About Us
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About Us
Research Ranch Advisory Team
Dr. Sandy DeSimone: Born in Indianapolis,
Indiana. After receiving a B.S. in Education from Indiana
University, left for the east coast where I worked as an elementary
classroom teacher in Boston and Manhattan for three years.
I developed an interest in bird watching and, after attending
the Audubon Camp on Hog Island, decided to leave teaching.
Spent three months as a “naturalist-in-training”
at the Sharon Audubon Center in northwest Connecticut then
worked at the Center as a teacher/naturalist. Met my husband
Peter while banding kestrels and after we got married we lived
for five happy years in a two room cabin without indoor plumbing
or electricity in a state forest. Plants soon became my passion
and after a move to Audubon’s Starr Ranch Sanctuary
in Orange County, California (where Peter took a position
as manager) got my master’s degree then Ph.D. working
in the rare coastal sage scrub. As soon as I finished my Ph.D.,
Peter took a chance and hired me to work on education and
research at Starr Ranch. I developed “Starr Ranch Field
Ecology Programs,” a somewhat innovative approach that
integrates ecological research into education. People of all
ages come for our programs, taught by biologists with graduate
degrees, and have a hands-on experience in simulated or actual
field research. I also began five years of research on biology
and non-chemical control of a priority exotic, artichoke thistle.
Since 1997, we have found a method and have reduced 340 of
the 700 acres targeted for artichoke thistle control to 0
– 5% cover per stand. The second year of artichoke thistle
control we begin restoration to two rare habitats, coastal
sage scrub or needlegrass grassland. It has been a pleasure
to hire seasonal field crews of recent college graduates from
all over the country, who come live in one of the historic
buildings on the Ranch and do the research and physical work
of our exotic control and restoration project.
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