The summer is just about over and school is starting again in a couple weeks. But what a summer it has been!

Just after school ended, I had the opportunity to go to the upper peninsula of Michigan to attend the International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM). Students and professionals from all over the world were in attendance. I got to go on a field trip hosted by the Keweena Bay Indian Community, who showed us around their fish hatchery, native plant greenhouse and garden, nursery, a restoration area that was a previous stamp mine dump site, and their dance ground. They were very hospitable and answered our (numerous) questions.

There were a lot of talks, on a wide variety of natural resource and human dimension topics, and the keynote speakers were extremely interesting. On the last day of talks we were eating lunch and looked outside; it looked like midnight. Then the wind came. Then lightening. Then torrential rain. I was one of the few (ahem, unwise) adventurers to walk the 10 minutes back to the afternoon talks through the brunt of the storm. I had to wring out my pants and still had my own personal puddle at the end of the talk. Ah, the Midwest. Despite that, we had a wonderful picnic on Lake Superior with one of the local delicacies: meat pasties. It’s like a hearty oblong meat pie, and is delicious.

I got to present my poster at the poster session, and had people from several countries as well as from the local Native American community asking questions. I had a particularly interesting conversation about the differences in the meaning behind “tribe” with a fellow from Africa.

The rest of the summer was quite busy as well, including helping a couple fellow students with field work, getting my field work off the ground, and a phone survey job that had me asking questions of Oregon residents on their opinions and knowledge of Oregon marine spatial planning and reserves.

Currently, I am traveling back and forth between Portland (my current home) and the Oregon coast conducting interviews with tribal members for my thesis. This is extremely exciting and is going extremely well so far.

The amount of work to get to the point of interviewing tribal members is a lot more than I initially thought. Each tribe is a sovereign nation, meaning in part that they each have different procedures and timing for approving any type of research. This is especially important when the research includes traditional knowledge, which is the topic of several of my interview questions. I have had to draw upon my experience working for a tribe prior to going to graduate school. There are extensive data protections that have to be put in place, as well as a sensitivity when interviewing tribal elders that can only be learned with experience. Nonetheless, I have found the experience to be a great learning experience and I look forward to continuing the project.

Since this is my last blog post, I would like to take the chance to express my tremendous thanks to Sea Grant for accepting me and my project into the Malouf scholarship program. The funding has made my graduate experience much more extensive, with being able to go to several local and one larger conference. The funding also allowed me to get the equipment needed for the interview set-up, as well as the travel up and down the coast for interviews, meetings, and trainings that helped make this project possible. I am also thankful for the connections that Sea Grant has made possible, which has made for a very rich networking experience. I highly encourage students to work with Sea Grant if at all possible for the opportunities this great organization offers.

Greetings all!

I can’t believe my first year as a graduate student is already done (at least for schoolwork). The last couple of months have been focused on getting methods, materials, and interview guides compiled and out for comments among a great group of fellow graduate students. Although there ended up being a slight re-adjustment to the aim of the study, it now reflects what is needed by the marine resource managers better than the original version.

Additionally, I was in a marine and coastal ecology class which had an awesome fieldtrip to the study site near Boiler Bay on the Oregon Coast. Below is a sampling of the awesome plants, animals, and everything in between we got to find while we were out there.

I was also continuing to share my thesis poster at both the Portland State University Student Research Symposium in early May.

And the Joint Campus Student Symposium, which combines Portland State University, Oregon State University, and University of Oregon. Portland had the honor of hosting this year in late May.

I am heading off to northern Michigan next week to the International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM) conference. They are incorporating a tribes component for the first time this year, which fit right into my focus. In addition to attending talks, networking, and showing my poster, there is also a field trip of a (lake) coastal restoration lead by a tribe. The conference itself should be very interesting, and I have never had the chance to set foot in Michigan before. All this to say I’m very excited for the academic and travel opportunity.

Next steps are mostly a full launch of the field studies for thesis work. With the warming days I’m anticipating excellent weather between Portland and the coast. More pictures to follow. Onward to the summer field season!

Sabra

Winter has been amazing in Portland. Growing up in an area on the northern California coast that is perpetually in rain or fog, the last couple years have been tough. Although the California drought was not as severe as further south, the unusual lack of moisture and hot, sunny days were unsettling, especially when the redwoods started shedding needles (even small branches) more than usual. So being further north in Portland where there was constant rain was comforting. Even though it did get wet enough for a couple mild flooding events, I was able to take comfort from the grey skies. But now spring is coming and I keep hearing about how colorful the spring bloom can be in Portland. And with the season change comes the field season.

Although a bit different from my original plan, I will start doing regular outreach for my thesis project starting in just over a week with the beginning of spring quarter. Originally I thought I would be doing this sooner, but after talking with some trusted cohorts and reading up on methods, I took this quarter to develop methodology. Collecting data via interview and participatory mapping to apply to natural resource management is still a newer and developing field. It is still somewhat experimental, and I wanted to make it easy for the interviewee to disseminate information. Talking about a place where you or a family member fished, hunted, or gathered is easy enough, but when you also have to place it spatially it gets a bit more tricky. Especially when you get down to coves so small there is no official name. Originally I thought I was going to be asking questions with a voice recorder, and handing over a tablet with an interactive map on it. But after reading through past projects and asking around with people that have done interviews before, I figured out this may be too much information and new tools at once.

Instead I am taking a step back from technology and going back to paper maps with 3-D topographic relief. These allow people to see the mountain ranges as a raised surface, much like you would mentally orient yourself on the ground instead of trying to interpret the landscape through flat topographic maps or on a tablet. I would be handling the tablet as I talk with the interviewee and making notes on a digital map, but the interviewee would not have to learn the software on the spot. I hope this would take some of the pressure off and make it a more relaxed setting.

That is just one portion of the project that has become much more concrete this quarter and the one that isn’t bogged down with lots of technical details. In the coming months as I am traveling back and forth from the coast I will try to remember to have my camera on me so I can share some of the gorgeous remote wilderness that makes up the Oregon coast.

I hope everyone can get outside and enjoy the coming spring.

Sabra Comet

Greetings!

I will try to keep the fall update condensed, as it was a very busy time of year.

I am one of the new Malouf scholars for the 2015-2016 cycle. Getting into the Masters of Environmental Management program at Portland State University was exciting enough, but being awarded the Oregon Sea grant Malouf Scholarship was even more cause for celebration.

The fall quarter was a whirlwind of activity. I moved to Portland in September from rural northern California. In addition to learning how to navigate a large city, I got to explore the wonderful outdoors including the coast around Astoria.

Once school started I focused on getting down a plan of action for my proposed project. I came up with a poster explaining the project I am hoping to complete that will gather Oregon tribes’ past and present use of marine species. Eventually I would like this to help inform the Marine Protected Area baseline. I took this idea in the form of a poster first to the State of the Coast conference in Coos Bay. In addition to the poster session I was able to talk to several professionals in the marine arena, including a representative from the Surfrider Foundation. He later asked me to present the same poster at the Land Sea Symposium in Yachats. At both of the conferences I was able to talk to a variety of professionals, and this has led to some opportunities to potentially participate in various projects and many wonderful contacts for future career development.

In accordance with a class I took at Portland State University, I have drafted a prospectus and have a clear plan for a time table and next steps for 2016, which will include a lot of outreach (especially with tribes) in the coming months.

Although it is currently raining/sleeting outside, I am looking forward to a proper winter with lots of outdoor activities. Wishes to all for a happy and productive 2016.

Sabra