Hello and welcome to my blog! I am Jorge Vargas-Barriga, a recent first-generation graduate from the University of Colorado at Boulder where I earned a B.S. in Environmental Engineering. I was born in Aurora, Colorado and have lived my whole life there. The beautiful mountain...
I have found many animals from being outside at Saguaro National Park. My job is to find butterflies and photograph them so we can identify the species, however, I like all the creatures. Even today I found a desert tortoise just sitting on a giant...
There is no place quite like Saguaro National Park, with cacti forests, riparian areas, and mountains. It can be sometimes overlooked as a dry desert with a lot of sharp plants; however, they are known for the largest cacti species, the saguaro. Saguaros are slow...
As I'm writing this, we are two days out from the end of the conference. This whole experience feels like it just began less than a week ago! It might be because the conference has ended but my time in the park has not, though...
Let me take a moment and highlight two salt-of-the-earth sisters who have been monumental to my experience here at Mammoth Cave: Brenda and Vanessa. When I arrived at Mammoth, I dove head-first into the job. No adjustment period, no orientation. My radon monitoring was pretty...
This summer as a Mosaics in Science (MIS) intern has been quite an adventure for me. I’ve learned how to ride a bike, how to cook better—still getting there—and what it’s like to work at a National Park (I have absolutely loved it). I’ve...
As I write this, I have approximately two days left in southeast Arizona. After being originally hesitant to leave home during a pandemic and begin an internship, I now find myself wondering where the time went and wishing I could stay longer. Looking back on...
As my last blog, I would like to discuss an arthropod that I was introduced to along my internship journey. With the help of iNaturalist and some additional research, I was able to learn about the beautiful, but destructive Japanese Beetle. I first noticed the Japanese...
Oh, how the tables have turned, a lot has changed for me within the last week. In my previous blog post, I spoke about how it's been an interesting experience working from home. But, that quickly changed as my program manager, program coordinator, and supervisor...
The clouds begin to break as the wind moves them up the slopes of the mountain. Peeking from behind the clouds is one of the world's largest volcanoes, Mauna Loa. At the foot of that mountain is its younger volcanic sibling, Kīlauea. Its large volcanic...