The past month has seen me continue to work on more projects outside of San Gabriel Canyon and into different roles besides a Rec Tech. I was able to shadow some of the engineering team, work on a GIS project, and help out with an invasive weeds crew. We’ve also gained some assistance with San Gabriel from the recreation crew on the other side of the monument near Acton.

On my shadow day with the engineers, we planned on driving around the Wrightwood area and inspecting water facilities. The inspections were to check which structures and facilities are operational and if so, how they were holding up and if they needed any kind of servicing soon. We drove to and surveyed several cool places such as Jackson Lake and a JPL observatory. For lunch we stopped at the nearby visitor center and explored two Forest Service dorms upstairs.

I began working with Fabian Garcia, the partnership coordinator for the Angeles, on a map of all the partnerships and grants spread across the Angeles National Forest. Fabian had previously compiled a file of a few grants and assigned me to read over the project descriptions and put a pin on a Google Earth map of where the project takes place and display whether the project was finished, planned, or current. It was pretty nice to use some of my skills in GIS and I’m looking forward to seeing the finalized map as I work on it over the coming weeks.

Partnering up with the invasive weeds crew was really fun too. I had the opportunity to meet Andrew and Amy from the California Botanical Gardens in Claremont who have been working throughout the Angeles pulling out Spanish broom, Castor bean, and tree tobacco. We cleared this place called Lower Winter Creek close to Chantry Flat. Along the way were some small cabins that have been leased out to people but some left due to the effects of the Bobcat fire. While I could only pull out the small to medium sized weeds with tools like a weed wrench and pulaski, Amy and Andrew were able to cut and treat the larger plants with herbicide since I don’t have the proper training. Still it was really cool to use new tools and see more of the forest while doing something besides cleaning.

Agency: U.S Forest Service

Program: Resource Assistant Program (RAP)

Location: Angeles National Forest