Mina demonstrates how to plant native plants at a Community Habitat Rehabilitation.

Mina (left) and Samantha (right) show invasive species at a community habitat restoration at the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.

My first few months at Friends of Ballona Wetlands have been everything I’ve hoped for—and more. From fieldwork to field trips, data collection to impact reporting, I love being involved in so many aspects of the Friends’ multifaceted work. Each day truly brings something new and exciting as I apply my background in environmental science while endlessly learning about and leaving a tangible impact on local ecosystems.

Through California Climate Action Corps, an AmeriCorps program, my co-Fellow Samantha and I have the unique opportunity to work with the Friends on various restoration and educational projects to bolster critical rehabilitation efforts. After hitting the ground running in late September, we have spent much of our time in the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve, assisting community and corporate volunteer events focusing on invasive species removal along the saltwater marsh and leading the restoration station for weekly elementary and middle school field trips.

Mina (left), Patrick Tyrrell, Director of Habitat Restoration (right), and intern Andrew (center) monitor vegetation at the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.

I enjoy bridging the divide between science and society through various forms of outdoor community outreach and am proud to play a role in advancing early environmental education. Together, Samantha and I have already engaged with over 300 volunteers and 700 students, communicating the importance of properly managing land to promote ecological resilience and providing hands-on experiences that they will remember for years to come. When not working directly with the public, we collaborate with interns to remove invasives in more ecologically sensitive areas of the Reserve, survey vegetation, collect seeds, and transplant seedlings, allowing me to gain a deeper understanding of various aspects of restoration.

Outside the Ecological Reserve, we facilitate urban greening projects in Ballona Discovery Park and native planting days at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh. Ballona Discovery Park requires extensive and delicate care as a demonstration garden, including pruning and manual watering, to display native plants at their best regardless of the season and preserve their aesthetic value. While at first, it was a bit overwhelming learning about best practices for the various plants and microhabitats and getting used to wheeling big hoses throughout the park, I’ve come to enjoy the physicality of our work and the variety of tasks we complete. Thus far, our most satisfying feats have been cutting through dense, jagged California Wildrose to create a new watering pathway and drilling through rock-hard, ant-infested soil to plant four baby scrub oaks!

Mina explains planting procedures at the Jefferson Trail at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh.

At the nearby Ballona Freshwater Marsh, my most rewarding experience has been leading a group during a recent community volunteer event, demonstrating how to properly plant natives such as Toyon and Elderberry, and supervising our progress. This experience bolstered my confidence in my leadership and interpersonal communication skills, and I look forward to hosting more volunteer events here soon!

Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk perched on a post at the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.

Over these past few months, I have learned that Ballona comprises a mosaic of habitats defined by their hydrologies and plant life. Beyond the marsh and riparian, or wet, parts of the wetlands, I’ve spent considerable time working in and learning about upland coastal dune and coastal sage scrub ecosystems. By focusing on plant identification skills and practicing in the field, I am becoming more intentional when interacting with the natural world and aware of minute details I never noticed before. When I walk past vegetation both during and after work hours, I no longer see just “plants” but identify species and pause to look up those I haven’t seen before. I love being able to point out iconic coastal California natives in my neighborhood, such as Sagebrush and Silver Dune Lupine, while noting the extensive reach of Castor Bean, Iceplant, and other infamous non-natives that have proliferated seemingly everywhere I go. This naturalist framework will be essential for future environmental stewardship work as well as the remainder of my time with the Friends as I observe how different plants change over the seasons and where I’m most likely to find them.

Among my myriad responsibilities, I love embracing my analytical nature to collect, organize, and visualize data related to our invasive species removal and outreach. As someone who craves logic and order, I have worked extensively with Samantha to establish systems for tracking the restoration efforts we facilitate, including the number of acres cleared of invasive vegetation and native individuals planted, via physical records, spreadsheets, and ArcGIS. When I’m not out in the field, I now spend much of my time refining our data entry and reporting workflow so we can accurately relay the impact of our work through not only spreadsheets and numbers but also maps and progress photos. I greatly appreciate this opportunity to take the lead on data management while gaining experience with best practices and software common within environmental careers!

One of my favorite aspects of this Fellowship is getting out in the field, which, depending on the day, may include planting, watering, weeding, surveying, spontaneous wildlife watching, wheelbarrowing, “dumpster diving” (AKA depositing bags of weeds into a massive, full collection bin) and more! I greatly value the time I spend outdoors, which is both personally restorative and most directly restores the landscape. Even better, I get to work alongside an amazing group of people who have made me feel welcome and part of a team from day one. I couldn’t have asked for a better host site than Friends of Ballona Wetlands, and I am excited for all we will accomplish in the new year!

Personal Restoration Through Habitat Restoration: Mina Bedogne's California Climate Action Corps Blog