2022 People of the Big River Field Class

  I woke up early this morning around 5:20 AM and started gathering my stuff. By this time, we got down into a standard routine of getting the breakfast and lunch stuff out. I was still eating oatmeal for breakfast which I was still happy about. We went to the Lava Tube Cave Tours where we met some amazing guide who told us about how unique this cave ecosystem is including how important the bats that lived in them were. We descended into the cave first by stairs until we were walking along the tube floor. As we descended the temperature dropped from 80 degrees to around 43 degrees Celsius. We had to be careful were we walked because of the rocks and uneven ground. Occasionally, I would shine my light on the ceiling and look up at the wall of the caves. Once we got out of the caves, we headed up by bus and saw the nearby crater. Very beautiful. After that tour we went on a half mile walk to see the falls nearby also very beautiful. Once we got back to camp, we ate breakfast for dinn...

  The woke up at 6 am, ate breakfast and got ready for the day. We met with Marlow Fisher lead Botanist for Forest service, Sarah Garvin who oversaw the Natural Resources, Anthony Lanouza intern for Americorp. We all introduced ourselves and they told us we were there to help them do a survey for Pumice Moonwart, a small fern-like plant. Marlow and her team were conducting a study to figure out why the Pumice Moonwart firn plant species was struggling to survive in an area it once densely populated. They thought lodge pole pine was outcompeting the Moonwart. So her team cleared out lodge pole pine from an area where Pumice Moonwart once grew densely.   We grabbed flags and water containers, spread out 10 feet apart and walked slowly looking for Pumice Moonwart. We did this until lunchtime and took a break under a tree for shade. Then after lunch we finished our survey and counted our planted flags. Total flags counted was 756, without doing the data analysis they believe clear...

  For the last day in Kalispel, we woke up to rain. It was an early day of packing and chores. We needed to get on the road because we needed to drive from Kalispel to Bend Oregon which was around an 8-hour drive. So, I showered and packed my personal belongings. I ate maple and brown sugar oatmeal for my breakfast instead of the usual cold cereal. We got on the road around 9 AM to start our journey. I rode with Monet Becenti, Agnes Meninick, and Robert Onley in the black van and really enjoyed their company. At the stop in Biggs Oregon, Roberts brother was fishing on the Columbia River near by, so his Brother brought him smoked Salmon. Me and Agnes pitched in and bought some. We stopped about six times for gas, bathroom breaks, and lunch. Again, we traveled in a convoy, black van, truck and RV in the middle and white van in the back. We managed to stay together for the most part. Due to time constraints we had to get food from a restaurant, so we ate at Panda Express, very delicio...

  After another pleasant 6 AM wake up call, we all got ready for the day, I had cold cereal and coffee. We arrived at the Kalispel Fisheries after 8AM and was greeted Michael Polk, he is the manager of the Kalispel Fish Hatchery and has worked in fisheries for 15 years. He showed us the tanks they were cultivating cutthroat trout and spoke of nonnative fish species outcompeting native species due to climate change. After we left fisheries, we headed to the Kalispel Camas Center. This center had a basketball court, 2 conference rooms, clinic, gym, pool and early learning program. We met some wonderful kids and mentors who were working on positive mental wellness with the children. We played 9 square with them that was really fun. Then we all went back into one of the conference rooms and I sewed a medicine pouch, and I gave it to Dr. Black as a thank you for all the help she has given me. While there we listened to a motivational speaker who was a professional basketball player Bran...

  I woke up at 5:30 AM and showered in the very nice shower at the Indian Creek Community Forest building.   We ate breakfast and got our lunches ready for the day. Ray Entz the director of Wildlife Terrestrial Resources. He told us about how Kalispel Tribe Natural Resources Department was created in 1992. Although Ray was not enrolled member of Kalispel, he had a lot of useful information about Kalispel Natural Resources and some history. He also informed us how the Grizzly bear was a native species for this area but now are listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act and Endangered in Washington State. After we got done talking to Ray, we were shown their tree nursery which is one of their many projects the tribe is working on to increase number of native tree species. We pulled out weeds from the tree buckets to help the young trees grow without competition. After 11 AM we regathered around our camp site and packed our backpacks with water and lunches then...

  We had a pleasant 6:30 AM wake up call. I am usually waking up around 5:30 AM so I can get to the showers and get myself together. We ate breakfast and did our chores at a quicker pace this Sunday morning because we needed to pack up our camp and go to the Kalispel Tribal Reservation. After we packed everything, we hit the road around 11 AM we stopped off at a laundromat in Airways heights. While waiting for our laundry to wash me and my friend Agnes ate and nice Chinese restaurant in the same building. We split a chicken teriyaki plate with pot stickers. We all finished our laundry after about an hour and half. We left the laundromat and headed to Walmart which was about a mile down the road. We restocked on ice, groceries and any personal items. I bought more travel size shampoo, conditioner and body wash. We got back on the road and arrived at Indian Creek Community Forest of the Kalispel Tribe. While we were unloading and setting up our tents Monet cooked us dinner, we had ta...