At the beginning of April I drove across the Central Valley, over the Sierra Crest, through the Great Basin, across salt flats and desert mesas, and finally over the great continental divide of the Rocky Mountains to Denver, CO. Rolling oak savannah and the respiteful shade of a valley oak are now replaced by an expansive pancake-like geography of short grass prairie topped with snaking cottonwood- and willow-filled riparian corridors. The high peaks of the Sierra and Rockies both suffered a historic and severely underwhelming winter, and there was far less snow than I hoped to find on the high passes that I drove over. And while I miss the California quail crying “Chicago-Chicago,” my morning walks along the local Bear Creek are still filled with the familiar trill of red winged blackbirds and the hammer of downy woodpeckers, though my infatuation with long tailed magpies is renewed after many years in their absence. The name itself, Bear Creek, seems like a funny homage to my time on Deer Creek and the Bear River… While I am excited to return to my childhood roots in the Southern Rockies, before I embrace the long lost green chili breakfast burrito, it feels appropriate to spend some time reflecting on the impact that Sierra Streams Institute had on me.

One of our mottos at SSI is “Science is for everyone.” When I joined SSI, this phrase put into words a philosophy which was already core to my early scientific career. It evoked encouragement for folks without a “traditional” academic scientific background to trust their scientific instincts, to explore and demand more from science for the layperson, and to openly acknowledge and accept that there are a variety of ways of knowing which are both compatible with and complimentary to western science. This meaning still rings true for me, but as I prepared to say farewell (for now) to Sierra Streams Institute, I realized that during my tenure with SSI the phrase took on a deeper meaning for me. 

Following a year-long losing battle with imposter syndrome in graduate school, Sierra Streams Institute renewed my confidence, reinvigorated my passion for science, and reminded me that there are many scientists who seek a balanced pursuit of scientific research. One of my biggest qualms with academic research is the pursuit of “Research for research sake,” but the staff and volunteers I worked with at SSI reminded me that there are many others out there who believe in Research for the sake of Community. From planting native oaks, milkweed, and willow stakes with service members on Beale Airforce Base in the pouring rain to training new water quality monitors across the Deer Creek, Wolf Creek, and Bear River watersheds, and from collecting bacteria samples every week at Pioneer Park last summer to teaching interns how to run those very samples in the chemistry lab, community has been an integral part of every project I worked on at SSI. The centering tenant of The Community was integral to healing my own relationship with scientific research. 

Now, when I hear “Science is for everyone,” I am reminded that “everyone” includes those of us who do have a “traditional” academic background, but it doesn’t place that demographic above any other. I am inspired to continue pursuing science for the sake of community, science for the sake of compassion, and science for the sake of a better world. As I find myself in a new, albeit familiar, geography and a larger metropolitan than I have lived in for over a decade, I seek community-centered science. Wherever I find it, I strive to help it thrive in the way that SSI has shown me that community science can. With a heart full of hope and gratitude, I say thank you to Sierra Streams Institute, specifically to the staff, volunteers, and community who helped me pull the weeds and clear my path in the broad, beautiful, and diverse landscape of science.