greetings from redwood

Hey y'all -- Joni again. Since my last post I've driven through Twin Falls, ID, stopped to check out Shoshone Falls (which was incredible -- check it out if you ever find yourself in Idaho), spent a few days in Portland (also fantastic; ate so many delicious things and fulfilled all my portlandia dreams, including having dinner with the owner of a kombucha startup), and finally made my way down to Redwood. I got here on Tuesday, checked into my house which is in the park (technically in Prairie Creek), and started work on Wednesday. I have two roommates, both of whom are geologists. One's from Mississippi, so we've got some Deep South representation in the house.

Work has been great; everyone is super friendly. On my first day my supervisor took me on a tour of the park, which is pretty skinny and runs about 40 miles along the Pacific coast in northern California. It's been incredible seeing the variety of ecosystems here. There are beaches, bluffs, old growth forests, second growth forests, and prairies, each with their own concerns and management strategies. There's also a complex relationship between the national park and the state parks that exist within it, and a lot of my first few days has been spent trying to figure out the the layers of administration and management here.

I am working in the Cultural Resources branch of the park -- my supervisor is a Historical Landscape Architect. This past week I worked on revising a nomination for a particular group of prairies to be recognized in the national register of historic places. This coming week I'll be doing site visits out there, photographing the site, and tagging along for meetings with some historical architects who are recommending preservation strategies for some of the old ranching structures out there.

in awe of these incredible trees

quite a change of scenery

touring the park!

banana slug!

so all is well here; loving this new place, and enjoying my work so far.

peace out from the forest!
catch ya'll later --

joni