Category Archives: Uncategorized

Coos Bay, OR IN, Pawnee

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Last week I talked plenty about my first impressions of Coos Ba(e) so I think I’m going to use the time this week to discuss my job, the workplace, and my project for the summer. So the main focus of my project is to acquire and compile professional images of the South Coast of Oregon to be used for marketing purposes. Currently, I’m assisting in a Travel Oregon grant with the city of Gold Beach to hire some local photographers to complete a photo project that seeks to highlight the “dopeness” of the South Coast (not actual quotes from contract). The grant has specific images that they want to capture but the main subject matter focuses on outdoor recreation, natural features, and wildlife characteristic of Oregon’s South Coast. Steps to getting the ball rolling have involved looking through a good amount of professional photographer websites, writing up contracts, and making calls to as well as meeting the photographers. It’s awesome to look at the different styles of all these photographers and kind of determine based on that whether they could really capture what we’re looking for with the project. If they’re within our budget is also kind of an important deciding factor. But yeah, this aspect of the job has been pretty sweet for sure.

Miles about to send that dimpled ball to school

 

Another pretty sweet part of the position is being able to meet and connect with people I never would have met in a thousand years. For instance, last Friday, my boss Miles and I visited the La Kris Inn in Bandon to meet with the owners who also happen to be photographers, Susan and Steve Dimmock. What was supposed to be a short business meeting turned into a three hour meet and greet with a side of business. They were disgustingly kind, their inn is really cute, and their photography is dope! They will be taking pictures for us for the Photo Project and I will possibly be able to join them for a few nights to watch them do their thing, so I’m super stoked for that. If you got time you should definitely check them out at http://www.susandimock.com/ and  http://www.stevedimock.com/. On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to play my first ever game of golf at the Bandon Dunes Golf Reserve. Tim Scahill, the Digital Marketing Specialist of the reserve, took Catie, Miles, and I out of the office for a few hours to slap a few dimpled balls. I sucked immensely but it was still great fun getting to know Tim and the view was spectacular. But yeah, there’s a good amount of socializing amidst all this work which is something that I really enjoy.

 

Since starting the job two weeks ago we have had a wild amount of meetings (11 to be exact). And I’m not just talking about meetings with like two or three people, I’m talking full conference room, Parks and Rec-esque meetings that usually have a wide variety of individuals ranging from Oregon Fish & Wildlife to mountain-biking clubs. Literally, the first day after meeting Miles, Catie and I sat in on a meeting for the South Coast Tourism Steering Committee. This committee is comprised of individuals from a number of different organizations, all with the intent on promoting tourism for the South Coast. An hour into that meeting and I realized that I was in the show Parks and Rec and that Miles was a less-stached Ron Swanson. I guess that makes me Tom Haverford? But yeah, while these meetings can sometimes be lengthy and I might not be as informed about the topic of debate as the other characters, they are extremely enriching because it makes me realize just how many people from different walks of life/areas of expertise/job positions it takes to help solve relevant issues. Everyone’s voice and perspective is unique and needed. Don’t you forget that!

Parks & Rec doesn’t have conference rooms like this

On a separate note, yesterday was Independence Day. The Fourth of July has never really been a favorite holiday, mostly because I would spend the majority of my summers in Germany where they surprisingly weren’t too into the whole fireworks/”I love America” scene. Last year’s 4th was the first one I had spent in the US in many years and it made for a pretty awful day so needless to say I was skeptical about how this 4th would fare. Well, I’m happy to tell you that the day was dope. Now that I’m a working stiff I don’t really have the luxury of sleeping in so I made sure to make the most of my day off by lying in bed till a hefty 10:30am. I bought a grill here recently so I figured Independence Day was as good a day as any to test it out. I invited over the other SeaGrant scholars in the area. They cruised over with some of their friends and we just listened to The Growler’s City Club and ate some lowkey bloody burgers (it was my first time grilling give me a break). But it was still tasty! One of my personal goals this summer was to become a Grill Master and while I’m a long shot away from even being called a Grill Padawan it’s nice to have finally started this flavorful journey. Later in the evening our little group made its way to Bastendorff Beach where we set up a bonfire and just enjoyed the rogue fireworks show put on by all the loose, lit locals. I had never experienced fireworks like that in my life. Literally every minute from 8-11pm, I was twisting and turning my neck so as not to miss even one of the countless fireworks that were being sent off up and down the coast. At one point I walked down the beach just to take it all in. People were drunk and happy, their unintelligible voices drown out from the constant scream of fireworks. Colorful lights sporadically spattered across the sand, giving details to the dark for just a few short seconds. If there was ever a time where I felt like I was no longer in California, I would say it was at that moment.

Sunset on Monday night at SWOCC

Bing, Bang, Booms @ Bastendorff

THANKS CATIE FOR THE DOPE PIC

The Value of Human Interaction

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Port Orford

Neal and Zach perfecting the ODFW sign at the Port Orford barbecue on June 25, 2017.

This week was a testament to the value of human interaction. We began our escapades at the dock of Port Orford in southern Oregon. Three coolers of burger patties, rockfish, and Coca-Colas later, we had ourselves a barbecue! After a mad dash for pastries and slaw, the Marine Reserves team from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) gathered together to talk with local fishermen. Over burgers, I heard the story of one couple that I found especially exceptional.

Michelle

Michelle and her husband were new to Port Orford and happened to be out on the sea for the day. When they returned to the dock, they saw our gathering and stopped by. Having recently retired, Michelle found herself reaching out to the community to begin to engage and meet others around her. She shared that it was odd to go to the grocery store and not hear a single hello or partake in a conversation with a neighbor, as she once had experienced in her hometown in California. As we chatted, I found hope in her story. Through her love for nature and concern for ocean preservation, Michelle found friendships within our tent. I watched as a group of people breached social barriers and connected in their mutual interest in science, food, and marine conservation.

Sarah and Jaqui at the Port Orford barbecue on June 25, 2017.

Later that night as we gathered for science at the pub, I saw Michelle once again. After a few rounds of scientific bingo and facts about rockfish, Michelle introduced me to her husband. They informed me that they had signed up as volunteers and would now be involved with the Redfish Rocks Community team, working towards ocean preservation. I left Port Orford the following day with a pleasant reminder that social science and human interaction plays an important role in the natural sciences and conservation.

Garibaldi 

Flag from the Port of Garibaldi on June 27, 2017.

What was that count again? Over 100 people showed up at our Garibaldi barbecue! There wasn’t a moment to spare between wrapping fish boats and restocking patties as our grill master cooked up a storm. Once again the significance of communication was the spotlight of our event, as fisherman and community members shared with us their thoughts on the marine reserves. As you may recall from my last post, the focus of this summer is to study the socioeconomic effects that the implementation of marine reserves may have had on surrounding fishing communities. This event was the ideal example of varieties of feedback, valued equally in an open space. By encouraging communication of all kinds, we are able to better balance preservation efforts with human need for resources. As I am learning repeatedly this summer, resources continue to be limited as populations grow. Whether addressing economic or marine preservation topics, finding an equilibrium is key in creating effective change.

Humbug Mountain State Park

Humbug Mountain State Park.

Did you know that people who frequently experience a sense of awe report higher life satisfaction? Though this fact may seem obvious, it can easily be overlooked. Humbug Mountain State Park boosted my life satisfaction by miles.

Sparse pink flowers in the sunlight.

The variety of ferns, mosses, and trees kept me constantly amazed. Perhaps I was a botanist in another life. I’d like to close this week by sharing photos from our hike. Seeing this kind of beauty makes it difficult to keep experiences all to yourself.

Photo by Neal Tyson.

Until next time, Sarah Ann Coffin

 

Week 2: On the Road

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I have begun my experiment. To tell the truth, it is not a glamorous affair. It wasn’t even my idea, though I wish it was. It consists of nothing more than 5 gallon plastic jugs, black plastic, duct tape, and several HOBO U26 dissolved oxygen data loggers. The idea came out of a planning meeting where the desire to get more precise measurements of microbial production in the rivers flowing into Tillamook Bay was one of many topics discussed. The method proposed was to incubate samples of water in the dark for a period of time, and measure the change in dissolved oxygen from start to finish. Any decrease in the oxygen level should be the result of organisms in the water respiring, eating or decomposing organic material in the water.

It is important to know how bacteria change the conditions of the water, changing the amount of nutrients that flow into the bay and the concentrations of both oxygen and carbon dioxide. The ocean is warming and becoming more acidic, bringing increasingly acidic water into the bay with every incoming tide. The nutrients that flow into the bay from the surrounding watersheds lead to increased bacterial growth that close the oyster beds in the bay to harvesting, as well as further acidifying the waters, as dissolved carbon dioxide increases in the water as bacteria release it as a waste product of their metabolic processes and it reacts with water to form carbonate, bicarbonate or carbonic acid. The relationship between higher nutrient inputs into marine waters from terrestrial systems and increased acidification is not just a bay or estuary problem, but a coastal problem as well. The EPA, along with the Navy and many other players, hope to assemble the big picture of how Tillamook Bay works with respect to all of these issues so that the people of the region can better plan for climate change and mitigate potential problems, as well as improve the health of the ecosystem and the lives that depend on it.

There was a considerable debate about how best to go about incubating the water and how to measure oxygen changes in a scientifically valid manner. The issue with the incubation lies in the transporting of the water to the lab. Changes to the temperature of the water will effect the solubility of oxygen in the water, as well as the rate of production of bacteria, affecting the results. Maintaining water samples at a constant temperature remains impractical and a concern, but a greater concern is with the Winkler method. The Winkler method is a method of analysis that allows for measuring the dissolved oxygen at a single point in time, but not continuously, but the measurement can be more precise than that of a datalogger. It was proposed that only initial and final oxygen measurements would be used to determine the total change in a sample, and the incubation period would be short, a few hours at most. As the experiment was discussed, it became apparent that such a short period of incubation may not adequately capture microbial growth, and that a time series of measurements would be the only valid method of determining a rate of microbial production. Thus, the 5 gallon jug trials, to gather a time series, determine a proper incubation period, and as a basic proof of concept.

Friday we drove to Tillamook and collected samples, though not as many as we had planned to. We are also evaluating an alternate incubation method using 2 gallon ziplock freezer bags kept dark in a cooler. The samples have been incubating all weekend. On Monday I will download the data from the loggers and see what there is to see. I may even have a graph or two to share next time!

Thrown into the Lion’s Den: Hot topics and even hotter dogs

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Week 2

Neal Tyson

Pictures to be added soon

Following the success of the Port Orford Red Fish Rock Marine Reserve BBQ with a side of SCIENCE (that’s a mouthful), we were in high spirits going into the next outreach event. The next BBQ with a side of science was to be held at the Garibaldi port. We were there to again talk about and answer questions surrounding the local reserve, in this case the Cape Falcon Marine Reserve. However, before heading out we were warned that we might not have the same warm reception as the previous event.

 

Some background info:

The implementation of the marine reserve started in 2011 with the initial talks of where they might be established. As with any talk about closing off areas for economic use, there was some tension right off the back. Many of the coastal communities rely on fishing as a primary source of income and very few were happy to hear talk about a marine reserve. Port Orford was different as they believed this change may be for the best and after community discussions established their reserve in their second best fishing grounds. Garibaldi was different. The Cape Falcon marine reserve was the hottest contested marine reserve (that was established, others did not make it). In order for the reserves to be accepted and established a majority of the population had to vote for it, many of the commercial and recreational fishermen believed that the voting had been rigged against them by environmentalists and those “from the valley” (people from inland where the majority of the political power and population are from). That being said, not all fishermen were against the reserve. Most fishermen are environmentalists at heart and care very much for the sea, however being told what to do and limiting their options for income when money is already tight is always hard. After long discussions the reserve was established off of Cape Falcon in 2016. It was the last marine reserve established and done 4 years after Red Fish Rocks.

Oddly enough the Cape Falcon Marine Reserve was not a traditional fishing ground and very rarely did anyone fish there. The fight became more a symbol of people not in the industry telling fishermen what to do rather than an effort to establish a functional reserve.

 

Knowing this, we figured that the BBQ would probably not bring in many people and if we did, we would probably get some heated questions. With out enthusiasm still high we were ready to forward those heated questions onto our superiors! In all seriousness we wanted those heated questions, we wanted fishermen to bring their questions so that we may explain any misconceptions that they may have about the reserve. We were also welcoming the general public and encouraging everyone to come and get involved with the reserves research program. We had just finished our hook and line, scuba and long line surveys in the Spring but we were letting everyone know we were coming back in the Fall.

We set up at the cross roads before the docks and began grilling up. We expected to start seeing people at around 1, an hour after we started at 12. But by 11 we already had 15 people asking about our programs, we hadn’t even started serving food yet! We expected less than 15 and in total we had over 100 people show up with just under half being commercial, recreational and charter fishermen! Conversation about the reserve was flowing faster than the food. We had to make 2 trips to the local store to pick up more hamburgers. We had more sign ups for the reserve e newsletter than any out reach events. The word kept spreading as fast as their interest. They were curious to see how they could get involved and if we had seen any differences yet. I’ve never handed out more Marine Reserve Stickers and swag in my entire life, highlight reel moment for sure. The hardest part was trying to stay neutral and not spread how positively we felt about the reserve (as a government agency we cannot formally promote how we feel about the reserve). But, hey its good practice!

 

It was a huge success and the biggest turn out we had ever had (granted we’ve been here for 2 weeks and only been to 2 events, BUT STILL). In all it was an amazing experience and I’m super stoked to have been a part of it.

Another post about mud and seagrass

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As many of my fellow interns and Hatfield summer inhabitants have heard, I dedicated a majority of this past week to the task of scraping mud off of grass. The scientific version of this activity is “processing seagrass for morphological data and epiphyte biomass.” However, I was essentially scraping mud off of grass.

Seagrasses are a diverse group of vascular flowering marine plants that are more related to terrestrial grass than any of the photosynthetic organisms in the sea. For a quick history of earth’s plants: in the Precambrian time period, the first plant life began in the ocean, by the Silurian period some these organisms had migrated onto land and were evolving as land plants. Fast forward to the Cretaceous period (about 100 million years ago), and some land plants were re-invading the ocean. Today, the ancestors of these invaders are mangroves and seagrasses. Fundamentally, seagrass is a terrestrial grass that no longer lives on land.

Seagrasses are distributed around the world in tropical, temperate, and even sub-polar environments. As primary producers that grow in high density, similar to terrestrial grasses, seagrasses are the foundation species of seagrass habitats. They add oxygen to the water, attenuate wave energy, trap sediment, and act as a nursery for many marine species. Although often outcompeted by other stable environmental states such as coral reefs and kelp forests, seagrasses are present in nearly every coastal region around the world, answering the primary question to the work I have been doing “Why study seagrass?”

Now for the next question “Why scrape mud off of seagrass?” What I was actually doing was scraping the epiphytes (organisms that grow on top of another organism in a non-parasitic manner) off of the seagrass. The epiphytes provide surface area for the mud to stick to, making the blades (and my fingers) very muddy. For clarification, I did also gently rinse the blades to remove any outstanding mud and sediment clumps. Epiphytes are viewed as an indicator of nutrient levels (more epiphytes= more nutrients) as well as provide insight into the state of the ecosystem. Epiphytes are beneficial as they are a food source for primary and secondary consumers, but also pose the disadvantage of competition for nutrients and light to the seagrass.

After scraping off the epiphytes, I would dry the mud/epiphyte concoction to remove the water and obtain mass, and measure the length of width of the seagrass samples. The seagrass that I was processing was from multiple bays in the Pacific Northwest, each with three different treatment environments of: seagrass bed, oyster aquaculture bed, and edge between aquaculture and seagrass beds. The variation (or lack thereof) of epiphyte mass and seagrass size will give us insight into the type and level of impact that oyster aquaculture has on seagrass and the local ecosystem.

This project is one that I am truly excited to be a part of. I am using research to better understand how humans are impacting the environment, am learning first-hand from other ecologists about the local ecology and aquaculture methods, and am realizing my dream of improving the environment through research. Although I joke about doing the stereotypical “intern grunt-work” with grass and mud, this internship has only confirmed my career choice. I would much rather be spending my internship and summer handling grass and mud than sitting in front of a computer all day.

An example of how the seagrass beds look here in Oregon estuaries

 

 

Special thank you to my professors Dr. Fong and Dr. Willette for teaching me about the world of seagrass. All information in this blog post was provided from their lecture material.

Barbecues, Burgers, and Beach Volleyball

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There seem to be two key factors that go into the field of conservation. First is finding/studying what it is you believe needs to be conserved. Second is convincing everyone else why the heck it’s such a big deal. I’ve always envisioned myself working primarily on the first side. I’m more scientific than social, a nerd, if you must. Yet this week I spent almost the entirety of my time working on the second side of conservation. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Reserves Program hosted several community outreach events across the coast, and my fellow interns and I were lucky enough to tag along for all of them! Remember that painfully clichéd “in the world of marine biology you either sink or swim” pun I made at the end of my last blog post? I hate to bring it up again, but it became even more appropriate during these outreach events.

First of all, as I mentioned earlier, this was basically my first experience on the outreach side of conservation. To add to that, at the time of the start of the first event, I had been in Oregon for exactly one week. Yet there I was preparing to act as a representative of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. I think I was justified in feeling a little bit intimidated. Our first event was a community barbecue in the town of Port Orford, which sits on the shore of Oregon’s first marine reserve (Redfish Rocks, look it up, it’s beautiful). Port Orford is a tiny fishing town with a lot of people who know way more about Oregon’s fish than I do, so I knew I had to be careful or I could talk myself into uncharted waters very quickly. But it’s not too difficult to talk to people about something when it’s something that you A) are knowledgeable of and B) really care about. Luckily, I know a few things about fish and marine conservation, and I care a lot about both.

Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve

The only stumbling block I encountered was my shoddy grasp on Oregon geography. I met people from Netarts, Yachats, Gold Beach, Brookings, etc. and I did a lot of smiling and nodding along, pretending like I knew where any of those places were. With the help of Google Maps, I eventually looked up all the towns I heard, and I was amazed at how far some people had come! The people of the Oregon coast (or at least those I have met so far) are impressive in their appreciation for our natural resources. Our main purpose for outreach was just to inform the public about who we are and what we’re doing in their oceans. Some who came were more interested in the free food than the free science, but it was remarkable how many were genuinely interested in the marine reserves and our monitoring methods. In Port Orford, our event attracted about 40 community members (quite impressive when you consider the town’s population is barely 1,000). That same evening we hosted a “Science at the Pub” event at a restaurant in Port Orford where we played Marine Reserves Bingo. Again we were able to get our message out to a lot of people. Port Orford was a huge success.

My fellow interns and I spent the next day hiking and snorkeling all in the name of collecting footage for the marine reserves image database (what a great job).

Hiking Humbug Mountain in the name of work

Then we were on the road again, this time up north to Garibaldi on the Tillamook Bay. Cape Falcon Marine Reserve, 10 miles north of Garibaldi was the most recent addition to Oregon’s protected waters, and we expected a different reception there than the one we received in Port Orford. The process of establishing Cape Falcon Marine Reserve was met with much greater resistance than Redfish Rocks. You wouldn’t have believed that though if you attended our barbecue in Garibaldi. We hosted over 100 people (in a town under 1000!) and had to run to the store to avoid running out of burgers. Not only were the numbers impressive, but the people of Garibaldi were eager to talk. I must’ve talked to two dozen different people about the marine reserves and explained what a SMURF is at least 10 times. There was even an incredibly friendly couple who expressed interest in the Sea Grant program and asked me for the address to this blog, which I was more than happy to provide (If that couple is reading this now, hello! Thanks for stopping by!). I shared info about the marine reserves and in return I learned so much about the history of Garibaldi, Tillamook Bay, and the state of Oregon. It was truly a fantastic experience. My hope is that our outreach events got at least a handful of citizens earnestly thinking about the future of Oregon’s coast, how they want that future to look, and how they might contribute to working towards it. That’s all I can ask.

Garibaldi barbecue after the rush had died down

This man knew everything there was to know about the history of Garibaldi. I was happy to listen.

After the outreach events I had a significant amount of downtime which I filled with hiking, biking, reading, running, and learning the real rules of beach volleyball. Concerning volleyball, one of the REUs living here actually told me “for someone so talented, you really don’t know anything”. I chose to take it as a compliment. Two weeks in, my experience in Oregon just keeps getting better. It won’t all be beach volleyball and barbecues I’m sure, but I’ll live with it.

Happy Hikers at Cape Perpetua

Week 2: Mud and Eelgrass

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This week, green crab monitoring was in full swing. We sampled across five different sites throughout the South Slough, setting 12 crab traps at each site. Everything went pretty smoothly—except for getting stuck to the mud up to our thighs at one point. We had been warned about the mud here, but we were not quite ready for what that could actually entail. As I walked toward the small stream of water still remaining at low tide, my boots started sinking more and more into the mud until I was up to my thigh. Another intern came over to help, and then she got stuck too. We were eventually able to get our feet out of our boots and army-crawl out, and then had to dig our boots out as well. My entire lower body and arms were covered in thick, sulfurous mud. I wish I had pictures, but we were too covered in mud to touch our phones. It was all worth it, though; so far, we’ve caught green crabs at every site, for a total of about 40 crabs across all sites. In the other side of Coos Bay, they have been even more abundant this year. Another researcher caught over 100 green crabs within one day. As we continue to re-sample sites throughout the next few weeks, we will be able to more accurately compare their abundance to previous years and provide a more complete assessment of the population trend.

Because green crabs will be a majority of my time here and I will be writing about them frequently, I thought I would take a digression and also write about an eelgrass research project that I assisted on this week. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a seagrass that can form dense beds along bays and estuaries. These beds provide important habitat and nurseries for many shellfish and fish and provide feeding ground for birds and other wildlife. Eelgrass has been declining throughout the United States, with various natural and anthropogenic causes: nutrient runoff, invasive competitors, shellfish harvesting practices, rising temperatures and sea levels, and eelgrass wasting disease.

Researchers from Oregon State University are conducting a multi-year study on eelgrass decline along the Oregon coast, including sites in Coos Bay. We took a boat out to two sites with dense eelgrass beds. We then navigated to approximately 40 randomly selected GPS coordinates throughout the site. At each GPS point, we counted the number of eelgrass shoots within a .25x.25 m square (called a quadrat) and collected a single eelgrass shoot and all of the algae present within the quadrat. These samples of eelgrass and algae will be processed later for various measurements, including quantifying the biomass and the number of epizoa (animals living on the surface of the eelgrass). Even just spending a few hours in the eelgrass beds offers a glimpse of how much life they can support. We saw baby starfish smaller than a pinky nail clinging to eelgrass, countless shellfish and crabs, and birds such as gulls, cormorants, and even a few Great Blue Heron out on the eelgrass beds at low tide, searching for food. It was a beautiful place to spend some time doing research.

 

The eelgrass bed site (called Clam Island) that we sampled at low tide. At low tide, the eelgrass is matted down as the water recedes. But as the tide rises, the water will allow the eelgrass to lift up, and it will more resemble a forest of grass.

Another intern and I counting eelgrass shoots at one GPS coordinate at Clam Island. The white square is called a quadrat: at each GPS coordinate, the number of eelgrass shoots within the quadrat were counted and algae and eelgrass from within the quadrat were collected.

Me standing at the edge of Clam Island where the water is starting to come back in as the tide rises. (My eyes are open this time!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More information about eelgrass:

http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/abouthabitat/eelgrass.html

Coos Bay or Coos Bae? I guess we’ll see in 10 weeks…

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Well it’s taken a week but I feel as if I’m finally settled in here. I’ve bought groceries twice now, I’ve put a few posters on my wall, and I’ve even gone camping in the forest already! Despite how “at home” I may feel, this place is quite opposite from Southern California. Tall palm trees have been replaced by thick pines, filling up my car has become somewhat of a less bourgeois valet service, and the beautiful variety of skin colors so representative of the SoCal community have been replaced by white, white, and more white. Ahhh, ‘merica. But what the Oregonians lack in diversity they make up for with genuine kindness. We had the day off on Wednesday so I took the time to check out the Farmer’s Market in downtown Coos Bay. I’ll tell you that was the best first impression I have gotten from any town in my 22 years of life.

Coos Bay Farmer’s Market

Perusing the local goods was enjoyable, not because of the food and new sights but because of everyone’s patience and kindness. Instead of just telling me about their product, vendors would ask where I was from and ask how I was liking Oregon, where I would reply with “Dude I’ve been here for a day, give it a rest” (of course I didn’t say that but that would be pretty wild if I did huh?). Well towards the end of the market my attention shifted towards an old-timey tea stand painted white and aquamarine with a tea-lady whose dress matched her stand. I was going to purchase a refreshing iced tea but decided against it last minute because I had already spent more than I probably should’ve. Instead of getting annoyed that I had backed out of a purchase so late in the game, Tea Lady gave me a free iced tea! What a gal! Happily zipping my raspberry-lemon tea, I checked out the nearby skate shop/thrift store called TimeBomb. I had briefly checked it out the day before with Catie so after another brief run through their goods I decided to move on, but just before I walked out I noticed there was a staircase leading to who-knows-where. So, naturally I went upstairs to see what was good, and man, I am glad I did  because I ended up walking into an iPhone repair shop (my iPhone’s camera has been broken for months). Well, after a few minutes of jibber-jabber, Good Guy Terry fixed up my iPhone’s camera in 10 minutes, charging me a grand total of $20, which was $50 cheaper than if I would’ve gone to Apple. After the deal was all done, he even threw in a free charger. What a guy!

Tea Lady’s reflection (I should really get her name next time)

After that I continued to walk around some more till I ended up in this wine shop which oddly smelt like my old trumpet teacher’s practice room. Almost immediately, the woman who owned the shop walked up and greeted me. Tamara was a portly woman, probably in her early 50s, with long brown hair and a subtle but noticeable accent that I couldn’t quite identify. I told her I wasn’t looking for anything to buy but was new in town and just was checking out what the town was about. She saw me looking at the map of the Bay Area (nope, not SF, Coos Bay County is the Bay Area of Oregon) and shuffled over to help point out a few things. Eventually Tamara took me to her back room where she had a less jumbled map (refer to image below for jumbled map). There she gave me information about the layout of the town and the larger region, pointing to areas where I could camp along the coast. After telling me that I could get the same map by checking out the Chamber of Commerce across the street, I figured it was time to take my leave. But as I walked away Tamara must’ve noticed the Germany patch on my backpack because she excitedly exclaimed “Ahh Deutschland!” before adding some German words to the mix. And it’s funny because the entire time we were talking I was wondering where her accent was from and it took her to speak German to realize she sounds exactly like Petra (you don’t know her but she’s a dear family friend and a wonderfully quirky German lady). I was shocked! I immediately replied to her in German and I can confidently say that she was more shocked than I was. Well, Tamara and I talked for another 20 minutes, switching back and forth between German and English with her sometimes correcting (okay it was frequent) my out of practice grammar. She told me about how she immigrated here from Stuttgart in 1971, why she prefers growing plants in pots rather than gardens, and how her health hasn’t been as good as it could be these days. At one point I almost teared up because it was such a beautiful moment and it made me miss my Oma and Opa and sister and mother and the rest of my family overseas. Tamara noticed and gave me a comforting embrace. She then told me to go on my way because I’m a young man and shouldn’t be wasting my afternoon talking to an old woman. But she gave me her card and told me I should return and that I should come by and have dinner with her and her husband at their home one day. I walked out of there knowing that I would be back again soon.

Jumbled Map of OR Bay Area

Well, I checked out a few more shops after that and while no interaction was as special as the one with Tamara, everyone was disgustingly nice and very open to having a friendly, engaging conversation. I know it’s only been a week, but I like it here in the South. I know I haven’t described what I will be doing for the summer at all but I figure there will be plenty of more posts for that kind of thing. I can tell you it is incredibly dope and that I am extremely excited to see what comes of the next nine weeks, both personally and professionally.

Coquille River Falls chillin’

Red Fish Rocks Outreach Event

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Blog week 1

 

The first week of an internship is always interesting. Meeting (and forgetting the names of) countless people, events loaded with free food and really getting to know the ropes of the work you’ll be doing for the rest of the summer. For the next 10 weeks I will be working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in their marine reserves department. My job will be to assist in the communications and outreach programs. This includes going into the field to record what the science team is doing and communicating it in a way that the public will understand what they are doing and why it is so important to be doing this monitoring work. We will also be following the human dimensions team as they implement their surveys to learn more about the publics’ opinions on the reserves so that we can better serve the public. Our main message channels include all types of social media, town hall events and community engagement events. One of which we will be going to this weekend in Port Orford! It is a BBQ (with a side of science) where anyone can come and ask us anything about the science, marine environment, reserves, etc. Port Orford is located right next to the Redfish Rocks marine reserve, the first marine reserve established in Oregon. The community is very interesting as they were the ones who suggested that a marine reserve be established. Other communities have fought the marine reserves when proposed by the state. The Oregon coastal communities have been hit extra hard by the economy and with many relying on commercial fishing as the source of income, a marine reserve does not sound like the ideal situation. Port Orford was in the same boat, a heavily fishing town that whose economy was hurting. However, instead of fighting the idea of a marine reserve, they welcomed it seeing the possible long-term benefits of protected waters for fisheries as well as possibilities for increased tourism.

 

This weekend’s event is aimed at answering questions that fishermen and locals still have about the reserve. It will also give them a chance to find out about how they can get involved in the research and feel like they are part of the reserve. For fishermen we have hook and line surveys they can participate in as well as SCUBA surveys if they are qualified scientific divers. We will be having a BBQ lunch in the afternoon where they can ask us any questions, pick up fliers and sweet marine reserve swag. In the afternoon we will have a pub science bingo game to spread more knowledge about the reserve. The bingo sheets are loaded with fish species, benthic species, research techniques, different habitats and facts about the reserves. All of these are related to the marine reserve that the public is connected to. Our marine science monitors are going to be presenting the bingo in an informational way. Science, bingo and a pub? There’s nothing better!

 

All of this is in partnership with the Port Orford Marine Reserve Community team. Their involvement has been huge for the implementation and communication about the reserves.

Week 1

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I’m happy to be back in Newport. Last summer I worked in the oyster culture laboratory at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Behind the oyster lab, in a mysterious concrete building, was the EPA, and I always wondered what they were up to. I only ever saw them washing off their boats in the yard. Now I know. The team I am working with includes chemists, computer modelers, engineers, biologists and other scientists. The facility is a top notch ecological research laboratory, and the project I will be helping out with involves gathering data on the water chemistry in Tillamook Bay in order to build a model of how the carbonate chemistry, pH and nutrients change over time in the Bay. This research will help all the stake-holders of Tillamook Bay better understand their waters and what to expect in the future as the climate continues to change.

I will also be helping on a related project involving the design and testing of a bag device designed to enclose a blade of living eelgrass in situ and monitor its rate of photosynthetic production and respiration by measuring changes in the gas concentrations in the water inside the bag. The bags currently being tested are the same bags that hold wine inside cardboard boxes at the store because the plastic is engineered to be impermeable to CO2, the gas of interest. I look forward to snorkeling over the eelgrass in Yaquina Bay, deploying and recovering these devices and refining the technique. I love what science can do with PVC, duct tape and plastic wine bags!

So far my time in the lab has been consumed by mandatory new employee training, tours, introductions and planning. I have also become intimately familiar with the EPA’s IT support process. I consider it a successful first week: I was assigned a computer, managed to gain full access to it within hours, assigned a custom password to it within days, AND got into their intranet training portal to access the mandatory training by day 4. Having worked for federal agencies in the past, this is lightning fast. I also received my first ID badge, featuring the mandatory unflattering picture, for which I am grateful and proud. Although it is just a temporary position, it feels good to be part of the EPA and an organization whose mission I can be proud of.

Next week I should get my first introduction to programming dissolved oxygen sensors, and hopefully go out on the water.