Floating Fish, A Silent Killer, Sugar Beets and the Dead Auto

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Woke up in Wellpinit, ate breakfast and quickly made our way to the field.

Arriving at a small creek not too far away, we are met by our guides for the day, Casey and Paul.  Quickly I realized that my camera had not charged the night before. This was somewhat fortunate as it is much easier to upload pictures from my phone than the camera. At the meeting place we did some fish shocking and collecting.

Paul Juran and Casey Flanagan (Fisheries Biologist).

Group getting ready for fish shocking and collecting.

Chay with a fishing net.

Students learning the process of shocking fish and netting the shocked fish to be placed in a bucket.

Alden from Heritage University preparing to shock fish for students.

Students collecting fish.

Shocked fish would become stunned and unable to swim so they would float and be easily caught with the nets.

Judy and Tarrel collecting fish.

Fish are shocked to be identified and counted so that the DNR knows what is the waters and in what numbers.

After fish shocking, we headed back to the school to talk with Twa’le Abrahamson-Swan. She works for the Spokane Tribe as the Air Quality Manager. One of the things she really talked alot about was radon and radon testing. She talked about the effects of this silent killer and how easily it can be managed.

After visiting with Twa'le we went to the DNR wildlife farm. This farm is funded by the Bonneville Power Association (BPA) and Avista. The farm grows various foods like corn and sugar beets for wildlife (deer, elk, moose) and is managed by Savanah Walker, a Wildlife Biologist and Dawa, a Wildlife technician.

Savannah Walker (left, pink shirt) and Dawa Numkena (right) talking to students about the farm.

After visiting with the wildlife staff, we took the troops to Two Rivers Park for some swimming. The students really enjoyed the break from the long day. Unfortunately for me, I left things charging in the car a bit too long and drained the battery (photo coming soon).

Two Rivers swimming area.

One of the things we have had to deal with alot on this trip was the western yellowjackets and various other vespids. I got so tired of it at one point I made a wasp trap and when we came back from outing today the trap was filled with about a dozen wasps!

Make-shift wasp trap.