We were all over the place today. It was great.
First thing, I had to go check the Palmer Creek gage and connectivity (only one reading this time). Still connected at pretty low flows; this is a good thing.
Next, Ian took us electrofishing to see if there were salmonids in a small stream that had a potentially ill-placed culvert. I (and Helena) had never been before so it was a good learning experience. We first electrofished the larger stream nearby to get the hang of things. We got a lot of sculpins, a cutthroat and some young steelhead. It was good to get "fish in hand," as the dweeby fish nerds say. We electrofished the smaller, potentially affected stream. There were no fish which was good (?). That doesn't mean that there were historically no fish, but it means there are none being affected now.
Helena and I then had to drive into Medford (45 minutes away) to drop our truck off at the Forest Service mechanic (problem started before I touched the truck) and get a loaner. We went on to Central Point (10 more minutes) to meet Ian for a meeting (a continuation of the meeting concerning the possibility of a mining operation on the Applegate). We got there on time and met with Ian; we went in and found an empty room. The posted schedule said the meeting was next week. Awesome. Ian was not too happy with himself, but did go on to tell us that last year he had driven six hours to a meeting and when he arrived, learned that he was one month early. What a clown.
So, back to the station. And, out to check Palmer Creek. The stream level dropped 0.01 feet and had totally lost connectivity over the course of the day. On to Applegate Lake to post some signage and spraypaint a sign on the pavement at the boat ramp. Artsy!
First thing, I had to go check the Palmer Creek gage and connectivity (only one reading this time). Still connected at pretty low flows; this is a good thing.
Next, Ian took us electrofishing to see if there were salmonids in a small stream that had a potentially ill-placed culvert. I (and Helena) had never been before so it was a good learning experience. We first electrofished the larger stream nearby to get the hang of things. We got a lot of sculpins, a cutthroat and some young steelhead. It was good to get "fish in hand," as the dweeby fish nerds say. We electrofished the smaller, potentially affected stream. There were no fish which was good (?). That doesn't mean that there were historically no fish, but it means there are none being affected now.
Helena and I then had to drive into Medford (45 minutes away) to drop our truck off at the Forest Service mechanic (problem started before I touched the truck) and get a loaner. We went on to Central Point (10 more minutes) to meet Ian for a meeting (a continuation of the meeting concerning the possibility of a mining operation on the Applegate). We got there on time and met with Ian; we went in and found an empty room. The posted schedule said the meeting was next week. Awesome. Ian was not too happy with himself, but did go on to tell us that last year he had driven six hours to a meeting and when he arrived, learned that he was one month early. What a clown.
So, back to the station. And, out to check Palmer Creek. The stream level dropped 0.01 feet and had totally lost connectivity over the course of the day. On to Applegate Lake to post some signage and spraypaint a sign on the pavement at the boat ramp. Artsy!
I hope your Ian doesn't get to reading this before you are done with your internship...somehow I don't think he'd take kindly to your refering to him as a 'clown' but then again, I don't know Ian.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the entertaining and sometimes enlightening peek at your professional life.
-Lesley
i didn't realize the extent of your picture painting; with words
ReplyDelete. Very fresh! so your job sounds like it has possibilites!
pops