A swell start to winter 1/4

Well it has been a really long time since I have posted a blog…a lot has happened since January.

We finally got to go out in the field and do some snow sampling. The crew was trained by a few fellows from the NRCS in how to setup and sample a snow course. The field day was pretty fun; we got to test out our new field equipment, play/work in a few different types of snow, and best of all take in a nice cool day in the mountains. In all we sampled two sites, as the third on our day’s itinerary had not snow, but we scouted it to setup the next snow course.

Sampling will be on a weekly rotation with samplings days on Tuesday and Friday. Each day we will sample three of our six sample sites, with the possible of an additional site on Mt. Zion pending decision from the folks at Battelle who are developing the model and using our data.

Over break, each group member worked on a piece of our sampling methodology and project protocol to build one document. My portion of the project included sampling procedure, data recording, and sample site characteristics.

With the start of the new quarter, we were going to start our regular sampling routine yesterday (January 8), but it was cancelled because of a snow and avalanche advisory for the area. So instead of field work, I got to help set up the GIS lab. We finished installing software on the computers and handheld GPS units as well as program the GPS units for field use. We even got some decorating done in the lab. We hope to go out this Friday, the 11^th to actually conduct some sampling (pending weather as usual).

Work on the sediment project is getting moving also. Because of my schedule w/ work and other projects I have not been able to do much sediment sampling with the crew since November. However, I have been putting in some time with our resident geologist, Dave Parks to work on our sampling protocol. The project is kind of frustrating because one of our main players is not available for communication and we are having to solve problems on our own…it’s not such a big deal except that we don’t know if the answer are what will be needed in the end, but it will work for our component of the project.

Pending a few more questions being answered, I can start the digital photo analysis and finally crank out some data. I am anxious to get some data moving because we will be presenting it at a few conventions, one is Pacific Estuarine Research Society (PERS) in Newport, OR Feb 28 - March 1 the other is American Fisheries Society (AFS) in Bellingham, WA Mar 4-6. I am hoping to present a poster, and may do both, but that is kind if up on the air right now…I can’t decide.