Week Four: Bonneville Dam

Though this was a short week due to the 4th of July, it was a very busy and really fun week. On Monday, Claudia returned from her week off, and so I brought her up to speed on my project's progress. I then helped her prepare for our sampling trip to Camas to collect water and nutrient samples from the Columbia. I am definitely getting comfortable with the field work we are doing and really enjoy our time on site. After we got back from sampling, I helped to process the samples and analyze the nutrients. I then finished out the day by picking through some samples looking for chironomids.

On Tuesday, most of the undergraduate interns went on a field trip to the Bonneville Dam. We took a tour of the Dam and it was really incredible. Because my project is studying the effects of the dams on the river, it was very interesting and relevent to learn more about how the dam operates. I learned about the fish ladders, which allow fish to move through the dams more easily, and about how the dams also negatively affect animals like lamprays and sea lions. We also made stops at the Vista House, Multnomah Falls, and the fish hatchery, all of which were very fun destinations. It was an absolutely fantastic day.

I spent all of Wendesday finishing picking though the May and June samples looking for chironomids, and am now completely done! (Until the July samples get here). We will be getting more vegetation tows on Monday and Tuesday, so it is good that I am caught up on my samples. Because we will be collecting samples all of Monday and Tuesday, I spent Friday packing for those trips, making sure that we had all neccessary supplies both for getting samples, and also for processing them in the field. Looking forward to our two-day sampling spree next week!