2022 People of the Big River Field Class

 Friday, July 15, 2022, USFS Tours of the day… Today was an interesting day that consisted of lots of geology, forestry, fire management, fuels management, fisheries, ecology and natural resources in general.   I found this day very educative, adventurous, fun and tiring all at the same time. Tiring only because myself and a few others went above and beyond in our hiking, thinking we were still in firefighting, forestry, professional hiking shape as we once were.   We started the tour at the Lava Flow River with the staff of Unites States Forest Service, the staff included the listed individuals and titles: Brock Kujawa  -  Visitor Services Director Brock McCormick - Wildlife Biologist    Davey Pearson - Volunteer Career Pathway: Discover Your Forest Phil Chi  -  GIS Analyst Sarah - Soil Scientist We did our introductions with another before entering the Lava River Cave and took precaution and were briefed due to the temperatur...

Thursday, July 14 th , 2022 Started the morning off waking up into a cold crisp morning here at the Cow Meadows Campground here in Deschutes.   Mosquitos are terrible here, first thing as soon as I walked out they were eating me alive.   Had a fast breakfast and got on the road to head over to East of La Pina area where there is a lot of fast fuel grass, pumice stone, sand textured ground, numerous lodgepole trees surrounding us.   We drove about an 1 into the forested area to the same environmental area explained previously except there looked to have been a meadow in this area where we would find ourselves surveying the area alike doing fire gridding is easiest I can compare it to in my own experience. Providing us with more information on this field day was Marlow Fisher, who works with the Deschutes Forest Service as their Botanist, she graduated from Oregon State University. The inspiring side of her I took away was that she got through her undergrad at IU and ...

Wednesday, July 13 th 2022, The 8 hour drive to Deschutes: My 7th Day The 8 hour drive turned into a 12 hour drive due to some complications in directions when we got to Bend, Oregon. It was definitely an adventure from start to finish. Again I am in my own car due to having to make the travel home during the middle of this trip.   It truly works out for me because I get motion sickness and Claustrophobic in tight spaces while in moving vehicles.   I cruised, blasting my music and some podcasts and ended up being 1 hour and 25 minutes ahead of everyone so I waited at Biggs, Oregon for them. Every time I cross that bridge I yelled “FISH ON” towards John Day Dam where my late brother loved to be and fish all day, its always an emotional feeling, but always leave with a smile because I know that’s probably what he’s up to and I can see him smiling and hear his voice. (Ok I have to stop with those details, they’re sacred details to me and I’m ready to tear up in front of everyon...

Tuesday, July 12, 2022, Its Interview and Departure back to POBR Trip... Woke up, took care of my lawn and dogs to make sure everything was taken care of before leaving back to the POBR trip. Arrived to work and was briefed on a potential outage that was in no relation to yesterdays fiber and was actually with LSN (Light Speed Networks) only to find out the issue wasn't within our vault closure or else it could've been a long day of finding and fixing the break.   We were also briefed on the areas needing to be checked from the damage that was done by the wildland fire in Medicine Valley, we have burnt fiber that had put down an antennae up on Ahtanum.  We were to evaluate the areas so we knew what supplies would be needed and routes needing to be taken care of.  Once this was briefed to us, we got our splicing trailer prepped with a closure to do a sample splice for the videographers, as well as a set up space in our warehouse to give a visual background of the work...

 Monday, July 11, 2022 I was back in the valley... My interview for "Women of Trades" was postponed for Tuesday due to scheduling with other participants that would be essential for that day and a fire that occurred on our reservation (Medicine Valley Area).  The part of the reservation that was affected had our Fiber Optics on the Power Poles that were burned up and needing to reset. Myself and co-worker were on standby just in case there were major outages that needed to be repaired immediately. Fortunately, our lineman kept and eye on it and documented the damage that was potentially done or could be done.   Due to the heat and fire still active we were told to wait further instruction until tomorrow since we couldn't work on it right away for safety reasons as there was emergency response vehicles congesting the area and we could be in the way of that.   Although the interview was pushed back I felt there was a convenience in coming back to be able to s...

 Sunday, July 10th, 2022 I will depart back to the Yakama Reservation temporarily... Today was the day we packed up our camps and I would be heading back home and work for the  https://www.wawomenintrades. com/about-us   hinterview I have with the filmmaker out of Seattle since this was the only time on his busy schedule to come to the Yakama Reservation and do interviews with few selected members in the Yakima Valley and was organized by Emily Washines.   Although I go to Wellpinit frequently to visit with my in-laws and family, it was a sense of sadness leaving the campgrounds because it was a different experience camping where it was peaceful day and night. I need to do this more often. Everyday my views were beautiful day in and day out, I took many pictures trying to capture those moments. I felt so in touch with and the enlightened moments I had and wanted to make sure I had something physical to take me back to those moments when I wanted to reflect upon ...

 Saturday, July 9th, 2022 consisted of a free day for some swimming... After our morning chores we had planned a day to spend it at Two Rivers where the rivers meet one another and the Spokane Tribe has a casino and resort there, as well as campgrounds. Directly across the bridge is Ft. Spokane where another swimming area is designated for the public. I was able to take my two boys for the day to take them swimming and as soon as we got there they were excited to meet the mentors and classmates but couldn't wait to get in the water. Boys will be boys they played and fought like brothers in front of everyone but overall it was all a good time. My little one helped me find pretty rocks by sifting sand with his little sand bucket and shovel kit and began to pick some for Agnes, Calista and Dehlia. It was too sweet. My older one showed me how brave he was swimming from shore to the floating dock all by himself and jumping off of it. I was thankful I had Lance and a couple others lookin...

 Friday, July 8th, 2022 we spent the field day with Spokane Tribal Forestry... Today was an exciting day for me knowing we would be spending it with Tribal Forestry. This made me excited because I did 8 years doing forestry work for the Yakama Nation with Forestry Pre-Sales and Forest Development as a Forest Technician, Fire Management as a Wildland Firefighter and Fuels Management as a Fire Control Worker.  This is what I had originally wanted to go to school for when I was fresh out of high school, graduate of 2008 from Wapato High School. However, that all changed for me when I had my first son and needed to take care of my mental health and focus on raising my first born who was born in 2012, It was a challenge for me to be a first time mom and student at that time so I dropped out of Yakima Valley Community College.  Before I get into talking about our host for the day I want to jot down what he had said to us and myself that "no matter how long it takes or the time ...

Thursday, July 7th, 2022, our first Official Field Day... The first night camping in the tent outdoors was amazing, besides that I didn't realize our sleeping mats were self-deflate and didn't clear all the pinecones underneath my tent. It rained and stormed all night, I love the sound and smell of rain as well as the thunder that comes with it. It didn't disturb my sleep at all other than waking up sore from the pinecone being under my tent and mat.   We arrived at the Spokane Tribe's Fish Hatchery where we met Tim Peone, Program Manager of the Facility who had obtained his Biology Degree from Eastern Washington University.  Aside him was Casey Flanagan who also obtained her Biology Degree from Eastern Washington University and is the Water & Fish Project Manager. Last, was Calvin Fisher who is originally from South Mississippi and obtained his B.S. in Fisheries and Aquaculture, being from across the country he took up learning what he could from the Spokane Tribe...

 Wednesday, July 6th, 2022 is the day of our departure... I started the day out going to work to print off some maps and plans for the 2 weeks I would be gone from work so things will remain operating smoothly while I am away for the other Fiber Optic Technician in the department. I work at our Yakama Nation's Enterprise, Yakama Power a Utilities as their IT and Fiber Optics Technician.   Upon arrival to Heritage University it was a pleasure to see some familiar faces joining the trip as classmates and mentors which always makes an absence from home a little more at home while on the road.  We began to organize and pack up supplies, the intended time of departure was 11am or noon, however it took longer than expected but we made it all work and departed approximately 2:30pm.   I didn't get to ride along in the vans with my classmates where there is 6 of us and 4 mentors due to having to make a trip back home Monday/Tuesday to participate in a "Women of Trad...