the best months I’ve had in my life yet.  Being at SEKI made me happy and there were moments of shear peacefulness and contentedness that seemed to go on for days, and weeks.  This isn’t to say that everything was perfect – I created my own stress at times by over-thinking my single-status in life, and having my car break down was pretty hard.  But I was completely graced out this season, and I consider this summer an incredible gift from God; a chance to get away for a while from the trappings and responsibilities of life and have a beautiful place to wake up every day, to have time to think and be at peace.  Even my car breaking down was a gift – what are the odds that my car would break down right at a rest area, when the past 3 hours of driving were in a construction zone with no shoulders?  And because of my car, I was able to see my parents and witness how God orchestrated me getting back to the Park using seemingly random personal connections and the Park Service community. 

I was completely graced out with both my partners – my male partner was awesome and quiet and played music at night.  While we didn’t share our life stories, we still got along just fine, and worked well together.  My female partner and I were excellently matched with each other, and we talked about things – love, life, spirituality, - that I haven’t felt comfortable sharing with anyone other than my sister.  She was invaluable to helping me with my crushes – providing a shoulder to cry on or a harsh word to snap me out of ridiculous thinking, both exactly when I needed them.  A close friend, and those are hard to find. 

This summer marked a period of consistent listening to doctrine, which I am certain is where my peace in the back country came from.  I learned that I can stay consistent, even 14 hiking miles away from the nearest trailhead and without anyone else around to listen with, and this meant a lot to me. 

Last Hitch

It’s been a while since I last updated this blog, and, as usual, a lot has happened!  I guess I will try to break it down and not be too wordy.  J

The Last Hitch

The Guide and I hiked to Center Basin on Saturday, and I was able to keep up with her, for the most part – she is in fantastic shape and could probably hike with the best of them in the Sierras!  Sunday we pulled gill nets, repaired a few of them, and set the winter gill nets before going back to camp and organizing the field gear into what was being flown out and what was staying in the Greenlee at camp over winter.  We finished organizing the gear on Monday and were right on time for the helicopter to fly in at 10:00 am.  Let me tell you, the Guide and I were one efficiency machine, and we worked very well together (again!) especially for a flawless demobilization.  We then hiked out, beginning around noon and made it out in five hours – fifteen miles in five hours!  It was my best hike all season, and I felt great after – an excellent way to end the season.  We had dinner in Independence and then drove a few hours before finding a random place on BLM land to camp for the night.  Luckily, the Guide had an extra tent, because it was very windy that night, and it would have been very difficult to sleep without a tent.

We got back to the west side (Ash Mountain) around noon, at which time we learned that we had the rest of the day off, as well as the next, which was awesome.  We had rooms in the dorm and basically sat around and watched movies for 1 ½ days, which was also awesome. 

The other demobe team came in on Wednesday, and most of us worked in the office on Thursday and Friday: drying out the gear that had been flown in, checking back in the back packs, sleeping bags, and other gear we had borrowed from the Park all summer, and putting things away in the office.  On Friday we also had our exit interviews, where we could provide comments, suggestions, etc. about the summer and got our performance review results.  I got a very good performance review (I think we all did) and we all also got a National Park Service Safety Award coin, with the NPS logo on one side, and a sequoia tree design on the other – it is very cool, and very unexpected!  I think (if my memory serves me right) it’s the first official Park Service award that I’ve received in my short 5.5 year career.  Graced out, once again!

We all had an end of the year party at a local pizza joint in Three Rivers, with both our bosses  attending (and treating!).  We girls really didn’t drink that much, and only downed two large pizzas, making us think that it could have been the least expensive end of the year party in the history of the Lake Restoration program.  J  Flannel ended up showing up at the party too, having driven 5 hours from UC Davis (where she goes to school)!  We were all super thrilled that she was able to come!

We all parted ways on Saturday.  My Partner drove me to Visalia to a car rental place and then we had lunch before saying goodbye – it was sad to part ways, but we will definitely keep in touch/visit each other in the years to come.   

With a rental car came new found freedom, and Sunday I drove to Mineral King and went on a hike that ended in the snow (over a foot deep!).  It was pretty surreal - it could be my last snow until next summer.  Monday I met up with my boss again, and we went to Yucca Creek in the Park to snorkel for western pond turtles to collect data for his master’s thesis.  The water was cold, even with two layers of wetsuit.  My boss found two turtles, and I found one!  It was pretty awesome to be in a stream and snorkel, and even more awesome to actually find a turtle in the midst of the rocks and roots. 

Tuesday I drove back to Tucson – 11 numbing hours.  My sister had dinner waiting when I got home (stuffed salmon, yum!) and my Siameser recognized me – what more is there to ask for?