Hispanic Access Announces Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona as a Pass-Through Partner for the Nuestros Bosques, Our Forests Inflation Reduction Act Initiative

Hispanic Access is honored to announce the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, as a pass-through partner for the “Nuestros Bosques (Our Forests)” five-year project through funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The project, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, hopes to increase equitable access to urban tree canopy while increasing community engagement and decision-making in local urban forestry.

Hispanic Access Announces Hollywood, FL as a Pass-Through Partner for the Nuestros Bosques, Our Forests Inflation Reduction Act Initiative

Hispanic Access is honored to announce Hollywood, FL as a pass-through partner for the “Nuestros Bosques (Our Forests)” five-year project through funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The project, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service hopes to increase equitable access to urban tree canopy while increasing community engagement and decision-making in local urban forestry.

Hispanic Access Launches ‘Iglesias Sanas, Comunidades Sanas’ Project

Hispanic Access Foundation is excited to launch “Iglesias Sanas, Comunidades Sanas (Healthy Churches, Healthy Communities)”.

Hispanic Access Launches ‘Kids with Giant Faith’ Project Grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help Congregations Incorporate Children into Worship

Hispanic Access Foundation is honored to partner with Lilly Endowment Inc. to launch the “Kids with Giant Faith (Niños Gigantes en la Fe)” project. The program is funded through Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative, a national initiative designed to help Christian congregations more fully and intentionally engage children in intergenerational corporate worship and prayer practices.

Into the Fellowship – Unexpected Detour

After sharing my deep connection to nature in my last blog (see editor’s note). I would like to take you through the winding path I encountered when I started this new role. My internship began with several challenges, including mental roadblocks, equipment delays, and even a personal loss in my family. As I began training and learning about the USDA Forest Service, I felt overwhelmed by the vast amount of information and the scale of the work ahead. Having only a general understanding of the organization, combined with limited professional experience, made me question my place in this internship and within the team.

Field Ranger Extension

Wow! I can’t believe I’m two months into my Filed Ranger Crew Lead extension. Time is going by so quicky. Working for the Angeles National Forest has kept me on my toes, but in a good way. I’ve gotten to experience summer season and now fire season here on the Angeles. Which is a whole can of worms but I’m enjoying my time here. One of my main duties as a Field Ranger is providing outreach to the public. Which has been pretty fun because my crew lead and I get to set up at multiple different locations of the Angles and sometimes in the city. Our main focus right now is fire safety and leaving no trace messaging to the public. I had an opportunity to create my own tabling interpretive game to enhance leave no trace principles on our forest.  And so far, it's given us some really good public engagement.

In the beginning of October, the Angeles National Forest reopened a recreation site called Chantry Flats. This recreation site had been closed for four years due to the Bobcat fire. Since it was closed to the public for so long, the public was eager to go back and hike the trails there. So as Field Rangers, my other crew lead and I were allowed to hike to the waterfall located in that reaction site before anyone else so that we could become familiar with the area. That way for opening day we would be well versed with information about conditions of the trail. The hike to the waterfall so lovely! We encountered so many little frogs while hiking to the falls. It was an incredible experience because we had it all to ourselves. I attached a picture of the falls so you all can see how pretty it is.

New Roles and New Forests: The Beginning of my Internship

Laupāhoehoe, Hawai`i– where endemic bird calls whisper along the wind, where the moss is untouched by time and richly clings to all surfaces, where frequent downpours of rain inspire the lush green tapestry of the forest.  This is the place I have been lucky enough to work throughout the first month of my internship at the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry. I was raised just a few miles east of the Laupāhoehoe forest on the coast of Hāmākua where I spent as much time as I could playing outdoors.  Now, as I work in the same ahupua`a (district) as an adult, I feel a sense of gratitude for being able to give back to the land which raised me.

I am the lead of the field crew on a project that began when I was just 6 years old. It is called the Hawai`i Permanent Plot Network or HIPPNET for short. HIPPNET is a long-term project that is designed to monitor the dynamics of Hawai`i’s native-dominated forests across elevation and precipitation gradients.  On a larger scale, this data is used to establish Hawai`i as a part of a global network called The Center for Tropical Forest Science and Global Earth Observatories (CTFS-ForestGEO).  On Hawai`i Island and as a part of my role, we have 4 plots to monitor: Laupāhoehoe (la-ow-pa-hoy-hoy), Palamanui (pala-ma-noo-ee), Pu`uwa`awa`a (poo-oo-va-a-va-a), and Mamalahoa (mama-la-ho-ah).  

The methods we use to monitor our plots have been meticulously developed by CTFS-ForestGEO such that all free-standing, woody species measuring ≥1cm in diameter are tagged and mapped.  A census occurs every 5 years where the diameters of all individuals in the plot are measured. We are currently between the 7th and 8th census, so my crew and I’s role is to fix the mistakes from the 7th census before it is time to begin the 8th census.

Thus far, I have only been to the Laupāhoehoe and Palamanui sites.  Both sites are dominated by native species, but they differ in their elevation and levels of precipitation-- Palamanui is a lowland dry-forest and Laupāhoehoe is a wet, montane forest.  Palamanui consists of species that are drought-tolerant such as Alahe`e, Lama, and `A`ali`i.  Here, the blazing sun sucks all the water from the forest– making the plants short, stiff, and scratchy. The Laupāhoehoe site is the opposite. It is mossy, muddy, and the clouds rolling mist cling to every leaf in the forest. For this reason, Laupāhoehoe is my favorite of the two. The species here primarily consist of tree ferns, ‘Ohia, and Koa trees. 

On a more personal and reflective note, being in a leadership role with more responsibility has pushed me to grow my poise and confidence as a professional. It has been a humbling and surreal experience to be a part of a project that started when I was still learning to spell the word “because” and one that feels much bigger than myself. And of course, it is so much fun to hike around in the forest, ogle at rare plant species, and off-road with 4-wheel-drive on the clock.  So, I think it’s safe to say that I love my job.

Until next time,

Amy

Image Caption: Amy Patterson, Resource Assistant for the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, measures the diameter of an Ōlapa tree (Cheirodendron trigynum) at the HIPPNET site in Laupāhoehoe, Hawai`i.

Of streams and trees

It’s been a little over 2 months since I have started my RAP position as a hydrologist at the International Institute of Tropical Forestry with the US Forest Service (USFS) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.