Go Team Discovery Channel

Lets try a picture....

Thats me in the dry suit & red life jacket- I swear I was just in the boat, the life jacket is not for protection from the <3ft water. L to R: Tiffany, Jenna, Jon (under water), me & Ben

Some Background

So I guess some info about me- why I’m here & what I want to say, background applying to this blog- would be beneficial. I am a WWU student of the environment, located on the Olympic Peninsula. I grew up in Washington, on the Kitsap Peninsula, & (consequently) all things involving the health of this region highly interest me. I am, of course, prejudiced but this is an amazing place to live- don’t tell anyone but especially the Olympic Peninsula. So it is mostly due to my love of this area that I am specifically a WWU student environmental science student. It is my love of science & of the outdoors that brought me to environmental science in general. I am, currently & for the next year, a REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) National Science Foundations student intern working on the Elwha River Restoration Project.

The Elwha River is currently dammed in 2 spots, these dams have been in place for close to a century. No fish ladders were constructed with these dams & the rich salmon runs were cut off from the river. After long & intense debate these dams were slated for removal. This date has been pushed back to 2012, after the completion of water treatment facilities. Sediments released by the removal of these dams will be of a HUGE volume, some of these will be removed by the water treatment facilities. I need to do more research regarding the scope of the treatment facilities as I don’t yet understand how & where & for what uses the treatment facilities will be functioning.

There is an amazing diversity of monitoring and restoration projects directly & indirectly involved with removal of the dams. I have chosen & been assigned to work with a near shore project, working mostly with the Washington Dept. Fish & Wildlife under Anne Shaffer. Currently my group is monitoring the numbers of forage fish at several sites in the area. This monitoring has been done at many sites & assesses the health of fish populations, the information collected will be compared to reassessment post dam removal. Keep watching!

Well it’s been a busy week here in Port Angeles. Just learning the neighborhood, the Peninsula campus & people, organic chem, ecology (local & beyond) & about the Elwha.

I am very excited to join Anne Shaffer’s near shore team of REU students + Jenna, currently of the WDFW. Do I ever have a lot to learn about fish! & everything else!
We started meeting with the trying on of the dry suits (loaners from another project), this was a surprisingly entertaining endeavor, & another new experience for me. I started out feeling like an apple in an apple bobbing game or a maybe a buoy, & ended up feeling like I’d been shrink wrapped. Fortunately my suit did not leak, some did to different degrees. These will be used during snorkel surveys & seining. It will be challenging to swim in them; I will be in good shape & learning my fish species in a hurry!

On another note, I have been doing a bit of research on dams, mostly in the news. Just digesting some of the controversy that seems to surround just about every single one. It seems that the Elwha dams were at least somewhat controversial from the beginning. It has been interesting to check out various news items regarding the construction, demolition & everything in between of/ on dams around the world. Even the smallest dams, such as one on the Conewango Creek at Warren Pennsylvania, generate strong opinions. The pending removal of this low water dam seems to be opposed by some community members merely for aesthetic reasons. On the other hand the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam in Australia & Swarzeneggers new Sites (Sacramento River) & Temperance Flats (San Joaquin) dam proposals (http://wwwdwr.water.ca.gov/) are generating much opposition, mostly due to the anticipated environmental impacts. It seems that the human benefit of a dam has historically been viewed as being in direct conflict with the environmental harms. This attitude seems to have changed a great deal, especially in more recent history. The value of sustainable fish populations is being thoroughly reassessed, for both economic and environmental health. But still we see cases, as in Ca, where concerns regarding human water needs are being used to justify the construction of more barriers. Global climate change is being used as a rationalization in this case, which strikes many people as being very odd due to the anticipated negative impacts of these dams, & this coming from the Governor whose environmental stance is so well respected. It will be interesting to follow the progress of the Snake River dams that are currently in the news. I will continue to watch the pro & con arguments regarding this project.
Hasta luego! mel