In 2015 I led a field crew studying the effects of climate change on forest recovery after wildfires in the Klamath Mountains. It was the season that got me out to the west coast for the first time!

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/news/smithsonian-scientists-examine-impact-high-severity-fires-conifer-forests

All smiles. Our job was to collect data and samples from sites all over southern Oregon and northern California previously burned in wildfires.

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The first spike consisted of two of our project leads training us on the data collection SOPs.

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Our spikes were 8 days on and 6 days off. During the 8 days we lived out of two Ford F250s with all of our food and water packed into coolers and jugs.

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My brother taught me to never forget to look up.

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The Klamath Mountains was an incredibly diverse region both in landscapes and biodiversity.

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Doug Fir saplings.

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Our sites were primarily accessed via remote National Forest roads. If they were impassable then it was a terrifying 50 point turn to get back.

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Dispersal camping was our life. To beat the heat our days would start around 05:00 and to escape the mosquitos our nights would end around 18:00.

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I had never eaten so healthily before.

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Our samples were processed in the field and then sent to a tree ring lab located in the Smithsonian Institute’s Conservation Biology Institute.

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/conservation

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Unpaid horse intern.

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If we were able to score a spot near a river it meant bath time and water refills!

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Vegetarian field tech life.

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“Vegetative assist” was a normal part of getting back to camp.

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The haze produced by the dust given off by some of the arid-adapted trees.

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My usual dinner contribution was a curried cous cous and meat sticks.

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Every morning and night I would radio to let the local Forest Service stations and Wildland Fire towers know our location for safety during the active fire season.

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My first alpine meadow.

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The region was defined by incredibly steep, scree slopes.

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The famous Biscuit Fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit_Fire_publication_controversy

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The famous Biscuit Fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit_Fire_publication_controversy

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The famous Biscuit Fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit_Fire_publication_controversy

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Living from camp to camp taught me to live simpler but in many ways much richer. Good food, good conversation, river baths, and falling asleep to mbira were an everyday part of life.

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Kim for scale.

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The dust was terrible for our skin and lungs.

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We couldn’t have done it without our PPE.

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Our trucks were named, “OSU 1” and “OSU 2”.

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Gas-powered tools were not permitted so pulaskis it was.

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Inspecting our new latrine.

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I spent my 25th birthday eating ice cream and cake in a Ray’s parking lot that my crewmates had bought as a surprise!

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Data data data.

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Fallen trees lifted us above the brush and slope and were welcome reliefs.

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Regular hiking boots could not handle the work load.

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On some spikes I drove myself and lived out of Rhy.

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The main dust culprit.

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The project leads donated their own money to a “Morale Fund” that I would use for ice cream and other treats for the crew.

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By the end of the season we had our in-field data processing dialed.

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PPE Queen.

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Costco pie courtesy of the “Morale Fund”.

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The one time we saw the coast.

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Our last plot of the season.

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Exodus. My last farewell to the crew that had become my family.

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Family.

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I finished out the 2015 season working at the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest as a soil and veg tech.

https://andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu/

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The ubiquitous Rough-Skinned Newt.

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Lunch break.

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Soil pits for days.

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The soil and veg family.

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The lushness of the PNW forests were a welcomed change from the arid Klamath Mountains.

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Jurassic Park Vibes.

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Courtesy of our pockets.

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Knife DBH assist.

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Tree surveys.

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