Hi MeadoWatchers! Temperatures are rising and biting insects are peaking. plenty to complain about while outdoors; I honestly found myself getting a bit frustrated with the bugs a couple of times last week. Last Wednesday, I hiked the Reflection Lakes trail. It was a pretty cool hike (compared to our recent temperatures) and I didn't see too many people until I reached some of the upper plots. On this day, I felt a sense of calm as I walked along the trail, slower than I normally do, collecting data and just taking in my surroundings. This sense of tranquility followed me to the end of the maintained trail where I found a nice rocky area to sit down, have lunch, and reflect on the summer so far. I've certainly thought about this before, but in this moment I was able to reflect on how fortunate I am to have this internship this summer. In April, after a dismal interviewing experience with Seattle City Light and several rejection emails from other government entities in the area I was starting to get nervous about the prospect of not securing an internship this summer; something I needed for 1.) income and 2.) to fulfill the 400 hour internship requirement set in place by the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance for their MPA candidates. I was nervous, but marginally optimistic because I knew my dream internship for the summer was as far away from the office building settings of the internships I had applied to up to that point. That dream became reality when a friend told me about the MeadoWatch opportunity. I applied and here I am today. While reflecting in my lunch spot on Wednesday, I thought about how grateful I am to be in this position; the opportunity to participate in a program so closely aligned with my personal passions and and career goals is not Iost on me. I have been gifted with an amazing opportunity that is allowing me to realize the trite phrase, "find a job you enjoy and you will never work a day in your life," even if this job only lasts a few months. I also reflected on the role that African-Americans play in environmentalism, the erasure of African-American environmentalists from mainstream history, and the relationship many African-Americans today have with the "environment" and outdoor recreation. As an African-American man, I thought about the widespread belief among many of my peers that outdoor recreation and environmentalism are "white people activities". I began to hope that my visibility in my current position, albeit a small one, and passion for the outdoors and environmentalism can begin to change this belief that many of my peers have. I know this blog is vastly different from the ones I have written so far, but I really just wanted to take the time to express my gratitude for this program and everyone involved in it. I wanted to express how much it means to me that I have the opportunity to participate in a program like this and I know it would be absolutely impossible for me to have this experience without you, MeadoWatchers. After my reflection, I realized characterizing the bugs as even a minor nuisance would be an overstatement. I hope the MeadoWatch 2018 season has been as much of a joy for you as it has been for me. As always, I hope I have the opportunity to see some of you all on the trails in the future! All the Best, Joshua Jenkins My Lunch Spot on the Reflection Lakes Trail
Hi MeadoWatchers! I hope y'all are enjoying the MeadoWatch season so far! We are incredibly thankful for everything y'all do! Personally, I'm loving my MeadoWatch experience and the opportunities I've been given to engage with people interested in and devoted to living a life rooted in conservation and responsible environmental stewardship. This past Friday, MeadoWatch had the pleasure of hiking and collecting phenology data with the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program (DDCSP) along the Reflection Lakes trail. The DDCSP at the University of Washington is a "multi-summer, undergraduate experiential learning experience that explores conservation across food, water, climate, and ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest." Friday morning, we were treated to a presentation on seed predation by some of the scholars. Then, we drove to Reflection Lakes, split up into 5 groups of 4-5 people and embarked on our hike. It was a bit cloudy, and the mountain was coy, but the cool breeze and mild temperatures made for a beautiful day on the trails! On the administrative side of things, all plots are now snow free. Additionally, all plot markers (except for plot 11 at Reflection Lakes) have been placed. As always, happy hiking and I hope to see you on the trails! All the Best, Joshua and Your MeadoWatch Team Hi MeadoWatchers! This past week, I was joined on the trails by some precocious campers from the Pacific Science Center's Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center. These brilliant 6th, 7th, and 8th graders visited the Hille Ris Lambers lab where they participated in their own mini-MeadoWatch orientation. We talked about MeadoWatch's mission, citizen science, climate change, and wildflower phenology. At the end, we even played a Kahoot! quiz game (if you have school-aged children they're probably familiar with Kahoot!). On Friday, the campers made the the trip to Mt. Rainier National Park where they met me at the Glacier Basin Trail. We hiked, collected data, and had a wonderful afternoon enjoying the beauty of the park. After we finished hiking we relaxed by the Inter Fork of White River and took in the spectacular views! On a more administrative note, after some thought (and discussion with the campers from Mercer Slough) I decided that our plots along the trails would be more noticeable if they were marked by the orange survey markers instead of the yellow ones. Because this conclusion was reached after the Glacier Basin hike and before the Reflection Lakes one, the trail markers on the Glacier Basin trail are still yellow. As always, for updated trail status check out the Trail Status tables at the top of the Our Hikes page on our website! I hope the MeadoWatch season has gotten off to a good start for those of you that have already started hiking and collecting data. I've already seen a couple of you on the trails already and look forward to seeing more! All the Best, Joshua and Your MeadoWatch Team Hi MeadoWatchers! With the 2018 orientation season behind us the 2018 MeadoWatch season has officially arrived! Last Thursday-Friday I embarked on my first "solo" field work excursion, accompanied by Kianna Dieudonné of the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program. We drove to the park on Thursday morning and hiked the beautiful Glacier Basin Trail. Conditions were perfect; clear blue skies and comfortable temperatures made for a wonderful outing. The Glacier Basin Trail is now completely melted out and survey markers have been placed at each of our plots! For the Glacier Basin hikers, you should have no trouble navigating this trail the rest of the season. After a decent night's rest we woke up early Friday morning brewed some coffee and set off for the Reflection Lakes Trail. Clear skies and cool weather made for another gorgeous and enjoyable hike, even if the trail provided challenges at some points. As those of you who have already hiked this trail know, much of it is still covered in snow. The snow doesn't make the hike itself mechanically difficult (I do suggest bringing poles and/or microspikes), but it does make the trail very tough to find in some spots. We were aided by our GPS, but for those of you that don't have one I would exercise caution while hiking this trail at the moment. Also of note, because there is still a lot of snow on the trail, most of the plots are still without survey markers (if you're ever curious about the status of the trails/presence of absence of survey markers at our plots check out this link: http://www.meadowatch.org/our-hikes.html). Despite the conditions, we were able to complete the hike and were rewarded for doing so in the form of breathtaking views and wildlife companionship; the wildlife companions being a fearless marmot in search of food (he taste-tested my microspikes and a keychain on Kianna's pack) and a supportive hiking guide in grouse form (he literally helped guide us along a section of the trail on our descent). Overall, solo field work week number 1 was a success and I can't wait to get back at it this week. I wish you all happy hiking; and hopefully I'll get to see some of you on the trails! All the Best, Joshua and Your MeadoWatch Team Hi Y'all! Here to deliver a few Reflection Lakes Trail Updates. Janneke and I hiked (or at least attempted) the Reflection Lakes trail yesterday. We observed plenty of avalanche lilies budding and flowering, just not many on the trail and certainly not any in our plots. There was a lot of snow on the trail from the beginning; Plot 1 was completely covered and Plot 2 was half covered, but there were no phenophases to observe. After Plot 2, the trail was completely snow covered but for a few clear spots scattered intermittently along the way. When we got to the stream crossing on the way to Plot 3 we decided to turn around because there was no clear safe way for us to cross. Additionally, the trail beyond the stream was covered in snow as well; not giving us much hope that we would be able to find our plots. With all of this said, the snow seems to be melting fairly quickly. The impediments we faced yesterday might be completely melted by next week, just exercise caution and bring any gear (microspikes, crampons, poles, etc) you think will make your hike a safe and enjoyable one. For weekly trail status updates, including the number of plots uncovered be sure to check the "Trail Status Update" link on our website that can be found under the the volunteer resources sub-tab titled "Our Hikes." Happy hiking and I hope to see y'all on the trails! All the Best, Joshua and Your MeadoWatch Team Hello MeadoWatchers! My name is Joshua Jenkins, the 2018 MeadoWatch intern! I am a rising 2nd year Public Administration/Public Policy student here at the University of Washington’s Evans School with a concentration in Environmental Policy. I hope everyone is excited as I am about this summer! Meera and I hiked the Glacier Basin trail yesterday; what a gorgeous day it was, I don’t think the weathercould have been any better. There are plenty of Glacier Lilies budding and flowering at the moment andmake for a beautiful sight! Sitka valerian is starting to come up as, with some of them budding, but there wasn’t much more action than that. We weren’t able to place plot markers at both Plot 7, 9, or 12 because they were either partially or fully covered by snow. The trail conditions are pretty favorable, before you reach Plot 9 there is virtually no snow that will impede hiking; however, after Plot 9 the snow begins to impede hiking and remains a constant presence throughout the end of the trail. Be careful crossing over creeks and streams as there are places that seem to be covered by snow, but may give way if you step on them. Meera and I were able to hike up without poles or crampons/microspikes but I decided to use microspikes on the way down for peace of mind. I recommend bringing whatever gear makes you feel the most comfortable and surefooted while hiking in snow. With that said, it seems like the snow is melting quickly! I will be out on the trails next week collecting data and placing plot markers that we weren’t able to place yesterday, don’t hesitate to come say hello if you see me! Happy hiking and I look forward to seeing ya’ll on the trails this summer! All the best, Joshua Jenkins and Your MeadoWatch Team A big THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to our MeadoWatch campaign! We were fully funded
(with your support), which means we will be able to run MeadoWatch at full capacity this summer. As part of our crowdfunding campaign, we posted quite a few lab notes about MeadoWatch, please check them out here (we also posted them to our facebook page). In the meanwhile, for those of you eager to start the summer high mountain hiking season, mother nature may slow you down... Check out this graph (from the SNOTEL snow monitoring network). The pink line shows the average precipitation (in inches), over the last 30 or so years, at the Paradise climate station. The light blue line shows the average SWE (snow water equivalent), which is a measure of how much snow there is on the ground, on average, at Paradise. Now, check out the dark blue and red lines - those represent total precipitation (dark red) and SWE in 2018. You can see that for most of the winter, we were tracking average conditions, which implies an early July snowmelt at Paradise. In the last 2 weeks, however, we've gotten a lot of snow in the high mountains, and are at above average precipitation and snow at Paradise. So, our season may start a bit later than usual! Stay tuned for news about our orientation sessions. Dear MeadoWatch volunteers and enthusiasts,
MeadoWatch is five years old! It’s been a great five years, and we have been really inspired by the level of enthusiasm by all the volunteers and the support of our National Park Service partners. We would like to keep MeadoWatch going this summer, however, the grants that helped us initiate and run MeadoWatch in the early years (from NSF and NASA) have come to an end (as all grants do). You can help! We have launched a crowdfunding campaign (see here) to raise funds to keep MeadoWatch going this summer. If you can support us at any level, that is great, but you can help even if that isn’t possible – please share it with your social networks! Your MeadoWatch team (Janneke & Meera) Hey MeadoWatchers, Happy fall to you all, the air is crisp and cold, and the leaves are changing color! These transitions mean that summer hiking is over and so is our 2017 MeadoWatch season! We have officially closed down both the Reflection Lakes and Glacier Basin hikes, are in the process of removingplot markers (they are removed for Glacier Basin , will be for Reflection Lakes shortly), and placed climate sensors to monitor temperatures over the winter. Just in time too, as I was cleaning up the Glacier Basin last Saturday, I encountered a light snow shower passing through at the top of the hike, although you would may not have guessed based on the photo below. On that note, if you decide to go hiking in the fall be sure to bring extra layers as the weather can change unexpectedly! We want to thank you all so much for joining us again this year and collecting such great data!
Without all your hard work and enthusiasm, MeadoWatch would not be such a success, and we are so grateful to have awesome volunteers! Over the next few months we will begin to enter your data, so as a friendly reminder, please send us any completed data sheets if you have not submitted them already (don’t worry, there is not such thing as phenological mismatch when it comes to late data sheets!). If you are interested in volunteering to help with data entry, please keep an eye out for an email in the coming month. Enjoy beautiful fall season and we look forward to seeing out on the trails again next year! All the best, Your MeadoWatch Team |
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August 2018
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