Summer on Catalina Island: Promoting the resiliency of the island’s plant and animal life

The idea of spending two-and-a-half months on scenic Catalina Island might evoke daydreams of laid-back vacationing and fun in the sun. But for Audrey Stavish, a rising senior in the USC Environmental Studies Program, it was hard work. Stavish spent this summer exploring the field of habitat preservation and restoration through a Wrigley Institute-funded internship with the Catalina Island Conservancy which helps protect the island’s land and ecosystems. In this full-time internship, Stavish and her peers learned about Catalina’s unique natural and cultural history while doing on-the-ground work to support the Conservancy’s environmental stewardship.

The internship was not Stavish’s first adventure on Catalina Island, nor was it her first time conducting extensive field work. An environmental science and health major and marine biology minor, she first became fascinated with the island’s habitats and endemic species when she participated in the Wrigley Institute Catalina Residential College’s month-long Maymester program, based at the Wrigley Marine Science Center. She also enrolled in a directed research class with environmental studies professor David Ginsburg, which allowed for more opportunities to conduct field work on Catalina Island.

During her Conservancy internship this summer, Stavish primarily supported the organization’s wildlife programs, which promote resilient native animal populations, and the Conservancy’s plant management efforts to promote habitat restoration.

One of the Conservancy’s most notable wildlife initiatives is its effort to revive the Catalina Island fox population, which neared extinction in the late 1990s due to widespread disease and increased predation. The Conservancy protects this keystone species in a number of ways: annual island-wide trapping for the administration of vaccines against rabies and canine distemper, radio collar monitoring, morality investigations to identify causes behind fox deaths, and more.

Every other week, Stavish helped with monitoring efforts by using telemetry technology to track and collect data on the island foxes that wear VHF radio collars.

“We’ll drive around the island to make sure that we’re hearing a signal from each of the collared foxes that indicates that they’re alive,” Stavish said. These collared foxes are unvaccinated, and checking for their survival helps provide information about any sudden population declines.

“If we get a mortality signal, we’ll locate the fox and bring them into our clinic to determine cause of death. This is important because, if there is a new virus, we can get ahead of the threat with our trapping efforts and vaccinate them.”

In addition to Stavish’s projects with wildlife teams, she helped with plant management efforts. Tasks on this team are quite physically demanding. On some days she fixed exclosures, or fences that are meant to seal off a certain area of land to protect native plants from being eaten by deer and bison (animals that are not native to the island). On other days, she traveled to remote areas of the island to conduct rare plan surveys. This data will be used to inform management strategies that help ensure the survival of native plants.

“I’ve gotten to work on a lot of different projects and develop a variety of skill sets. Being here and learning how things work is helpful to contextualize what conservation actually looks like,” said Stavish. “I love working in this field. Now I know that being a plant or wildlife technician is a position I could pursue if I wanted to. In the future, I’d be interested in exploring marine conservation.”