Photo Courtesy: Alicia Magliato
“Hoo-hoo-hoo-hooo” - a perfect rendition of a northern spotted owl was delivered after some encouragement. In 2021, Alicia worked with the Forest Service and gained some unique skills in the Sierras. The northern spotted owl has dark eyes, dappled plumage and finds itself on the IUCN’s red list with a declining population. They need all the help they can get. Enter Alicia.
Early Experiences
One year earlier, Alicia Magliato graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), with a degree in Zoology and has built up a wonderful array of experiences since. We sat on the beach with the ocean as our soundtrack, diving into Alicia’s background, taking the occasional pause to admire curlews and other shorebirds coming into land.
During her time as an undergraduate, Alicia worked in the D’Antonio restoration lab researching native plants and fuel breaks. Life after graduation came with COVID-related challenges and she unfortunately lost her funding; however, a position with the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network, tending to raptors, owls and seabirds, kickstarted working life once more. She recalled caring for the animals in shed-like structures behind the official Care Network office, which, thankfully, have since been upgraded. But her work with owls and raptors didn’t stop there.
Part of her next role, with the Forest Service, was to locate nests of species including the aforementioned spotted owl and the northern goshawk, in order to ensure their protection from logging. She recalled tough hikes, and receiving funny looks from mountain bikers as they searched for their target species. In an attempt to find the elusive birds, a combination of audio speakers and human renditions were used. Alicia laughed, looking back on her first day - “We didn't know anybody. There's six of us, and we had to practice our owl calls. And it was so embarrassing, but so much fun.”
All About the Plants
Birds of prey aside, Alicia has a passion, paired with a wealth of knowledge, for native plant species – you may recall her internship which was cut short thanks to COVID? After her work with the Wildlife Care Network and the Forest Service, she decided to head back to her home county of Santa Cruz to earn a degree in horticulture. This led Alicia to her favourite job, working as an ecologist for the City of San Francisco. Her days here ranged from working in the native plant nursery, to conducting field surveys of rare and endemic plants.
Talk of native plants continued as we discussed planting them at home. Alicia gained hands-on experience with native garden design and planting during her horticulture degree – something I could benefit from given my current planting success rate.
She discussed the nuances of the job and her experience, saying, “I learned a lot about garden design. And then went onto start doing native plant garden designs on my own for friends and families. And then I got some other clients. And so that was really fun, but it's stressful too, because I wanted to get everything right, and research the exact micro habitat they're in, and things like, what plants? Where does the water pool? Where’s the sun at this angle?”. During this time, she also volunteered for her local California Native Plant Society, presenting to large groups of people about techniques for regenerative and wildlife friendly gardening at home.