This Summer has gone by incredibly quick. I have had to dust off my “nice voice” that I haven’t used since I was taking orders at Texas Roadhouse, and honestly, I will be glad to put it away again. I have learned that most people are incredibly nice and a shocking number are willing to take time out of their day to take a survey. There are other people who are not as accommodating. I forgot how bad it feels for people to avoid eye contact and try to make you go away by ignoring you. Hopefully interacting with this much of the public will not be in my future.
On a more positive note, I have gotten to gain experience with R studio and see some of the innerworkings of what happens to all this data we are collecting. I won’t say I have a great understanding of data analyses but more than I did last week. Early on we sat in on some meetings where a survey was being developed and sample design was being decided. This Summer has given me a more complete picture of the planning, execution, and analyses process that is human dimensions research.
Knowing what I know now I would have tried to get an earlier start on some of the R studio work and tried to be a little more productive with my days off. Time has gone by so fast and there never seems to be enough to get everything done. The next few days will be filled with surveying in Cape Falcon and putting our final presentation together, hopefully the wifi in Garibaldi is working.
Interning with USDA-ARS and OSU through Sea Grant has been an absolute blast. It made all the difference to have such great mentors and an awesome lab partner. The summer may be coming to an end, but the next two weeks still have a chock-full schedule here in Alaska. Oh yeah, you totally read that right. We’re in Alaska!! I’ve learned so many things from this internship that I honestly can’t remember them all. The most important thing that I’ve learned is how to be a good lab manager. One of my mentors had to be away for an extended period of time and since we’ve worked together virtually since last summer, he left me in charge of the lab. I got to take on and learn more serious responsibilities, such as schedule making, coordinating, and even a bit of mentoring.
Top left: views of Alaska from the plane. Bottom left: some sea stars from the mudflat. Right: views from the mudflat
A really interesting thing that has surprised me about this summer has been learning about all the other people and projects that are involved in the mud shrimp system. I mean, it makes sense, this has been a 10+ year project with lots of collaborators. John and Brett have folks all over the world (like Colorado, Japan, Russia, and Australia) who have worked or are currently working with Upogebia and Neotrypaea. A completely unrelated thing that completely surprised me however, is the fact that using the yabi guns (slurp guns, as I call them) hurts my back waaayyyyy more than using the sediment/clam cores to obtain shrimp!
Top left: me wearing my field work vest from University of Colorado, Boulder (CU). Bottom left: Joshua and our new CU collaborator. Top right: everyone checking out our first mud shrimp in the field. Bottom right: John and our CU collaborators analyzing shrimp in our “Alaska Lab.”
Knowing what I know now, I would only do a couple of things differently if I could restart my summer. First and most importantly, I would have things a bit more organized and set-up at the beginning of the summer. It was mostly fine, but I feel having a slightly more detailed schedule would be beneficial and less stressful. Next, I would make sure there was allotted time to go to the Art in Science meetings. As it was, I was travelling for field work both times. And finally, I would have made Joshua come to movie nights sooner with my awesome house mates, Lisette and Phoenix, so we could have all finished watching She-Ra together.
The most important thing that I have learned during my time at Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP) is just how important setting a schedule and sticking to it is. Because I was working so independently on my project I was fully responsible for the timeline and pace that I was working at. As someone who is used to having timelines fully set up by school or work this was a big change and it definitely took me a few weeks to get settled into but now I feel like I’ve gotten the hang of how I spend my time to make sure that I am getting everything done in a timely manner. I have also gotten to learn about grad school and the various career paths in environmental science that I hadn’t really had much exposure to before this summer. Getting to meet and talk to so many different people that all got where they are by taking so many different paths definitely really opened up my view of how I can get to the career that I want in a variety of different ways.
One of the most surprising things about working at HRAP is that everyone has an opinion on education. Every time I talk to someone about my project whether they work in education or not, they always seem to have some sort of feedback or information about educational techniques or what they would want to see. Initially I was really surprised that everyone had so much to say but then I realized that every single person is a stakeholder in education. We all go to school and then people send their kids to schools so it is actually not surprising to see that everyone cares about how we are teaching kids. This also reframed the way that I thought of education as a much broader part of our daily lives.
I think that if I could redo this summer the only thing I would do differently is to incorporate more interviews into my project. I only ended up doing two interviews with teachers but I feel like they both had really valuable input and having the chance to talk to more teachers would’ve given me a different perspective that would have strengthened my overall project.
A collection of things found during a field trip by walking in Cannon Beach including a shore crab, squid eggs, and sand dollars
I can’t believe we’re about to finish week 8 of this internship program. Time has been going so fast and I’ve gained so much knowledge in the past few weeks.
This internship has definitely let me build skills that I would have never gotten otherwise. The main one being graphic design skills which I never thought I would gain from a marine biology internship. Adobe Illustrator was definitely frustrating to figure out at first, but once I got the hang of it I’ve really enjoyed delving more into my artistic side. When I was a freshman in high school I thought that I wanted to be an animator but slowly lost passion for that over the course of high school. While I no longer have the desire to pursue a career in art, this internship has allowed me to rekindle my artistic side while combining it with my scientific side.
Some of my old artwork from high school. The bottom one I submitted to the Tri-Valley Art Show where it won for Mixed Media!
On the science side, I have definitely learned how to better read scientific articles. During my undergrad, reading scientific articles was often a daunting task, especially during my thesis project. Much of the language was so complex and sometimes hard to interpret. But after spending about three weeks reading over 100 scientific papers, they are no longer as intimidating as they once were. Interestingly, it even restarted my interest in reading books.
Another important thing that I have learned about is informational interviews and how helpful these can be. I’ve always had anxiety around asking for help, especially if it requires a meeting as I am worried about bothering people. But with all my conversations with ODFW employees, I have been pleasantly surprised as to how open people are to speaking with me to talk about their paths and provide advice. I always appreciate the enthusiasm they bring to our conversation and the genuine interest that have in helping me in my career path. Even within the CEI program, I’ve been surrounded by people to ask for advice and to help me build connections with others. Networking is definitely a huge part of any career path and I’ve learned to be less afraid to build those connections.
On that note, I’ve been surprised by simply how many things each person within the organization is working on. Every person I have talked to seems to be working on about 100 projects at once and it just seems to be magic that they still get everything done. Despite their busy schedules, they still find time in their day to meet with me which just makes me that much more appreciative of them.
Another surprising thing for me was how I haven’t been burnt out by virtual work yet. After a year and a half of doing college virtually and already at Zoom burnout, I have been surprisingly okay with doing the whole internship virtually. Not sure if it’s the change in settings, if I’ve just finally gotten used to the virtual world, or if I just really enjoy the work, but being in front of my computer for 8 hours a day hasn’t been as exhausting as I thought it would be. I even find the energy occasionally to spend an hour or two after the workday to edit a couple of my undergraduate projects for publication.
Some of the gelatinous creatures I found last summer at OIMB while I was working on my thesis project. Left: Clione, middle: Aurelia aurita, right: Eutonia indicans.
If I could do anything differently, it would be to have engaged with people earlier on in my internship. It took until about week 4 or 5 for me to start setting meetings to talk with professionals as I was just finding myself overwhelmed with having to talk with them one-on-one. But these conversations have been so beneficial to my learning, as well as a great break from just sitting alone in my room and working.
The last two weeks have been absolutely crazy! Joshua and I went to Tillamook, OR and Long Beach, WA last Tuesday-Friday for field work. We sampled mud shrimp and ghost shrimp in both Tillamook Bay and Willapa Bay. In Washington, we got the opportunity to go out in an air boat and work with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. At the beginning of the summer, I couldn’t pull up a single core but by the end of last week, I was pulling several in a row! We also had the chance to go to Cape Disappointment and, no, it did not disappoint. It was beautiful!
Biggest oysters I’ve ever seen from Tillamook Bay, OR. “World’s Longest Beach” in Long Beach, WA.
Because my internship has been more of a scientific research project, I haven’t been exposed to much science policy and outreach with the public. Therefore, my view of science policy has not really changed that much. I always knew it was a complicated balance of different group’s needs and wants, but never quite realized just how complicated that process can be. I presume other science policy organizations in Oregon, like me at OSU and USDA-ARS, must find that balance of ecology vs economy. The overarching question in our meetings is always “how can we keep these shrimp that are important to the ecosystem but also manage them for good oyster growing conditions?” That being said, I must be pretty inspired because I am going to start my Marine Resource Management master’s program in the fall where I will learn more about science policy and continue this line of work in my future endeavors.
Joshua and I with the WDFW airboat. Inside a giant hollowed out tree at Cape Disappointment.
During my time with HRAP I have come to realize that there is so much more to science policy than I originally thought. Before this summer I had thought that I wanted to pursue Environmental Law because that was the best way to make a widespread impact on environmental issues that I cared about. However, after getting to spend time involved in the science outreach and education that HRAP does I am less sure about going into law or policy. I have really come to enjoy the hands-on, local conservation efforts that I am a part of.
Additionally, I have gotten to see up close how local organizations work and how many people need to be involved to make any sort of meaningful change. I also think that because it is a smaller organization we get to be more in tune with the community and its needs which I think is also very important. For example, last week I worked on a field trip for a group of kids and their parents and getting to talk to them individually about stewardship and how to get involved was very eye opening and I got to feel like I was connecting and making an impact on those people. I also have gotten the opportunity to talk to some people who do work in state and federal level policy positions and something that is brought up frequently is how they have to deal with bureaucracy and often feeling like they are stuck or being slowed down by the bureaucratic systems that are in place.
Part of the bird station for field trips
I do think that working in science policy would be a very rewarding experience and enable me to be part of the large level changes that I want to see and be a part of, but working at a local level has also shown me how fulfilling working at a smaller scale can be.
I came into this internship wanting to learn more about the policy side of conservation and environmental work and the intersection of science and policy. I can confidently say that after 6 weeks working for ODFW that I have vastly improved my knowledge about the policy side of this work. Aside from the various meetings that I have participated in, I’ve also been able to connect with various professionals one-on-one and follow part of the process of HB3114 that just got signed by the governor this week! In addition, I’ve been able to build many other skills such as graphic design that I never knew would be so useful in this field.
ODFW biologist surveying shellfish and their habitats which is one of the projects HB3114 will help fund (source: ODFW SEACOR)
Listening and participating in all these meetings has given me an insight into how long of a process it takes to establish a new law, management plan, etc. I had to pleasure to talk to Cristen Don, the Marine Reserves Program Leader, who informed me that it took almost 10 years to establish the marine reserves as it’s a very intensive process. The process of establishing regulations etc. is much more engaged of a process than I had initially thought with steps that include not just scientific research and negotiation but also community engagement. I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of opportunities the public is given to interact with any step of the process. Fishermen, scientists, lawmakers, and everyone in between is given a chance to have their say in the process and collaborate with one another to find the best solution to the issue at hand. I’ve also noticed how far-reaching some of these collaborations can be, for example, the Pacific Coast Collaborative brings together people from California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. On the other hand, there is definitely this trade-off between this long process has it hinders the ability to act quickly to problems as they arise. For example, HB3114, which invests $1 million into the study of ocean chemistry and problems related to acidification and hypoxia, has been in progress for about 2 years and just got signed this week.
My brother enjoying the water at Haystack Rock
With my current path leading to starting my master’s program in the fall at UC Davis in Environmental Policy and Management, this internship has definitely inspired me to delve further into my studies. I had so many questions going and I accumulate more and more questions as I continue on. I hope to maybe connect with people in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife or non-profits like the California Ocean Science Trust while I’m at Davis and continue working at the intersection of science and policy.
Prior to this experience I did not understand how much work goes into writing and distributing a survey. We have had the opportunity to sit in on several meetings where the content and format of a survey (not the ones we are doing) is being ironed out and it has been eye-opening. So much thought goes into how each question is worded, what order they are presented in, if there is too much jargon or is it too dumbed down.
While the questions and wording are getting dialed in, a whole other conversation is being had. Who gets the surveys? How many need to be sent out? How many need to come back? How much does all this cost? It takes months to get all these ducks in a row before the final product reaches a person and even then, there can still be major issues.
Because so much goes into planning a survey-based study it can make it difficult to get needed information quickly. The survey we are giving out to visitors this Summer is gathering data for a report due next year. After we get everything put in the database, the statistical analyses will begin. I can only imagine the work that goes into deciding what types of statistical operations that will be carried out.
I think this internship has opened my eyes to what actually happens at the agency level of research. While I don’t think I hear social science research calling my name, I definitely want to learn more about the process that takes place on the marine biology side of the operation.
A map of Cape Perpetua Marine Reserve near Florence OR. This orange pins are the locations of our sample sites: From North to South they are Devil’s Churn, Cape Perpetua Visitor Center, Washburn State Park, and Heceta Head Lighthouse.
These past few weeks have been a roller coaster of responsibilities, emotions, and experiences! I have attended many Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife agency meetings and better understand the inner workings of their mission and obligations to the public. What I have learned is that there are pros and cons to working for an agency. The collaborative and “team” aspect of agency work seems the most fulfilling. However, the biggest con of working for an agency like ODFW is that as the face of the agency, an employee needs to directly reflect the agency’s mission in all professional actions. To some degree, I would like my future career or professional goals to allow me the freedom to be an environmental advocate or activist. Also, there will always be some level of inefficiency within agency level work at the state or federal government level. I have realized how collaborative ODFW is with other working bodies like Oregon State University, PISCO, and other organizations.
Beach walk @ Agate Beach with Jessica French and Lisette Perez
I would say I have learned a lot about science policy this summer. Historically, there has been a gap between science and policy communication. I think during my lifetime and beyond, this gap could either widen or narrow and that it is our responsibility as future scientists and policy makers to realize these will always be interconnected. Win/win scenarios can occur with policy and science. It is still a very complicated dilemma, and many of us already realize this from our experiences this summer. I see state level agency work potentially weaving in and out of my future. However, I will always be a steward of the earth and our environment and this will truly be what guides my career direction.
Visit from a very small portion of my Idaho family.
Overall, I have learned a lot from working with ODFW and have met great people with different educational and career backgrounds. By far, my interactions with the individuals within the Marine Reserves Division of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have been genuine and sincere. I hope to one day carry that much passion and grit in my future endeavors.
So far working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has been a great experience. The first few weeks of the job were spent creating codebooks for surveys, hashing out logistics regarding the sampling schedule, and getting out in the field to begin collecting the 800+ visitor intercepts needed for the final project statistics. I also conducted business surveys in Lincoln City and this upcoming week I will be conducting them in Yachats, OR.
Lisette Perez and I @ Cascade Head conducting visitor surveys.
Usually, my work day begins with much needed coffee and stuffing various things into my backpack to successfully complete a day of visitor surveys. At around 8-9 AM, I began traveling to certain sites along the Oregon Coast’s marine reserves to initiate participation in ODFW’s anonymous business and visitor surveys. At around 3:30-4:00, site surveying is typically complete and the teams meet back up in the office for data entry and other logistics regarding ID numbers for surveys or scheduling. Much of the data collection of this project comes directly from the public. Therefore, a majority of my time has been spent at Oregon’s marine reserves. I check in with supervisors once a week and team meetings happen during these check ins as well.
I would say that my motivation has come directly from the team members that I work with and support from friends or family. I would also go as far to say that being able to call the Oregon Coastline my office for several hours of the day helps me realize that much of my worries or doubts are unnecessary-I’m in a beautiful place! I am now fully vaccinated and glad that I could contribute to the numbers that lifted the mask mandate. Perhaps my favorite part of the job so far is that while conducting visitor surveys I meet so many dogs or young kiddos ready to play on the beach!
