24 Jun Ventura

It has been a wonderful first week here at the Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center at Channel Islands National Park. So far I have been on the mainland only. That will change next week when I go out to Anacapa Island for a whole 8 days to work with the team on historic preservation projects on the island. This first week has consisted of learning about what the team does and the history surrounding the Channel Islands. There will be a lot of hands on hard work on the island since the team repairs and maintains the historic structures. They have provided me a tool bag just for when we get out there. I am not sure at the moment which buildings we will be working on, but I will be finding that out later today. There is a huge emphasis on safety since we must travel by boat. So far I have watched several videos and read pages of guidelines in regards to boat safety to and from the islands. I even watched a video regarding cold water and what to do if you fall into it. The biggest take away from all of that was to wear a life jacket. It buys you substantial amounts of time. The islands have been inhabited, surprisingly enough, for over 13,000 years. Thankfully, most artifacts on the islands have not been disturbed by human settlement, although there was heavy ranching on the islands from the mid-1800’s until the late 1960’s. Another important artifact that was found here was a pygmy mammoth and it is the most complete one that has been found. I hope to end the rest of my blog posts with an interesting piece of the history of the islands and convey the importance of the islands. Well, that is all I have for this week. More adventure is out there.