Portland, OR
Elevation: 50 ft.

Just as job applications and a lack of general movement started to drive me completely crazy I managed to get out of the city and back into the country this weekend. The mission was northeast Oregon, more specifically, the John Day River. Since arriving in Oregon in April I have been traveling up and down and across this beautiful state and have nearly covered everything west of the cascades. Eastern Oregon had been shamefully neglected but I was going to make part of that right this weekend. Driving out of eastward out of Eugene Friday evening I was met with familiar sights as we passed through Blue River, Sisters and Redmond. I fell in love with central Oregon during my time at the H. J. Andrews and was eager to see more of the high desert landscape so characteristic of the state’s “dry side”.

My mission’s mission was to help Matthew Goslin, a PhD student at the University of Oregon, with his study on Torrent Sedge (Carex nudata) in the middle fork of the John Day River. He is working on determining the environmental drivers behind CANU distribution as well studying the sedge’s role as an ecosystem engineer. The study site couldn’t have been at a better location. Nestled south of the Blue Mountains, the John Day River winds its way through high desert and a complex history. Having been aggressively dredged for gold in the past, the John Day River has been on a path to recover as restoration projects in the Oxbow Conservation Area have begun to slowly and steadily reshape the river. Matthew’s study sites were located in this beautiful conservation area. 

My role was to assist Matthew with measuring and resetting erosion pins, essentially painted steel pins set into the banks of sections of the river, while his other assistants, Alex and James, photographed and TopConned the banks of other sections. Laying down the transect tape, Matthew and I walked along the river bank checking to see how much soil had eroded away from around the pin since the last measurement. It was an ingenious way to measure erosion and working along the cool river was a nice change. 

That night we returned to Boulder Creek Ranch for warm showers and warm food. I treated the crew to my famous (work in progress) Japanese curry couscous and kale.

The next morning ripped into my consciousness with a mix of redtails, horses, dogs and my phone blaring the Turnpike Troubadours. Located on a functional ranch, the Boulder Creek cabin that we stayed at was hands down the best deal for any adventurer/ field tech traveling through NE Oregon and will be a staple stay next time I come through. Stepping out into the cold fall air I was greeted by a Rhode Island Red intensely staring at me at the bottom of the cabin’s stairs. Walking up the steps it inspected me and crooned. 

“Hello, chicken.”

Stepping foot on the gravel I got my first look at the ranch and felt a dozen pairs of eyes settle on me. Goats and horses and more chickens seemed to welcome my appearance as a breakfast bell and four goats started slowly for me. I have always like goats. There was a super pregnant one and there was an affectionate small one and stooping down I gave the small one all the scritches. Moving on towards the horses the affectionate small one became aggressive and gave me a hard tackle to my bocci balls but it barely missed.

“Hello, horse.”

“Her name is Hennifer Lopez.”

Packing up the van we headed out for the field. Little did we know that it would be a day of technological trials. Setting up the TopCon proved to be much more difficult today for Matthew and James and ended up eating up much of the second day. 

The TopCon serves the purpose of a GPS unit on the finest most powerful steroids one can find. The base station communicates with satellites while the user takes a second antennae attached to a pole and a controller and maps points accurate down to a millimeter. Matthew is using the technology to map hundreds of points along his study sites. By getting points on the bank, the floodplain and islands of CANU he will be able to create a detailed map of the rivers in ArcGIS. To complete the picture, pun intended, he is also collecting photographs of the banks from 90º, 45º and 180º. These will be stitched together to form a larger continuous photograph. Conservation is pretty damn high-tech.

I spent the rest of the next two days helping Matthew reset erosion pins and soaking in the John Day water and sun. 

All said and done, I loved working in the river. I wished I had brought my quick dry hiking pants as well as some closed toe water shoes, but it was a much needed change of pace and a desperately needed break from the jobless, depressing, computer screen life I had made my reality. A huge shoutout and thank you to Matthew, Alex and James for the great time I’ll definitely join the team again (if I’m still unemployed). I’m looking forward to my next chance to get out east and to explore more of what this crazy amazing state has to offer! 

As always, love and miss you all.

Chris