An Ode to Fieldwork: A love letter to our field scientists

Being in the coastal temperate rainforest of Humboldt County in college as a Biology undergraduate student, I fell in love with ecological sciences. The outdoors were the labs! I discovered the world of botany and wildlife. It was the wild planet that I wanted to delve into, learn about, and help protect! I learned the foundations of being a scientist at Humboldt State and I became a conservationist at Point Blue.

I was accepted as a bird banding intern in the spring of 2004 and I was hooked. I meandered to different field science projects in the San Francisco Bay tidal marshes, the Central Valley rivers, and the forests of the Sierra Nevada. I learned how to collect data rigorously, closely observe my surroundings as second nature, and I came to understand that we have been and continue to be very rude house guests on a planet chalked full of different kinds of homes aka habitat. It was being in the field, doing the science while trying my best to be a polite guest that cultivated a deep sense of knowing that we are not alone on the planet and we should not act like it. If we do, it is at our own demise because we actually all depend on each other for survival. Healthy and functional ecosystems provide food, shelter, water, and clean air for all of us.

Science is the search for knowledge. It’s rooted in curiosity and carried out through thoughtful methods that help reduce bias and promote new discovery. It often helps us better understand the world around us and our part in it. The thing with science is, you have to do the work (often for a long hours and years on end) and you have to be ok with being wrong about your assumptions. In fact, the best scientific mindsets celebrate being wrong or failure because it leads to new understanding and awareness. That’s why science matters to me. It is an essential framework that allows us to continue to grow, evolve, find working solutions, and be better. Now, as a Conservation Communicator, I’m thrilled to lift up and share the work of my colleagues who continue to push their way through brambles, slog through mud, and get up at ungodly hours to understand what’s happening in the world and figure out ways we can all be better house guests.