Zoo InternQuest is a seven-week career exploration program for San Diego County high school juniors and seniors. Students have the unique opportunity to meet professionals working for the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research, learn about their jobs, and then blog about their experience online. Follow their adventures here on the Zoo’s website! This week interns took a little break from all the test tubes and technology to spend a little quality time with nature. We headed on over to a local plant nursery and met up with Emily Howe to contribute a bit of elbow grease to the Lake Hodges Restoration Program. It was an extremely rewarding experience, and I hope this will inspire all those reading to join in on the effort to help conserve your local ecosystem. [caption id="attachment_115537" align="aligncenter" width="253"] May I present the vegetation virtuoso herself! Ms. Howe is the Research Coordinator for the Plant Conservation division at the Institute for Conservation Research. Whether she is out in the field planting native species or at her computer organizing a volunteer group, Ms. Howe is constantly dedicating her time and effort to restore the natural beauty of southern California.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115545" align="aligncenter" width="304"] So this is how it all started: with some dirt. This was probably the most laborious part of the project, but fortunately, we got to get it over with right off the bat. Seeing that the soil we used came packed tight in a bag, it was quite a process to break up all of the chunks, fold in the perlite, which is further discussed in the next picture, and evenly moisten the mixture.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115546" align="aligncenter" width="348"] This is one of the few huge bags of perlite that we used in our restoration work. Perlite is a natural volcanic ore that puffs up to about 15 times its original size when exposed to controlled, rapid heating, kind of like popcorn. This process transforms pertile into a prime natural growing media. The porous texture of horticultural perlite increases soil aeration and moisture retention and it does not harbor the harmful pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that many other commercial agricultural aids contain.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115547" align="aligncenter" width="360"] These were the subjects of our hard work, hundreds of pads of prickly pear cacti. One of the fascinating capabilities of this spiny species is their ability to regenerate from a single pad. All we had to do was plant each of these pieces cut side down to give rise to a source of food, water, and shelter.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115548" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Each pad was planted in its own individual pot. This controlled growing environment will allow the roots to develop a sturdy network so that when they are transferred over to the more unstable Lake Hodges site, they will stand a better chance of surviving and thriving. As they continue to grow in the nursery, the roots will bury their way into the soil and continue to grow until they fill the entire vessel.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115549" align="aligncenter" width="240"] After the pads were planted and organized into neat five-by-five squares, all that was left to do was water each pot and be on our way. Cacti are succulents, meaning that they have a waxy cuticle that seals in moisture so that minimum watering is required. Even in their vulnerable beginning stage, these will only need to be barely moistened every week or so.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115550" align="aligncenter" width="450"] So who exactly are we planting these painful plants for? One of the main beneficiaries of increased cactus coverage is our native coastal cactus wren. The survival of this species relies on the availability of cacti because it nests within the protective spines of the plant. Without cacti, there is nowhere to lay eggs, and without eggs, there are no new generations to carry on the name of this precious little bird.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115551" align="aligncenter" width="338"] While the interns were planting, one of our Zoo educators came across and uprooted a rather large fennel plant. Fennel is one of the many foreign plants introduced to our coastal sage scrub that competes with native plant life. This random uninvited sprig is just an example of how hard it is to contain an invasive species once you have introduced it to the new ecosystem.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115553" align="aligncenter" width="338"] By the time we had to head out, the eight of us had planted over 150 new cacti. It was truly rewarding to look at the result of our hard work and acknowledge the positive impact we made on our local ecosystem. It is so important for us to love and encourage our native plant life. Whether they provide nutrients or shelter, these plants are here for a reason! It’s about time we acknowledge their importance before it’s too late to save them. So pick up a shovel and plant a native species. You never know who you’ll help along the way.[/caption] Gillian, Photo Journalism Team Week Three, Winter Session 2016