NOAA Coastal Management Fellow update

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Greetings,

It has been too long since my last post! I have been very busy here at the WA State Dept of Ecology with my Fellow’s project. I have made great strides creating Soft Shoreline Stabilization guidance for local jurisdictions in Puget Sound. I spent a long spring and summer writing, and my guidance is now undergoing review from local jurisdiction staff. It is very important to me that my audience, local jurisdiction staff, have the opportunity to review and comment on my guidance.

Creating this guidance has been a great learning experience, and I have had wonderful experience talking with local jurisdictions, state employees, and other stakeholders in soft shorelines. I am looking forward to wrapping up the review process, incorporating comments, and completing my guidance by Spring 2014! I am planning to spend my last couple of months as a fellow participating in outreach and training related to my guidance.

In addition to writing, I’ve also been able to attend forums, conferences, and other meetings where I have been a part of the soft shoreline discussion. Last week, I presented at the National Coastal Conference held by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. I also lead a field trip as a part of a training for real estate professionals on soft shorelines put on by the Coastal Training Program and Washing State University Extension in early October.

On a separate note, I, along with some partners at Oregon Sea Grant, were awarded a grant from OSG to create a mobile website that will host the NOAA Trust Species and Aquatic Pesticides Toxicity Database I created while completing my M.S. at OSU. It has been a great experience so far, and I’m excited that my database will be publicly available in a user-friendly format!

That is all for now. Next week I am attending the Coastal and Estuarine  Research Federation’s annual conference in San Diego. Hoping to catch up with some current and past OSG’ers while I’m there!

Until next time,

Kelsey Gianou

3rd Quarter Report

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With only a few months to go, I have a lot of work to do before the end of the year to make sure all of my projects get completed.

For OEM, I’ve been helping Cory Grogan (OEM’S PIO) create a social media policy document. Members of the community increasingly utilize social media, smartphones, and other electronic technology devices to access, capture, and share emergency information.  Therefore, OEM believes it is vitally important to also utilize these resources in case of an emergency in order to effectively engage with the public.  Being involved with social media is a key factor in terms of emergency resilience and preparedness. This document will describe OEM’s policy and procedures related to the use of social media.

For the Oregon Sea Grant, I’ve been helping Joe Cone (OSG’s Assistant Director) coordinate meetings with OSG staff members who are currently working on projects pertaining to Japan tsunami marine debris (JTMD), or marine debris in general.  The purpose of these meetings is to discuss the work each person is doing and discover whether there are any opportunities for collaboration.  For the next meeting, we will also be inviting external partners from OEM, NOAA, and Hawaii Sea Grant to discuss the marine debris work they are currently doing.

I’ve also continued to help the Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience (OPDR) coordinate meetings for the Coastal Community Resilience Network Pilot Project.  Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) received grant funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to implement a two-year pilot project that focuses on implementing a natural hazard risk-based approach to increasing community resilience known as RiskPlan. As a sub-recipient of funds under this DLCD-led NOAA funded project, the Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience (OPDR) generally provides research and technical planning assistance for risk, vulnerability, and resilience assessments. OPDR helps to co-chair the Resilience Technical Work Group and assist in the compilation and development of materials to be used in subsequent hazards and resilience planning efforts.  A major part of the project focuses on engaging with planners, policymakers, and community members from Oregon’s northern most county, Clatsop County.  Specifically, these meetings include planning commissioners, city administrators, and residents from the cities of Seaside, Cannon Beach, and Gearhart.  Using an USAID guide as a template, the purpose of these meetings is to build a resilience plan and social network that can be effectively utilized in the case of a natural disaster along Oregon’s coast.

Come back next month for updates on all of these projects.

Policy Update from Oregon Sea Grant’s West Coast Fellow

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Thus far, it has been a fascinating experience serving as a West Coast Sea Grant fellow for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD), and the Office of Governor Kitzhaber.

April 2013 was an important milestone for marine policy, with the issuance of the National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan. This national plan includes overarching, guiding principles for management decisions, with the ultimate goal of sustaining resilient oceans and coasts. In other words, the national plan helps guide decision-makers all over the country, at all levels of government, achieve ocean stewardship for years to come.

Successful ocean stewardship is no small feat. In-fact, it is an extremely complex undertaking involving many different ocean uses, both biological and anthropogenic, coupled with a wide diversity of stakeholders. The ocean is a very busy place. Oregon’s marine waters are used for shipping, fishing, research, along with many other activities, such as planned renewable energy development areas. Biologically, Oregon’s waters contain valuable resources, such as essential habitat, a large diversity of fish species, along with shellfish populations, kelp and eelgrass beds. Furthermore, our coastal ocean contains important shorebird foraging grounds and whale migratory routes.

One way to balance our natural resources with the range of ocean uses is through careful planning. A marine plan helps guide the use of Oregon’s ocean waters, similar to the way city planning guides land use in towns throughout the country. Oregon has been engaged in marine planning for over two decades and recently completed its inaugural marine spatial plan, an amendment to the Territorial Sea Plan, which was specific to marine renewable energy. One key component of a marine plan is spatially explicit data on ocean ecosystems and human uses. Oregon MarineMap was developed to help visualize all the uses and ecological functions that occur in our marine waters.

Many marine issues off Oregon are inter-jurisdictional. That is, they aren’t specific to Oregon, but impact the entire west coast. Some examples of these regional issues are: marine debris, climate change, along with sea level rise and ocean acidification. In 2006, the Governors of Washington, Oregon and California decided to form the West Coast Governors Alliance (WCGA) to address regional issues that have the capacity to negatively impact ocean health. The WCGA provides a platform for regional collaboration in order to address these issues. Action Coordination Teams were formed to serve as region-wide facilitation and coordination groups on specific ocean issues.

My role is to support the WCGA and associated Action Coordination Teams in order to further regional collaboration and sustainable ocean stewardship. Additionally, I am working to advance marine planning efforts in Oregon. It’s going to be a busy, but very exciting year!

This Is It!

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Well, this is it folks! My year as an Oregon Sea Grant scholar has come to a close. Between my last blog and now, I have made great strides in my work.

First off, the chemostat works beautifully! After many false starts, George is finally functioning as it should, readjusting the pH of the culture vessel by bubbling the media with CO2 gas. The LabVIEW program monitors and regulates everything, and I am going to write a function into it that will allow it to send a warning to my phone when something goes wrong, any time of the day or night (I’m not sure if I should be excited about this…).

Aided by my intrepid undergraduate intern, Maria, I ran an experiment this summer to test the effect that a range of pHs would have on saxitoxin production of A. catenella. I compiled growth data, PAM fluorescence data, ran numerous reactive oxygen species (ROS) assays to determine the level of physiological stress in the dinoflagellates, and ran an intracellular saxitoxin ELISA assay. I plan to do the extracellular ELISA in the very near future.

I am still in the process of data processing, statistical analysis, finishing the other ELISAs, doing back-up lab work, etc. However, I can tell you that my preliminary data processing seems to indicate that my original hypotheses are correct: stress induced by low pH is linked with increased saxitoxin production in A. catenella.

For the actual results – well, you’ll just have to read the papers.

I’ve learned a lot this year, and seen much work come to fruition that may not have been possible without this scholarship. I’m very blessed to have had the opportunity and ability to do this research. If the new Malouf scholars have as much fun as I did this year, they will count themselves lucky to be scientists. :)

The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of… Bubbling?

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NOTE – This entry was meant for posting in May. Please forgive the late entry.

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Happy Spring! When the flowers bloom… and so do the phytoplankton. :) 

I am in the rhythm of chemostat building and am proud to announce the creation of a necessary portion of my chemostat system: the Conditioning Electronically-Operated Relay Grouping (GEORG – “Sound of Music,” anyone?), affectionately known as “George.”

George was built over the course of two 16-hour days and boasts six independently-controlled solid-state relays. These relays will act as switches that will control the solenoid valves on the pneumatic manifold. In short, George will allow me to control the amount of CO2 gas that will be bubbled into the system to control the pH of the chemostat system.

A feature of George that I am particularly pleased with came from a suggestion that a family member made to “idiot-proof” the system. Thus, I customized George’s DB15 ports and Molex connectors so that they cannot be mixed up or connected to the wrong connector (which would render the system temporarily useless), or ports (which would short circuit poor George and cause a major setback – and possible a small fire).

But before I get too excited – George must be thoroughly tested and connected to both the pneumatic manifold and the Labview program – which is still in the de-bugging phase.

This has been an intense month as I build George and finish up the preliminary pH experiments on Alexandrium catenella. I have also been going through the process to select an undergraduate intern to help me this summer. I am excited, as this will be my first experience mentoring. I have narrowed the field to four possible interns, and will make my final decision this week.

Final Week

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I made it back to Michigan safely. It took three days, they were long days of driving.
I left Oregon through the gorge, the same way I arrived.  It was beautiful, as always; I can still see it in my mind’s eye.
From 84 I couldn’t see Bonneville dam but I was told though that the sea lions have already begun to return, as of three weeks ago.  It’s funny for me to think, had I not come to the dam last December I probably never would have come to Hatfield either.
I hope they’re all well, I miss them all already. I also miss the way the ocean smelled sometimes in the morning.
While at Hatfield I learned that being a practicing natural resource manager is a tough job.  I can see how it would suck the life from you over time.  Just like any hard work really, but doesn’t allow for the same rejuvenating connection to nature the way field biology does.  It’s an important job though and I’d like to thank those who do it.
Though I don’t think I will be pursuing a permanent position in outreach, I feel I am better equipped to actively integrate outreach and communication techniques into my research and other future endeavors.  Over the course of my summer I was exposed to three distinct forms of outreach and engagement; policy from Dr. Lubchenco’s speech at di Vinci days, public engagement at the da Vinci Days booth and outreach at the agency.   I was asked if I find myself drawn to one of form over the others and if I had to choose I would have to say public engagement at da Vinci days.  I liked being outside and teaching people, excited to learn new things.

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August at OBDD

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As I mentioned in July, the Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program (SRGP) is now being moved from the Oregon Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to the Oregon Business Development Department (OBDD), also known as Business Oregon.  For any questions regarding the SRGP, you can now contact the new Program Coordinator, Gloria Zacharias, at gloria.zacharias@biz.state.or.us.  Click here to read SB 813, which is the legislation that moved the SRGP from OEM to Business Oregon:  http://www.leg.state.or.us/13reg/measpdf/sb0800.dir/sb0813.en.pdf.

In support of Congresswoman Bonamici’s work to expedite federal funding for Japan tsunami marine debris cleanup projects, Senator Jeff Merkley recently announced plans to introduce a companion bill, which is also called the “Marine Debris Emergency Act.”  To read more, view this link: http://www.marinelink.com/news/introduce-emergency357933.aspx.

 

Back to Wisconsin

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Greetings from the heart of America’s dairy land, Madison, Wisconsin!  The past few days have been a whirlwind. I landed late in Milwaukee on Saturday night, and after a few days at work and a doctor and dentist appointment, I find myself back at the University of Wisconsin!

I am so glad to be back here in Madison, but I find myself already missing my friends and all the beautiful places from the west coast. It really was an experience that provided me with so much knowledge and lifelong friendships; two things that will serve me well in the future.

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This semester promises to be a challenging one but I am looking forward to it. I will be taking physics, two microbiology classes, a biochemistry class, and will be continuing with my mentored research of Lake Michigan. Aside from what I’m sure will be a rigorous class load, I have 7 Wisconsin Badger football games at Camp Randall Stadium to break up my studies. I’ve been itching to get back to jumping around, and singing “Sweet Caroline” along with 85,000 other crazy badger fans.

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There is still much to process from this summer. There are lots of notes to go through and I have many things to think about for grad school and my future. While there is much to do, I am so excited to see what my future holds and I know that this past summer was an amazing addition to that journey.

Again, I would like to thank everyone for all their support and guidance this summer. This is my last blog post as an Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholar, but hopefully I will be able to post some more reflections in the future! See you soon, and On Wisconsin!

Week Ten: It’s See You Later, Not Goodbye

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And that is all she wrote, folks. My time here in Oregon is up and I have headed back to the Midwest and have started my classes at Purdue. This summer has been a whirlwind of amazing experiences and opportunities that I will never forget. I have had the privelage to learn so much from some stellar biologists.

In my last week I had a perfect blend of desk work and field work. I spent a good chunk of my week consuming massive amounts of coffee and clacking away at my computer trying to put together my end of summer portfolio for Oregon Sea Grant. But I also had the opportunity to go out into the field with Scott one last time to dig up razor clams that would be sent off to be checked for acids that are not safe for human consumption. We check for this regularly in order to keep a close eye on the fishery.

On our way back from the field we passed Adam’s Point where we stopped to look at a dead sea lion that had washed up on shore. I had never been so close to a sea lion before—dead or alive—and I was thrilled to check it out.

Checking out the dead sea lion that washed up at Adam’s Point.

I also had the chance to go seining with Gary one last time; this time in Bandon on the Coquille River. I now understood my fellow Sea Grant Scholar, Catherine’s, complaints regarding the mosquitos. They were so thick you could see them hang in sheets in the air! The diversity and abundance was lower than in Coos Bay but we did catch a huge male Chinook salmon in our seine which more than made up for it!

A large male Chinook salmon we seined up in the Coquille River!

On Thursday I had to say farewell to Scott and all the other employees of the ODFW Charleston. Thank you everyone at the ODFW for making this summer so great! I was sad to leave, everyone in the office was so great to work with that I hated having to end my stay there.

One last day at my desk at the ODFW Charleston. Ahh, the clutter of a biologist!

That evening, a close friend of mine from OIMB, Theresa, and I drove up to Eugene for a short visit and then headed to Portland. I had never been to either city so it was awesome to get a look around. Theresa is a U of O student so I was lucky enough to get a full tour of the campus!

Visiting Hayward Field where they hold the Olympic trials for running events at the University of Oregon in Eugene!

We spent the evening and part of the next day, before my flight, in Portland and of course it was mandatory that we went to Voodoo Doughnuts!  The culture in Portland is unlike anything I have ever seen before. The people there are so quirky and friendly and the architecture could hold my attention for hours.

Pit stop at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland: donuts to die for!!!!

All too soon, Theresa dropped me to PDX and I had to say my final goodbyes to Oregon, a place I’ve come to think of as home. This summer I fell head over heels in love with this state and I know that I have not seen the last of it. Hopefully, I can attend grad school or even work there someday; it’d be a dream come true!

A few days after I had landed in Indiana, I received an email from Steven Rumrill who is the head shellfish biologist for Oregon. In this email he stated that the work Scott, Jim, and I had done would be used to settle some debate ongoing with the management of the Pacific heart cockle fishery in Netarts Bay, OR. I was ecstatic to see that work I had done myself being put to use out in the real world. What an opportunity!!

I would just like to say thank you to Sara Kolesar and Eric Dickey and all others involved with this program at Sea Grant! I would not have had this opportunity without you all. Also, thank you to my mentor, Scott Groth, who took time out of his—to say the least—busy summer schedule and for being an excellent and fun advisor. I learned so much from both Sea Grant and Scott this summer which I will carry with me as I finish up my last year, graduate from Purdue, and enter the workforce as a biologist.

The Sea Gant Summer Scholars program is truly one of a kind and if you are looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will leave you with lasting knowledge about the field of biology, look no further than this program, you will not regret a single moment.

And with that, I sign off. Here’s to the most amazing ten weeks ever. Cheers!

See you soon, Oregon!

My Last Week in Oregon

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Hello everyone! This is the final blog post I will be writing from Oregon! The past ten weeks have flown by in a way I could never have imagined. I’ve had the time of my life living on the Oregon Coast, and have learned an incredible amount of knowledge about estuaries and marine science during this brief time. I am incredibly grateful of everyone at the US EPA, Oregon Sea Grant, and the Hatfield Marine Science Center for all of the opportunities I have been presented with this summer.

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Last week, all of the Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholars presented our research at a symposium at the Hatfield Marine Science Center.  I found it to be very fun to present my work not only to those who helped me with it, but also to my friends and the whole of the Hatfield community.  It was a great feeling to summarize the huge amount of work I have done this summer and teach people about my research in the process. I also greatly enjoyed hearing about the research and work done by my fellow scholars, who are now my great friends.

The Oregon Sea Grant symposium was not the only presentation I gave. Earlier this week myself along with the other interns working at the EPA presented our work to all the EPA employees. After our presentation my mentor, Ted DeWitt, took us out to lunch and gave us a few awesome gifts to congratulate us on our hard work. It was a great way to wrap up my time at the EPA and say goodbye to the new friends I have made from working there.

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Aside from presentations, I have been working on my final portfolio for Oregon Sea Grant. Writing our reflection essay and putting together all the work I have done over the past 10 weeks really made me realize just how much I did this summer! It is both sad to see my work finish, but also impressive to look at it as a whole and to reflect on my whole summer experience.

Last weekend was a quiet one spent here in Newport. I went surfing on both Saturday and Sunday and had an amazing time both days. On Saturday we went out surfing in the late afternoon and as we finished up, we were able to watch the most beautiful sunset of the summer while sitting in the waves on our surfboards. That was definitely a moment I will cherish forever!

Tonight is my final night here in Newport and all of the interns will be going out to dinner and celebrating our accomplishments.  The the interns, faculty, and staff here at Hatfield have become a family to me and it certainly will be incredibly sad to leave them. I know that we will all keep in touch and I cannot wait to see where life takes all of the incredible friends I have made during my time here.

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I’ve had the time of my life here in Oregon! To any potential Summer Scholars reading this post and wondering if they should apply to the program, DO IT! You will not be sorry! I would like to thank everyone involved in my summer here and I am so grateful for everything!