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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.
Perhaps when you think of conservationists, you imagine researchers tracking elephants through the brush, or someone patiently stalking tigers through lush forests. If so, you would be surprised to learn just how important the work of Emily Howe is to local San Diegan conservation efforts. Ms. Howe is the Research Coordinator of the Plant Conservation Division at the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. This week, interns met with Ms. Howe at Big Trees Nursery to aid her in her current project: restoring the native habitat surrounding Lake Hodges.
In 2003 and 2007, disastrous fires ravaged the area around Lake Hodges. Usually, the native plants would be able to spring up after a fire, but the quick return of the fires in 2007 created a severe breakdown in the native ecology of the area. Unfortunately, invasive grasses and mustard plants were able to take advantage of the gaps in plant growth and displace many of the native plants. Ms. Howe’s job is to reintroduce native plant species and control the invasion of non-native species.
As a part of this project, Ms. Howe and her team of conservationists and volunteers, plant native species around the lake. Prickly pear cacti “leaves” can grow roots and become new plants. Interns helped pot over 150 prickly pear pads which will be replanted at the Lake Hodges site. Ms. Howe loves working in the field with her plants, but admits that much of the vital work she does is accomplished in the office. There, she coordinates large groups of people to finish projects, and advocates to get new missions off the ground.
Interns got a taste of what Ms. Howe’s days are like by doing some planting ourselves. There was a veritable sea of prickly pears to be planted when we arrived– it is difficult to comprehend the sheer number of plants Ms. Howe and her team have reintroduced to the Lake Hodges area throughout the duration of this project. Ms. Howe’s goal by the time her involvement with the project ends is to have planted around 10,000 individual specimens! What is even more mind-boggling is that the team is about halfway to that number. All those plants get “babied” Ms. Howe says, to ensure they make it through their first dry season. That means active watering and careful weed control to keep competitive invasive species at bay. After that, however, the plants will be left alone and Ms. Howe and her team will move on.
Though Ms. Howe adores her work, she didn’t always want to work with plants. As a teen,Ms. Howe volunteered with some conservation organizations like the Nature Conservancy, but majored in religious studies as an undergraduate. However, as she was working through her thesis on the anthropology of Native American religions, Ms. Howe found she was far more interested in studying the ways people were connected to the environment. She went on to earn her masters in ecology, and worked in a wide variety of jobs,including the Forest Service and a research position on San Clemente Island, before landing at the Institute.
Ms. Howe’s job is incredibly important for not only the protection of San Diegan native species, but also native ecology as a whole. Entire ecosystems depend on the plants that she is nurturing back to stable flourishing levels. Many plants here are unique to San Diego, and if they are lost, entire populations of animals will suffer. Thus the work Ms. Howe and the Plant Conservation Division of the Institute do for the surrounding areas will continue to be a conservation effort that has a domino effect of supporting and preserving countless species.
Jenna, Career Team
Week Three, Winter Session 2016
Perhaps when you think of conservationists, you imagine researchers tracking elephants through the brush, or someone patiently stalking tigers through lush forests. If so, you would be surprised to learn just how important the work of Emily Howe is to local San Diegan conservation efforts. Ms. Howe is the Research Coordinator of the Plant Conservation Division at the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. This week, interns met with Ms. Howe at Big Trees Nursery to aid her in her current project: restoring the native habitat surrounding Lake Hodges.
In 2003 and 2007, disastrous fires ravaged the area around Lake Hodges. Usually, the native plants would be able to spring up after a fire, but the quick return of the fires in 2007 created a severe breakdown in the native ecology of the area. Unfortunately, invasive grasses and mustard plants were able to take advantage of the gaps in plant growth and displace many of the native plants. Ms. Howe’s job is to reintroduce native plant species and control the invasion of non-native species.
As a part of this project, Ms. Howe and her team of conservationists and volunteers, plant native species around the lake. Prickly pear cacti “leaves” can grow roots and become new plants. Interns helped pot over 150 prickly pear pads which will be replanted at the Lake Hodges site. Ms. Howe loves working in the field with her plants, but admits that much of the vital work she does is accomplished in the office. There, she coordinates large groups of people to finish projects, and advocates to get new missions off the ground.
Interns got a taste of what Ms. Howe’s days are like by doing some planting ourselves. There was a veritable sea of prickly pears to be planted when we arrived– it is difficult to comprehend the sheer number of plants Ms. Howe and her team have reintroduced to the Lake Hodges area throughout the duration of this project. Ms. Howe’s goal by the time her involvement with the project ends is to have planted around 10,000 individual specimens! What is even more mind-boggling is that the team is about halfway to that number. All those plants get “babied” Ms. Howe says, to ensure they make it through their first dry season. That means active watering and careful weed control to keep competitive invasive species at bay. After that, however, the plants will be left alone and Ms. Howe and her team will move on.
Though Ms. Howe adores her work, she didn’t always want to work with plants. As a teen,Ms. Howe volunteered with some conservation organizations like the Nature Conservancy, but majored in religious studies as an undergraduate. However, as she was working through her thesis on the anthropology of Native American religions, Ms. Howe found she was far more interested in studying the ways people were connected to the environment. She went on to earn her masters in ecology, and worked in a wide variety of jobs,including the Forest Service and a research position on San Clemente Island, before landing at the Institute.
Ms. Howe’s job is incredibly important for not only the protection of San Diegan native species, but also native ecology as a whole. Entire ecosystems depend on the plants that she is nurturing back to stable flourishing levels. Many plants here are unique to San Diego, and if they are lost, entire populations of animals will suffer. Thus the work Ms. Howe and the Plant Conservation Division of the Institute do for the surrounding areas will continue to be a conservation effort that has a domino effect of supporting and preserving countless species.
Jenna, Career Team
Week Three, Winter Session 2016
