As we drove past the refuge wetlands, Tracey looked out the window and expressed her sadness at the lack of birds that once crowded the waters. “That’s the beauty of nature, its passing presence makes it special. If the birds were around all the time, we might take them for granted”, said Madeline.

The past month was filled with school field trips. The third-grade students arrived in the morning and Madeline, and I greeted them at the refuge entrance as they exited the school bus. “What did you all observe as we walked into the visitor center?”, eagerly the students shared how they saw rabbits, birds, and plants. They asked me all sorts of funny questions too, “Miss Abby, do elk have beds? Miss Abby are there any penguins on this refuge?”.

The students then followed me out to the Wetland Trail, their lively roaring steps prompted nearby rabbits to hide in bushes. I point at the clear sky, “look guys, it’s a hawk performing a mating dance!”, the students look up for a while before asking me about lunch. I redirect the conversation, “can anyone guess which animal these footprints belong to?”. They forget about lunch for a bit and correctly guess that the hand-like prints on the trail belong to a racoon.

In February, I participated in my favorite project so far, a collaboration between the Xerces Society and other organizations like the SLEWS program. The Xerces Society is a non-profit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. The Student Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship (SLEWS) program engages high school students in habitat restoration through hands on field days that develop science skills and environmental stewardship.

The project was carried out at a local duck club. Do you know what can be found at a duck club besides hunting? Wetlands. Wetlands are essential ecosystems not only used for recreation, but they also provide flood protection, improve water quality, recharge water supplies and my favorite of all, provide habitat for fish and wildlife. There we all met, along with over 1,000 native California milkweed transplants ready to be planted along the wetland waters.

I had the amazing opportunity of mentoring five high school students that day. We developed a great dynamic, keeping our spirits up through jokes as the hot sun and muddy water exhausted us. “Hey Tino hand me a plant please”, the students were wonderful at communicating and looking out for each other. Eventually our plant trays were empty, and we were ready to have lunch.

The walk back through the wetland was trouble. We must have been too concerned with lunch to notice where we were stepping. As I trekked along daydreaming about the sandwich I was soon to feast on, I heard Betsy and Ana calling out to me “Abby we’re stuck!” man, that really burst my bubble. Sure enough, the marsh was holding my mentees hostage. Eventually we freed Ana and Betsy and got to enjoy our lunch with our boots and pants covered in mud.

I’m grateful I had the opportunity to contribute to western monarch conservation efforts. I learned about wetland management and gained leadership skills; it was truly an invaluable experience.

At the end of March, came wildflower day, one of the most popular events at the refuge. Arena Plains is a unit open to the public only during that event. The unit protects vernal pools which are seasonal depressional wetlands that occur under Mediterranean climate conditions like the Central Valley. Why is a rain puddle so important, you might ask? Because they are essential breeding habitats for endangered critters such as fairy shrimp and tadpole shrimp, as well as other threatened species like tiger salamanders.

The event was lovely, and it brought me full circle. Like Tracey, I was also sad about the winter birds heading North for their breeding grounds. I had been looking up at the sky hoping to see a few stragglers, meanwhile the fields around me were turning golden with wildflowers. Moral of the story is, sometimes in our longing for what once was, we risk missing the beauty unfolding right before our eyes.