Santa Rosa Part 1
Well hello again, it’s been awhile since the last post and since my last post I have spent my weekend at Channel Island, specificity the Santa Rosa Island. This post is one of three post about my weekend at the Santa Rosa Island and I hope you enjoy not only the writing and the pictures I post as well. The island is exactly what I Imagine a paradise would look like but it does look a slightly run down. It obvious that the island is feeling the effects of the drought. The island as apposed the pictures I’ve seen online is much more brown and dry instead of lush and green. Honestly though it didn’t look that bad when I got off the boat. The pier looked refurbished and as if it were maintained very nicely except for the bird poop but as I went up the hill things begin to dry up. The grass even the trees are drying up but it’s not completely desolated there was still life on this island besides human. There is also a very beatify sense of peace on this island, maybe it’s the lack of Wi-Fi or the fumes everyone is giving off since there is no showering on the Island but the island does slightly exists in its own universe since it’s so separate from the mainland. The main guy here, Cause broke the news about the showers…it’s on next time I see him. But it’s cool I ended up washing in the ocean without soap or shampoo but then finished up in the bathroom sink, washing the essentials(you know what I mean). I really do like the island though the place does need some extreme love and it’s starting to get it. Some if the island deep in the mountain where they had us hiking was very lush and had very few signs besides the trail of human interference. The mountains we walked through were very steep as well, I’m not very sure how I got up the hills and believe it or not heading down was an even greater challenge because of the fear of falling to my death. Plus all the walking with Breana and Linzie had better have canceled out my Freshman 15 lol. While out here I’m hoping to not only earn a lot about the island and what they do here to help but also what I can do to also contribute to the island or at east what I can do to not damage it anymore that it have already been done to the island. I hope to also learn how in the field research is conducted and how I could go about doing it on the Santa Rosa Island or anywhere else.
The first day started off extremely awesome but as the day went on the things were a lot more boring and uneventful. Sorry but it’s kind of true we started off with a car ride up to a small seed facility where we were able to help with the seeds. My group started off by packing in dirt into small pods and then once we had shifted through the dirt and packed it away we were able to plant purple grass. Which were these little hair like strands with purple bulls at the end. While we were there we also separated out acorns from a bucket of water to help tell which ones were to be kept and which acorns would be trashed. Both process were very peaceful and felt as if I was able to give back to the Island since we were contributing to the process of replanting new grass as well as acorns and it was especially fun since after I played in dirt I was able to dip my hands in cold water.
After we finished replanting we were then driven back on the ATVs (bumpy ride) to the main encampment. We then moved on to work with a different guide named Matt. We were able to see the island through a different set of eyes. Matt the artistic guide was able to show us the beauty of the island. We took a tour of the island but unlike the other ones we were able to see past dead grass as well as see much more than just the beach. We were able to see crazy things like a long row of trees that were put in to help block the wind but just ended up a bending to one side from the strong winds that had the island have to deal with. Also were able to see some very beautiful natural occurrences and on the beach. The wall backing the beach (separating the mainland from the beach) has a unique horizontal design of different 2 inch levels poking out towards you when facing them.
The final activity we experienced that day was the bird watching and sight-seeing through binoculars with Dr. Alison Alvarado. I was a major fan of this one but that was probably because I don’t have a love for birds and it was the end of the day lol. Well I did have learned a lot about birds and species on the island as a whole, for instance the species on the island are all derivatives of the mainland. And these species have gone through differ mutations to adapt to the island. Also learned about the Theory of Island Geography which is the number of species is based on the distance of the island to the mainland and the size of the islands.
