So I survived 8 days in Bryce as a volunteer photographer. We (Dana-newly minted professional biologist and Kirstin Ironside-professional for some time now) hiked transects set up in the 1950's as part of a permenent vegetation study of forest succession. Every decade or so biologists (Dana got this sweet gig for the summer through NAU/Merriam-Powell Center for Enviromental Research) hunt down rebar stakes pounded into the ground at 100 meter intervals and then catalog basically every plant, flower and tree they find in the surrounding radius.
New respect for field biologists--these guys work hard! Hot, dusty, dirty, dehydrated, sunburnt, heavy loads, long days... These rebar stakes can be a nightmare to find, hidden under sage, lost after fires, with sometimes only a few rusty inches poking out fo the red earth. I got good at pacing and compass bearings. My job was to shoot each plot with the quadrat placed over it (see photo) and then at the photo plots, every 4th or so, i would match the bearing with earlier photos and shoot the resident trees etc. I think the record was 11 plots in one day.
I am pretty good too at ID-ing ponderosa, limber pine, juniper, bristle-cone... and picked up some fun latin names like artemesia, pinus flexicus... Next time the study is done the biologist will have a much easier time as every plot will now have a corresponding photograph and will be locked into the GPS unit with crazy layers in the GIS program that will make the data super accessible and ripe for all kinds of cool analysis to help better understand the nature of forest-prairie evolution/health etc...
Only 184 more plots to go!
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