Hope on the Horizon (or at least on the living expenses)

Well, I have got to say, things are looking up! This Friday I experienced my first taste of what working with a WDFW (that's Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to the layman) crew is like, and I have got to say, I'm hooked (no pun intended)! This Friday, myself, along with my two roommates, a classmate and WDFW biologist all went out and dragged nets around in the surf and adjacent waters to collect and measure salmon and other marine fish. This is, needless to say, what i would imagine heaven to be like (if my GF was along and there was maybe a computer around). It was great fun to don the full-body wet suit, grab the end of a 50 ft. seine and go frolicking in the waves and water! Not only was it fun to get, it is also essential to the restoration of the Elwah and Dungeness watersheds.

The data we collected on Friday will be interned into a large multi-year database on essential fish habitat and census. This is incredibly significant because it allows for biologist such as Anne Shaffer, our fearless leader, to make very good estimations on what the offshore stocks look like, where habitat is best suited for restoration work, and where work need not be done. With the removal of the Elwah dams in 2012 or so, it is important for us to understand where the fish are maturing, where their major food sources are, and what their competition or predation sources might be. It would be very bad manners to remove the two dams, only to have a mountain of sediment land on some of the most productive bodies of water in the whole watershed! In any case, i loved this Friday and will hopefully be able to continue with WDFW this whole year, though the all powerful $ will probably be the deciding factor, unfortunately. Well, more later, and I hope that everyone who's reading this is having a good day: D