Having presented part of my research at the California Islands Symposium a little over a week ago now, I may have made my last trip to Southern California and the Channel Islands for quite some time. Then again, they seem to be a vortex that pulls me in so maybe I'll be out there next winter. I'm really hoping to get to stay in WI most of the summer, but getting paid is also always a nice perk too. Who knows what will happen.

I thought this was a fitting picture to mark my departure from the islands. Rocky and I found this Elk Rack and I just couldn't resist picking it up for a picture. I really wanted to tie it to the hood of the truck, but we thought better of it. Actually, Rocky thought better of it. In hindsight, I just should have done it. What were they going to do, kick me off the island?

A highlight of my January was finding this very rare, unassuming, and hard to photograph plant, Arabis hoffmannii. It had not been seen on the island for a long time until the 1990's when a few were found on a very isolated rock. That population was last seen living in 1998. This January while hiking behind Dirk to look at another rare plant, I found over 50 individuals. All the botanists around the park are cautiously excited, hoping that the final identification comes back positive for A. hoffmannii. I know it in my bones, having worked on a recovery project with it on Santa Cruz Island.