Thursday, May 16, 2013

ISO Field Assistant



Identifying Sage Grouse Nesting and Brood-rearing Habitat on the Wild Horse Wind Farm and Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area, Ellensburg, WA

As many of you know, I am a graduate student in the Resource Management program studying sage grouse habitat on the Wild Horse Wind Farm and Whiskey Dick Wildlife Areas.  My field work is to begin mid-May and I am looking for one to two students interested in gaining some field experience.

In brief: my study is two-fold.  It will assess the area for sage grouse nesting and brood-rearing habitat.  It will also provide a comparison of an area that is grazed to an area that has not been grazed in 30+ years.  Methods will involve locating potential nest sites (one known location from 2007) and collecting vegetation data.  At these selected “nest sites” data
will be gathered at three spatial scales: site level (“nest site”), area level (20 meter transect), and patch level (100 meter transect). Vegetation cover, grass and shrub height, and visual obstruction will be determined using daubenmire frames (1-meter square at “nest site” and 100x50cm frames every 10 meters), a robel pole, and 100 meter transects North-South and 20 meter transects East-West.

Ideally, I will be going up twice a week, aiming for 2-3 sites in one day for a total of 20 sites (so 7 to 10 outings to Whiskey Dick Mountain depending on how smooth things run).  I imagine it will be about 6 hours of field work a day.  There will be some hiking involved.  Appropriate footwear and clothing would be essential.  Tick repellent and sunscreen!  Contact me if you are interested in spending some time in the shrub-steppe.  Who knows, cold beer could be involved!

Contact: Jessica Walling-Phillips
                wallingj@cwu.edu, wallingjess@gmail.com
                Dean Hall 362


Sunday, April 14, 2013

Schedule



Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
8:00 AM Work Office* Office* Work Work
9:00 AM Work Office* Office* Work Work
10:00 AM Office Office* Office* Office* Office*
11:00 AM Class Class Class Class Office*
12:00 PM Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch
1:00 PM Office* Ride Office* Ride Class
2:00 PM Office* Ride Office* Ride Class
3:00 PM Office* Ride Office* Ride
4:00 PM Office* Ride Office* Ride
5:00 PM
Office* to work on GIS,  Thesis, or study

Really?  Because this does not show that I'm juggling kids and thesis field work

Friday, September 14, 2012

Fire safety

When driving in dry grasslands, it is important to look for dried plants under your truck!  I will definitely be checking under my work truck after seeing this happen to a co-worker.  We didn't get there fast enough to prevent total engulfment.  It made for some Friday excitement and some education about "catostrphic converters," which get hot and can ignite any dry material stuck in the undercarriage.