2018 People of Big River Field Class

July 15, 2018             This is the first time in the past week that I have woken up well rested and warm. This campsite is by far the best campsite I have been to. It has showers, sinks, and FLUSHING toilets. In the other campsites we did not have any of this other than outhouses. This trip so far has made me realize that I have taken for granted many things. I am grateful for the little things at this point. This has been a fun journey, but I am so ready to go home, 6 more days. At around 11 we had breakfast and had Spokane Tribal members visit us to welcome us by sharing some of their traditional drum songs. They came to sing and drum for us which was a good experience because we had the opportunity to drum with them. I learned a lot about them and what the Spokane Tribe is all about. Learning about the different tribes there are around the reservation is interesting to know about. Knowing about other cultures is what I love learning about. This meeting with the Spokane Tribal

July 14, 2018             We woke up at 5:30 am and had breakfast this morning. After breakfast we had a 7-hour road trip with several stops in between. We stopped to do laundry in Tri Cities which I thought was the best part of the day because I had the chance to call my parents plus and we had clean clothes. Most of the day we were on the road. I slept through the whole trip until we got to the Spokane Tribe of Indians in Wellpinit, WA. Here we had the chance to finally shower after two whole days without one. I dislike being on the campsites, I would much rather be on the road taking road trips.  

July 13, 2018             This morning we woke up at 6:30 am and headed towards soda creek where we did service work with Tom Walker, a fish Biologist. My job was to rake the needles from the pine trees on the floor and transfer them to broken down soil. Other students then replanted trees on the area. We also watered trees and pine trees that were already planted on the soil. This is important to know because we live in an area where this knowledge could be used. This was very hard work, it was extremely hot. After soda creek we got to go to Lava Butte to learn about the volcanoes of Newberry. Jim Elliot, the head forest ranger, and Tony Sivinile forest ranger gave us the tour of Lava Butte. I learned that Newberry erupted 7 thousand years ago. Newberry volcano rocks are red because the iron oxides. This means that the volcano rusts over time. We got to go to the lookout tower where Joey Hudson gave an introduction about himself and his job up in the lookout. His job is to spot fi

July 12, 2018             I woke up amazingly comfortable today. We woke up at 6:30 am this morning and we ate breakfast. We traveled for 1 hour and a half to Newberry National Volcanic Monument to conduct a plant survey to find an endangered plant that is called Pumice Moonwort. We conducted the plant survey with two Botanist named Charmaine Powers and Marlo fisher. We spent about 3 hours in the heat seeking the endangered plant. This was a fun activity for me because the first person to find the first Pumice Moonwort would get an ice cream sandwich or an ice cream of their choice. I am a competitive person and this activity ignited my competitiveness. While doing this volunteer service I got the chance to mentor a White Swan High School student. I have experience in mentoring students, so this was right around the line for me. Charmaine Powers focuses on the rare plants while Marlo Fisher focuses on the invasive plants. A plant survey is a group of scientist and volunteers obs

  July 11, 2018 This morning I woke up colder than usual. Today, we had breakfast and went straight over to Redmond Air center and got a tour from Annie Whittenburg. She decided to tour us because she attended and graduated from Heritage University. We got a tour of the whole Redmond Air Center Facility. We had the pleasure to meet many inspiring individuals who help battle fires nationwide. We got a talk from Aaron Olmos a forest training specialist and Mike Gomez who works for Bureau of Indian affair. He was a firefighter for many years and has had a career for 39 years in fire. He was the creator of Hot Shots crew for Redmond. After learning this, it inspired me to create an organization for my community. Hot shots crew is a group of people who have been around for a few years and have extensive training that prepares them to battle serious fires. We had the chance to meet smokejumpers, pilots, and people who help the pilots navigate their planes to see where the fires are

July 10, 2018 She Who Watches This morning we left Yakama Nation reservation site and we traveled to the fisheries. There, we met Shawn Bechtol who is a fishery biologist, John Washines a fishery biologist, and Scott Spino a fishery technician who all work with Yakima Nation Wabash Lyle falls fishery and research facility. Shawn Bechtol showed us how they can monitor the wild salmon that passes by the Klickitat river. Their focus is studying fish and tracking them. John Washines speaks about the fish and what they mean to the Native American culture. He explained the traditional way his ancestors would catch the fish. This interested me because it showed how much he values his family and is proud of his culture. John Bartholomew showed us around the area and how everything was built out of petroglyphic equipment because flooding is very common in the area. There is nothing I enjoy more than learning about other individuals field work. After the tour we went to the petroglyph pa

July 9, 2018 Last night Dr. Chavarria taught us about small traps for animals. We placed two traps along side the river and the camping ground we are staying at to see if we could trap mice. This morning we found a mouse inside the trap and Dr. Chavarria explained to us how to handle it and how to take it out of the trap. During this lesson I learned to tell the difference between a female and a male mouse. Later during the lesson, we found out that the mouse was carrying babies. It was interesting to learn about traps, mice, and how they work. After this lesson we made breakfast and traveled straight to underwood restoration site in Klickitat County. Here we met a woman named Jeanette Burkhardt, she works as a watershed planner for the Yakama Nation. She graduated with a liberal arts degree in technical writing. This interested me because in my field I need to be proficient on my writing skills. She was our guide for the day and showed us around the restoration site where she expl

July 8, 2018             Today, I had the privilege to go hiking on potato hill. It took over 25 minutes to reach the top of the mountain. I struggled going up that hill because it is very steep. While I was walking up that hill I wanted to give up so many times, but I kept going. Once I reached the top I felt great and accomplished. I’m not the type to give up so I kept going until I reached it I was motivated to do so. While hiking potatoes hill I met a wonderful young lady who helped me along the trail to get back to our campsite. I learned many knew thing about Native American traditions. She spoke to me a lot about her traditions and religion. After hiking potato hill, we went back to our campsite and made our own breakfast and enjoyed each other’s company. We left potato hill because the number of mosquitoes there are at the campsite. We are now at Camp chaparral and I hope to enjoy this campsite as well. Doug Onley is a forester who took us around the Yakama Nation Reservati

July 7, 2018             Climate change was top of the discussion today. We had a presenter at Heritage University named Jonalee Squeochs who spoke about this issue in dept and how the climate will be changing drastically in the future. Learning about the environment is important to be knowledgeable about because it helps us take better care of it. Today, we are camping at potato hill. The view is amazingly beautiful, and it is a privilege to be here because it is sacred native American land. I have lived in Wapato all my life and I have never heard of the Yakama Nation Reservation closed area. Yakama Nation Reservation campsite is only available to Native American tribal members who require a permit to enter and Heritage University had the opportunity to enter the sacred land. I feel honored to have permission to be here.   I had the chance to see the biggest tree in Washington State and had a closer view of Mt. Adams. It has been an amazing night despite the swarm of mosquito