2018 People of Big River Field Class

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 himsel...

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 p...

  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 ...

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...