We sat down with recent Arizona Conservation Corps (AZCC) alumni Mikaela Foresta last week to talk about the unique way she chose to document her summer. Crews are required to submit field notes at the end of each hitch, and these can take many different forms. Some members write haikus, some diligently list the miles of trail completed, some draw pictures. Mikaela took a different approach entirely: she studied the plants and animals that she encountered in the field and documented her research. She pressed flowers, sketched mountain ranges, and gained new insights on the flora and fauna of the ecosystem she grew up in. 

MY NAME IS MIKAELA FORESTA and I can proudly say that I’m a 24 year old desert rat! I grew up in the Mojave among dust devils and tumbleweeds, but I eventually made my way to the pines and powdered peaks of Flagstaff, Arizona. I worked with AZCC out of the Flagstaff office in 2019 from April to July.

I began keeping a field journal during my season with AZCC. Working on my field notes became a weekly meditation and shaped my interest in conservation. I learned a lot about the native and invasive plants throughout Sedona and Camp Verde. Of course, working directly with these plants helped deepen my understanding too! For example, my crew removed invasive Himalayan Blackberries in order to prevent fires near the Crescent Moon area in Sedona. During this time I was also reading and writing about these plants.

For me, nature always seems to evoke a sense of wonder. Some of the plants and animals I documented were familiar since I grew up in Arizona, but I didn’t necessarily know their names or how they survived in arid landscapes. I seemed to notice something new everyday. I wanted to have a more intimate understanding of my home and keeping a field journal helped me accomplish this. Each hitch I collected samples from various plants so that I could research them back in town. I chose this format because it allowed me to simultaneously learn new things and also show the beauty of these plants and animals.

I definitely recommend keeping a field journal, especially since it is a way to decompress at the end of a strenuous day! I’ve always been fond of collecting and pressing plants. Since moving to Ohio, I have continued to collect samples on my walks so that I can study and admire them.

Once, after a long day, we were headed back to camp when one of our crew leaders halted abruptly. Everyone peeked over his shoulder and saw that a large lizard was emerging from the brush and utilizing the trail!  We kept our distance since Gila monsters are incredibly venomous, yet we were gripped by the beauty of its orange and black body. I remember marveling at how well it blended into the red rocks and thinking that we weren’t really that different from this lizard; we were all sharing the trail and just trying to make it home.

“Working on my field notes became a weekly meditation and shaped my interest in conservation.”

The desert appears more desolate than other ecosystems, but if you look closely, it is a very animated landscape. There may be a Gopher snake silently passing through or a family of Gambel’s quail scurrying along. These moments are why I love the desert– it appears both animated and still. The desert’s beauty exists in its movement between extremes. The day brings blistering heat while the night brings a cool breeze. I particularly enjoyed documenting the Desert Marigold because its yellow petals are so vibrant. I remember seeing these flowers scattered throughout the Mojave Desert as a child so perhaps that is why they are one of my favorites!

I now live in Oxford, Ohio where I am pursuing a master’s degree in philosophy at Miami University; my research primarily focuses on phenomenology and environmental thought. I’d like to see the Southwest move toward more sustainable ways of living that promote responsible water and energy use. I’m critical of our current approaches and I think that we can most definitely improve. I would like to gain more conservation experience so that in the future I can use both fields to inform one another. I highly encourage people to join AZCC! I was able to admire the beauty of the desert, gain conservation experience, and earn an education award that is now helping me pay off student loans.

Mikaela in front of an AZCC rig at the Flagstaff office.