Headed back to the wild west we go!
Photo of our interns Olivia and Mavrick exploring the Eastern Warner Mountains.
Devil’s Garden Research and Education (DGRE) is dedicated to teaching others about agriculture and natural resources in Northeastern California. It is our mission to provide science based management solutions and hands-on experiences to improve the lives of Californians. Part of this mission is preparing the next generation of land managers and connecting them with new experiences that help prepare them for careers in agriculture and natural resources. This year, DGRE hired two summer interns and one six month intern to work on a variety of projects.
Olivia, Mavrick, and Lizzeth are passionate about agriculture and natural resources. They look forward to providing research material for you to make management decisions. This group is very diverse in their studies and stories. We hope you enjoy learning more about their background and who they are.
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You can learn more about each intern and what their internship entails below:
Meet Mavrick Farnam
Mavrick Farnam is a summer research assistant for 2020. He is from a small community in Modoc County and recently graduated from Shasta College. He is planning on furthering his education at the University of Wyoming majoring in Agriculture Business. Mavrick has been involved with the Future Farmers of
America, 4-H, and the Farm Bureau where he has grown a passion for agriculture. He is also very active in his college agriculture department and Natural Resources Club.
Over the course of his internship, Mavrick hopes to broaden his skills and knowledge in relation to rangeland and agriculture. He looks most forward to learning the benefits of rangeland grazing and developing a better understanding of how to properly manage rangeland in northern California. Mavrick is excited to conduct research that will help educate the community on agriculture and natural resources.
Meet Lizzeth Mendoza
Lizzeth Mendoza is currently one of our 2020 summer interns who is focusing on the environmental benefits of livestock grazing and outreach. She is originally from Modoc County, Alturas to be exact, and is currently attending California State University, Chico. Lizzeth is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Animal Science with a minor in Agriculture Business. She hopes to pursue a career in the beef industry after college and is passionate in educating the public about agriculture.
She has been involved in Future Farmers of America and in the feedlot industry learning feedlot management and dairy reproduction. She is a member of California Cattleman at Chico State and has received her artificial insemination certification in hopes to put it to use in the near future. In her free time, Lizzeth likes to spend time outdoors whether it be hunting, fishing, or hiking. You can always catch her with a camera in her hand.
During Lizzeth’s internship she hopes to gain experience in research and learning how livestock grazing positively impacts our environment. She looks most forward to creating new content to educate the public about agriculture and natural resources. Lizzeth is dedicated to provide outreach materials to positively change the public perception of the agriculture community through research and science-based facts.
Meet Olivia Lappin
Olivia Lappin is our seasonal field assistant for 2020. She will be working here in Modoc County for approximately six months on a variety of research projects. She is most excited for an upcoming project looking at the interactions between wild horses and elk in the Devil’s Garden.
Olivia grew up in southern Maine and graduated from the University of Maine Orono with a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Ecology in 2019. She has worked with a variety of animals over the years such as Eastern wild turkeys, fish, seabirds, and amphibians. She grew up loving the outdoors, especially catching frogs and salamanders in her backyard when she was young. During her free time, she enjoys snowmobiling, fishing, and riding horses.
Olivia hopes to one day become a wildlife biologist and is looking forward to improving her knowledge on how the agricultural community, wildlife biologists, and rangeland managers work together here in Modoc County to create useful and sustainable public lands. She feels as though there is often miscommunication and misunderstanding between the public and scientists in regards to research. She hopes that spending more time in an agricultural community and on public land will help her to better understand how to bridge that gap and create a more positive working relationship between wildlife biologists and the public as she works towards becoming a biologist herself.
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We look forward to learning from our peers at Devil’s Garden and Research Education and providing you with the resources needed to nurture our changing environment. We hope to hear from you and if you happen to swing by our office, make sure to say hello!
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