The Tree
Image: My supervisor at POST, Abigail Adams, admires a magnificent redwood. Photo courtesy of Dan Sicular.
By Tori Greenen
B.S. Energy Resources Engineering, 2015
Summer Intern at Peninsula Open Space Trust
Read about our summer interns on the Out West student blog. Throughout the summer, the Center's interns and Research Assistants will be sending in virtual postcards, snapshots and reports on their summer work.
There is nothing more iconic to Stanford University than the Tree. Here on campus, the Tree flourishes under an environment of ridiculous adoration and infamy that cultivated both our football war cry "Fear the Tree!" and led to the notion that the Tree is our official mascot (it's actually Cardinal, a very exact and yet ambiguous shade of red). So it seems appropriate that as I embark on my summer term off from Stanford as an intern at the Peninsula Open Space Trust I find myself surrounded by trees.
But these aren't just any trees. They are proud individuals of the forested area now known as San Vicente Redwoods, a recently acquired property of the POST. We are here in an effort to create a management plan for the 8,500 acre property that will protect this special environment for generations to come.
It's really a day in the life here at POST, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting, preserving, and restoring open space and agricultural land on the Peninsula. They use donor contributions to purchase environmentally and ecologically important lands and place them under conservation easements to ensure they are kept as undeveloped open space.
My current project focuses on the recently acquired San Vicente Redwoods property through which we are currently hiking. San Vicente Redwoods is one of the largest uninterrupted wildlife habitats in Santa Cruz County and before POST and its collaborating partners (Sempervirens Fund, Save the Redwoods League, and the Land Trust of Santa Cruz), purchased the land it was in danger of being developed for luxury housing units.
POST currently is hard at work compiling a cohesive management plan to govern the forest property. The expansive and complex nature of the ecosystems found within the property's boundaries poses many challenges to creating a plan that will sustain and protect the critical habitats and ecosystems of the area.
The job is fast and dynamic, especially when working with new properties such as the San Vicente Redwoods. That's what makes this internship so special. One day I am conducting focused research into the nuances of sustainable forest management and the next I am donning my hiking boots and bug repellant to tactfully dance around poison oak as I scout out old growth redwoods with my supervisor.
Though it has only been a month, my time at POST has opened my eyes to the immeasurable amount of work that goes into protecting what we all take for granted here in the Bay. Whether it is craning your neck to the top of marvelous redwoods or catching the juice that dribbles down your chin as you bite into a locally grown strawberry, these experiences result from the vision and hard work of the passionate people involved with POST. And it makes me think that perhaps Stanford's veneration of the Tree is not so ridiculous after all.
Read more at the Out West Blog for Summer Interns »
