More About My New Job

I love the diversity of scenes within the park. This is Upper Las Virgenes Canyon, which is just adjacent to the park border and is maintained by a partner agency.  Grasslands with the Santa Susana Mountains in the background.

And of course there are stunning coastline views -- this is the hills above Malibu looking at Santa Monica Bay and the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the distance (Catalina Island is just visible on the right).

When I left my job with the Peace Corps, I kind of felt like I had to go through a grieving process because I had worked for the agency either as a volunteer or a staffer for 10 of the previous 13 years and I was so deeply and personally connected to the agency.  Though I felt excited about my new position, I also felt sad that I probably wouldn't like my new job nearly as much.  If it wasn't for Peace Corps' rule about not working for the agency for more than five consecutive years, I would have happily stayed much longer.

So it is with surprise that I am now thinking I will like my new job better than my last.  It will take time, of course, to acclimate and learn the ins and outs of my new job, but I think I will get to work on more challenging issues with multiple levels of complexity.  It's invigorating to learn more about wildlife, nature, land acquisition strategies, legislative affairs, and new technologies.  

As an example, last week I spent a half-day in the field with our large carnivore expert, learning about mountain lions, tracking their movements via GPS collars, what their biggest challenges are, etc.  This particular individual has spent his entire career studying mountain lions all over the world and is the ultimate subject matter expert.  Yesterday I spent the afternoon with our planning and land use expert, touring current and prospective sites for development and getting a better understanding of the challenges related to habitat preservation in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the nation.  And I could go on!

Like all jobs, I'm sure I'll have days when I feel extremely frustrated -- and I can already see that the workload is going to be challenging -- but when that happens please refer me back to this post so that I can be reminded of how fortunate I am!