People of the Big River 2026

 Woke up at 6 am even though we had an extra hour to sleep in since the Seed facility tour wasn't until 10 am. When we got there, we met with Kayla Herriman, who had worked there for 12 years. The nursery system - 8 facilities, 6 facilities have seed extraction, and 2 do it themselves. She gave us a tour of each of the different operating rooms to get the seeds finalized. The extraction room uses every piece of equipment to get the seed out of the plant, and before they went through trial and error to figure out what machine they needed, but now it takes about 10-15 minutes to get it finished.  Next was the diagnostic room where all the people meet up in a space to use an X-ray to understand if the seeds are good to actually plant or not  and there were shelves of containers that are in alphabetical order to find the plant information. Then there is a processing and finishing room to separate everything from the plant and seed to get what they need.  In the diagnosti...

 Met with Marlo at 9 am to help her gather data on the threatened plant, Pumus Moonwart of Bopu. We all lined up in a horizontal line by the road, about 10 ft away from each other, and slowly moved forward together to look for the plant. Last year, the previous group found 400, and I believe we ended up with 500 today.  The plant is super small; it thrives on Pumus from the Mazama volcanic eruption, and when I was helping look for some, I felt like either the area I was walking on had very unpredictable locations for the plant, or they were so small for my eyes.   It was also found on the three sister mountains and others too, which makes me wonder if you could possibly grow it outside of Oregon?  I had a hard time finding them; to me, it was like finding a needle in a haystack, but once you find them, you can spot the small differences from other surrounding plants.  Marlo Fisher has worked in botany for 15 years and started out as a firefighter, as well a...

 We went to the Warm Springs museum and got to listen to Louie and Alysia speak about their goals and the unwritten vs written laws.  After listening to them speak and the rights we have, it inspired me to push forward with helping the tribe, or a tribe. To hear how the environment is changing and how our cultural foods are slowly becoming more difficult to obtain, I want to make a difference in my own way, to bring balance to the current times.  After the museum, we went to Craine Prairie to set up camp and got some soil samples for that site.

  Today we had a full Sunday breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. Usually it’s cereal and something light, but I felt full after this morning. At 10:30 am, we stopped near the White Salmon River. I took a plethora of photos and was able to visit both sides of the river.  Additionally, I learned that the rocks near the flowing water were volcanic and help maintain a low temperature for the river. Then we went up a couple of miles to the trail where there were Ponderosa pine trees planted with the restoration project. When they grow, they can help provide shade to the river. The soil was so nice you could feel every texture, perfect for the salmon. During the trail we found a book called " Liminal: During the consciousness” and a notebook that different people wrote in. Then we took a break from the trails to eat lunch. After lunch, we went a couple of miles farther to a hidden-ish trail that led down near a cliff, where you could see the points where the dam or...

Had breakfast and left the camp at 8 am to Newberrry national park to tour the volcano and see all the views this area has. I have yet to take my geology class and don’t know much about geology, but I learned so much and had such a good time today learning about the different types of volcanic rocks and how the lava actually flowed out of the top.  Christine, a volunteer worker at the lava station, gave us a quick rundown of the types of rocks that can be found throughout the area, such as Basalt, a common rock. Obsidian,  igneous , cinder, and metamorphic. Obsidian,  igneous , cinder, and metamorphic. We got to feel and look at each rock as well. Hearing her talk about the rocks and geology inspired me to possibly pick it up and learn more.  Then we got on a bus to Lava Butte; the views there were amazing. Took some group photos, then walked the Lava Butte Trail that looped around to the parking lot at the top.  I learned that there are so many volcanic hills a...

  Woke up at 6 am once again, got prepared for the day, and left camp by 8 am to help with the restoration of riverscapes. We got to meet Janet, David, and Gerard, then left Glenwood for Mt. Adams. Janet is the watershed planner, David Lindley works for the tribe as the habitat coordinator, and Gerard Fuley is the habitat biologist. Janet said the land has been like this since the Cougar Creek fire started on August 10th, 2015, from lightning, and wasn't contained until mid-September. Before we went down to the river, we had to dust our shoes to make sure we didn’t bring in stuff to the river. It was a very busy day, we got there around 9:30 am, and my first task was to put on weighters and get into the river to lay down pine trees to mimic the work beavers do.  We first dug some dirt out to gather inside of buckets to increase the river level, and after laying down the trees, we had to put stakes in the middle and around the pine bed. Took a break at 12:30 pm to eat and get a...

 Got to sleep in today and got the most amount of sleep so far out of this trip. This morning we had a full Sunday breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. Usually it’s cereal and something light, but it was delicious, and I was full. At 10:30 am, we went down to the white salmon river. Got to walk to both sides of the river on the first stop, and also went down on both sides of the river. Additionally,  I learned that the rocks down near the river were volcanic, and they help maintain a low temperature for the river, which I found super interesting.  Then we went a couple of miles further down and found a spot with a trail. It had a bunch of lovely flowers, and the soil in the river was so nice, you could feel every bit of texture there was, perfect for salmon.  planted ponderosa pine trees, and when they fully grow, they can help provide shade for the river.  I’m usually in my room at home or don’t leave the house, and this has to be my favorite pa...

      Today we pack up from Harris Park to go to Glenwood or up to Mount. Adams, I believe. Before we go anywhere, we went to Starbucks to gather our data from the field sheets and put them into Excel, so our information is up to date. Starting to get used to the sleeping schedule of the trip, we've been on this trip for a week so far, and I think I'm starting to get an understanding of why I'm on the trip, or what I could do in the future.  I packed my stuff into the other SUV because we were switching seats for the next week. We packed up from Starbucks then headed to Glenwood. After we got our tents set up, group 2 helped make dinner then it was smooth sailing from there. I decided to kick back and relax, the first week I managed about 6 hours of sleep a day so today I slept early, around 10 pm to get as much sleep as I could.

  I woke up at 5:30 am this morning, got my laundry packed, and helped with breakfast by putting things down on tables and getting them all sorted. After breakfast, we sat down at a table to get down the Phosphate, Nitrate, pH strip, and pH meter information. Since we’re in a group, we all did something else to maximize efficiency and time. Additionally, we found the soil temperature and the GPS & elevation. Then we left by 9:40 am for the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute Museum. I haven’t been to a Museum in a long time. I learned so much about the history of Native Americans, similar to the PowerPoint presentation Warren showed us a couple of days ago. Although I do go to the Long house for feasts and know the foods, I'm not sure if it's much different, but I thought this was super interesting to see the different types of food throughout the year and the times of the year. Not to mention, I found it very interesting that when Native Americans were in the boarding schools, ...

  Imtwah Fish Hatchery was our first stop today. Imwtah was a newer fishery as the facility was completed in 2022. Emily Meshke was our tour guide; she is the Assistant Manager. It was my second hatchery I've ever been to, and I was surprised to find out that most hatcheries only have about 6-15 employees at most, and Imtwah had 6, and I was astonished, as it was pretty big, but it's probably because of the amount of automated work there was.  Emily mentioned that she was worried about the state of the river as the CFS is around 100, but yesterday it was 80. Brian Startzl, an employee at the hatchery, also said that what we're seeing is what we'll see in the next 80 years. Hearing that dawned on me that it could progressively get worse, and that’s terrifying. Sunhawk Thomas, a temp worker for the hatchery, worked himself from the ground up to where he is currently, and they all had tips such as being willing to go where the jobs are, working for a tribe, and jobs are co...

 Had to get packed up early because we were heading to another campsite today. At 8:40, we got to use a Garmin Etrex 20x to gather elevation and coordinates for the field sheet for sites 1-2, but we used our compass app on our phone since it was more accurate.   Furthermore, we had to use denominators to find out the amount of canopy cover that was at both sites. Additionally, we got to try out a transit, a tool that gathers the information for you by holding down a trigger. After finishing up that, we sat down to get our template down for PowerPoint and use Excel to put our information so far from the field sheets, then we left the Pow Wow Grounds at 11:57 am for Oregon.  Before that, we stopped at Walmart in Pasco to stock up on whatever we needed, and for me was a pillow as I forgot to pack one, so I can sleep better from now on in the trip. We made it to Harris Park around 5-6 pm, got our tents set up and dinner ready, and got to take it easy for the rest of the...

 Woke up early once again, got packed and ready to help get measurements with a tool called a transit. It was my first time using something like that. Bryan Crossley gave us the rundown on how to use the transit, and we cycled through three positions. First was the transit, getting measurements of a 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 of the river canal. Casey was the note taker, writing down any information that was called out, and also helped measure 50 ft as we had to do measurements from the start of the canal, 5 ft away, then 50 ft as each canal was about 100 ft apart. Jordan helped communication to the people down in the water and helped measure the distance as well.  I believe the measurements were to understand how the water flow is going. Overall, that was pretty fun, even though we didn’t do much. We also missed out on shock fishing. After we got back, we ate lunch and headed over to a wildlife building where Warren presented on the history of Spokane native Americans. A lot of stuff ...

Woke up early to prepare for the day. We went to the Spokane Hatchery to help kids from 3rd to 5th grade make bracelets. During our break we had a chance to have a tour as well.   It was my first time being at a hatchery, and I found it very interesting and how complex it felt, but I enjoyed it. The tour guide was Anthony, and as he took us through a tour, we got to understand how many fish they had and how they fed them, as well as keep them under control through these big pools.  that also had a fish counter, which was cool to find out, shown under here, Anthony said it was with the tubes, and they could manipulate the water so they could get the fish bigger. When we came back, we took a break and prepared to get soil samples. It was my first time doing something like that and although it was a bit difficult due to rocks or dry ground, it was interesting. Not to mention, the soil study and science are new to me, and I’m unsure what I want to focus on currently. Overall, thes...

 Packing for this made me realize it’s my first two-week trip away from home. I haven’t packed this much stuff before, and I’m excited for what we’ll be doing this upcoming week.  We went through Tri-cities and made it to Spokane, set up camp, and got settled in at Wellpinit Pow Wow Grounds.