Intern Spotlight: Angie Wu

Angie outdoors taking a selfie at Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Photo courtesy of Angie Wu

Meet Angie Wu, a former Habitat Restoration and Plant Monitoring intern at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. She grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles County and studied Molecular Environmental Biology and Geography just across the bay at University of California Berkeley. Though the park stretches across multiple Bay Area counties, her work was mostly focused in the San Francisco areas of the park. Read on to learn more about her experience.

How did you find yourself at the National Park Service?

Though I was not sure exactly what I wanted to do straight out of school, I was confident that I wanted to work with plants in some capacity and spend as much time outdoors as possible. I was applying to a lot of different jobs that I found on job boards, and this position through Environment for the Americas appeared. At the time, I had no experience working for the government, so I was really interested in learning more about careers in natural resources at the federal level. I went to school in the Bay Area and absolutely love it up here, so I was super stoked to hear that I was offered the position!

What did your day-to-day tasks look like?

Angie and her mentor, Michael, at Baker Beach

Photo courtesy of Angie Wu

Every day is different! I found that my team structured projects and work priorities around the seasons. Being in tune with what is coming up out of the ground or blossoming at a certain location or time of the year was essential to planning our day-to-day tasks, which involved installing landscape fabric to suppress non-native grasses, hand weeding invasive plants in sensitive habitats or around rare species, and monitoring populations of rare plants throughout the park.

Planning and managing weekly volunteer programs is a large part of what my position entailed. Our team was small but mighty (shoutout to my incredible mentor Michael Chassé and our wonderful Bio Tech John Spanos), and we would not have been able to accomplish all of our goals without the help of our awesome volunteers! They were always a blast to spend time with and each of them had an admirable commitment to maintaining and restoring various sites in this park.

What was your favorite part about your position?

The San Francisco Vegetation team (left to right: Michael, Angie, John) following a volunteer day at Fort Funston

Photo courtesy of Angie Wu

There are so many things I loved about my position. Interacting with volunteers; hanging out with my intern cohort; getting up close and personal with rare plants; work swapping with other teams - I loved it all! Ultimately, however, I think my favorite thing about my job was the places that it took me. The majority of my work days were spent outside, and because the team managed so many different sites in San Francisco, I was lucky enough to call iconic places like Lands End, Crissy Field, and Presidio Bluffs my “office.” I never got tired of looking up from my task to see the renowned Golden Gate Bridge, the sweeping coastline of Marin, and the dramatic silhouette of Alcatraz Island in the distance. It is such a beautiful place to work and I do not think I will ever get tired of it.

What was the most memorable moment you had in your position?

I was recently hand weeding at the Presidio Bluffs, a place that experiences heavy foot traffic from both tourists and locals alike. It is not uncommon for a curious passerby to stop and ask about our work, especially in this particular location. That day, a woman approached us and asked us about our tasks, and before continuing on her way, exclaimed, “Thank you for taking care of our park!” This comment really meant a lot to both me and our volunteers because it was a reminder of how important our work is and how much the park means to the people that visit it. This moment will likely stick with me for a long time.

What is one thing you want people to know about this park?

Planting day in Rodeo Valley (Marin) with fellow interns and

Photo courtesy of Angie Wu

It is truly a national park like no other! Because it is so urban and integrated with the city, it makes it extremely unique to other national parks that most people may be more familiar with. Many people are not even aware that there is a national park within San Francisco (I was guilty of this prior to accepting this position)! However, despite how urban it is, it still remains one of the most biodiverse locations in the world and is home to many different rare and threatened plant and wildlife species. So watch your step and keep a close eye on your surroundings when you visit. You might come across something that exists nowhere else in the world!

What did you learn that you will take forward in your career?

Managing volunteer programs; meeting and orienting new volunteers; and interacting with different National Park Service staff really gave me a chance to hone both my public speaking skills and my interpersonal skills. The unique opportunities that this position presented, as well as the constant support from my supervisor to grow, pushed me to not just step - but leap! - out of my comfort zone and develop skills that I most certainly will be taking with me further in my career.

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