Monday, Feb 08, 2021
 by 
Sean Correa
  • We're excited to introduce our new Natural Resource Management interns. Meet Johanna, Alissa, and Aidan!

    Johanna Harrison

    Hi, I’m Johanna! This is my second time interning with San Mateo County Parks! I am super excited to gain even more valuable experience and to get back to work on some of the awesome restoration projects from last year. I have a bachelors in Environmental Management & Protection with an emphasis in Wildlife Biology, and I hope to pursue a masters degree next fall. Prior to this internship I have spent time working at the San Francisco Zoo where I was able to teach students about wildlife and environmental conservation, as well as working for a wildlife project in the Palo Alto Baylands. San Mateo County has such a beautiful diversity of parks and ecosystems, which is one of the main reasons I love working in the field. Some of my most memorable experiences from this past year are helping with San Bruno Elfin larvae counts at San Bruno Mountain, and helping restore the coast yellow leptosiphon site at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.

    Alissa Patterson

    Hello, my name is Alissa Patterson, and my passion for the environmental field began 10 years ago in my high school biology course. I grew up in the Bay Area, but attended college in Colorado. Since earning my degree in Ecology in 2018, I've worked ecological restoration and social science positions at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and on an all-female organic farm. I'm excited to gain more natural resources experience with the County of San Mateo before heading off to graduate school this fall. I'm grateful to call our local parks my office. Hope to see you out in the parks (with your masks)!

    Aidan Sullivan

    Howdy, my name is Aidan Sullivan. I studied Geography, with a concentration in resource management at San Francisco State. There I learned about the ecology of the SF Bay region. While I was a student, I gained hands-on habitat restoration experience through two academic internships with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. As a natural resource management intern with San Mateo county, one of my favorite experiences has been surveying the Montara Mountain Trail for an invasive plant called upright veldt grass (Ehrharta erecta) with my co-interns. I look forward to learning about different wildlife survey methods and putting my GIS skills to good use in this internship. Cheers!

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    Johanna, Alissa, and Aidan hike San Bruno Mountain to search for invasive plants in sensitive butterfly habitat.