Biologist Gone Wild

I Love Grizzlies!

2008-09-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Life has been going really well. I am working on a PhD students project examining the effects of mining on grizzly bears. It is pretty interesting work and I spend most of my time hiking around to places that the grizzlies have been and looking for grizzly signs as well as what plants they are eating. The min itself is amazingly huge, but what is really interesting is that there is a large portion of land that is leased by the mine, but has not yet been developed that provides a sanctuary for bears, moose, and especially big horn sheep because hunting is not allowed on mine property.

We are living in a small cabin in Cadomin Alberta which is just a few short clicks to Whitehorse wildland park as well as Jasper national park. Because the weather has been unreliable (sunny, rainy, snowy, hail-y) we have not backpacked very much, but instead do fairly long day trips (4-20km). I enjoy the job because I see so much wildlife and signs of wildlife everywhere I go. So far I have accidentally walked into a bull elk and his harem, seen a bull moose and female, tons of big horn sheep, and on my first day a grizzly bear. On my "weekend" I went to Jasper with one of the other volunteers. I have been nursing my foot so we did not hike very much, but the area is just gorgeous.

Time for a change

2008-09-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

I just got back to Edmonton after finishing work with martens and seismic line in the Northwest Territories. I am now moving to an area near Jasper National Park to work on a project studying the effects of mining on Grizzly bears. It should be very different. Instead of the flat dense bogs of NWT there will be lots of mountains and little vegetation. Add in a little snow and freezing rain and you've got Jasper.

The last week in Ft. Liard went well. We were working pretty long hours to get as many cameras up as possible, but were rewarded with a "field trip" drive home that took us the long way through the NWT. I have included some pictures from the area that we worked in this last week to show you a little bit about the conditions and forest that we were working with. The mosquitoes weren't that bad, but I think it is a funny picture.

A Fantastically long month

2008-08-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

Everything is going well on the marten crew. We are hiking 8-20km, working 10-16hrs, and carrying 40-75lbs per day and I am enjoying it immensely. The bush is really tough up here. I thought I would be coming back in amazing shape, but I am mostly just really bruised and banged up. Yesterday I had a tree limb fall on my head and have incurred 7 nasty hornet stings and bear sprayed (myself) on 4 seperate occasions.

It is beautiful and there are lots of animals- mostly on the side of the road. I also got 4 days off to go to the Dawson City Music Festival (1800 km away in the Yukon Territory). The crew is awesome and I look forward to a great last month.

I decided to stay in Canada through September and October working on a Grizzly project near Jasper National Park. Although I am excited about seeing grizzly bears and working in one of the most beautiful places I know of I am getting a little home sick and miss my friends and family.
See you soon!
Emily

Martens Here I Come!

2008-06-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well, my time is up on the bird crew and I am finally able to start the job that I came up to do. My last day on the bird crew was great. Although the mosquitoes and black flies were bad. I still managed to follow an ovenbird for around an hour to map it's territory. Then we set up some mist nets and we banded two ovenbirds. We also caught a juvenile swainson's thrush on accident. Hedwig (boss) was fairly happy and told me:

"Emily for hating birds so much you did a good job". So I thought it ended on a really good note. At home we split a bottle of champagne and had banana bread for desert. I packed up my bags and moved to the campground so I am now officially part of the "swampdonkey" marten crew. Tomorrow is my first day and I am pretty excited.

What a crazy world

2008-05-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well, life is definately an adventure. I still feel lucky, but uncertain of what is to come. This writing is going to be about safety. For those who were worried about my safety this is a picture of the crew and everything on our table is put into our safety/survival kits (except the coffee cup). We made the most amazing fire starters I have experienced- 100% cotton balls smothered in vaseline- they last a good 2-3 minutes even if you pour water directly on them.

The next two pictures are from my little seizure episode. The first is a picture of the most expensive bracelet I will ever own and the second is me hooked into the EEG machine to record my brain waves. Altogether I have spent about 24 hours in the hospital doing various tests and am happy to say I am "good to go" for the NWT. Unfortunately they would not give me a copy of my CT scan or my EEG results but my brain seems to be functioning as good as ever.

Addresses!

2008-05-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Looks like I will be traveling through this town during the field season. We will pass through Fort Liard quite often.

Emily hamblen
General Delivery
Fort Liard, NWT
X0G 0A0
CANADA

3 Months, 4 People- Nuff Food?

2008-05-10T17:47:00.001-07:00

Cinco de Mayo margaritas after a long day of purchasing and organizing food.

Life is great- seems to be a theme

2008-05-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
My days are still pretty long. Today is my first day off since I started work 10 days ago. I am relaxing, buying some last minute items, and applying to grad schools. My days have been filled mostly with work-buying gear, organizing gear, and inventorying gear to find out what other gear we need to buy. Both of our trucks needed to go into the shop so we are using my car as a "trailer" by putting boxes on the top that don't fit inside. I am looking forward to getting out in the field on Wednesday, but it sounds like it will be a wickedly long drive. I went for a jog yesterday in a wooded park and hopefully will continue that to try to get back in shape. The crew is great and we get along really well.

I went to my first Tim Horton's (Canadian McDonalds). Apparently the local bikers come out every evening (and on saturdays they do it all day) to display their bikes and I assume have a Horton Donut. This picture is just a portion of the many bikers crowding the parking lot around the corner.

Also I went to the Edmonton Farmers market which is a cross between Eugene's Saturday Market and the 5th St public market.

Having fun

2008-05-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Things are well, but fairly busy. Basically my days consist of trainings, buying stuff, and assembling stuff. Yesterday was fabulous. For the first time ever I learned to drive boats and basic boat maintenance. Hopefully our summer will be filled with many a boat ride. Also, the snow has melted up north so we have a green light to pack up. I am highly excited. We did a gear check tonight to make sure we are bringing the essentials. I feel I have packed too much, but I am not sure what can be left behind.

Yup Life Rocks

2008-05-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

Heck Yeah! Woke up early yesterday started driving from Jasper to Edmonton and what should be sitting in front of my car? Oh nothing much just a couple of wolves (I will send pics later).Oh yeah, did I mention I saw a bunch of female elk on the way up and lots of deer. Oh and is that a snowshoe hare in the driveway of the U of A? nope it is two... Don't mean to brag just super stoked.

Today I woke up and went to a bear training followed by a trailer training. I feel more knowledgable already. Saw a bunch more bunnies. Oh yeah, I got a raise before I even started work (from 1400 to 1800/month). Also we will be using helicopters which is really exciting for me.

Still gorgeous!

2008-04-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

I went snowboarding at Sunshine village in Banff yesterday. I think I spent the entire day talking to myself and telling myself how wonderful my life is and that I am oh so lucky. They close the chairs down sequentially so I actually managed to get two last chairs. I started to drive to Jasper, but was a little tired so I pulled over and slept (extremely comfortably I might add) in my car. When I woke up this morning it had rained, hailed and snowed and my doors were frozen shut. I slept an extra hour and then opened the doors fairly easily.

The drive from Banff to Jasper was even more amazing than the drive to Banff (sorry you guys still working on getting pictures online). I did not get to stop at as many places as I wanted to because many of the roads have not been plowed and it started snowing (I am going to buy a shovel in the next town just in case). I am staying at a hostel tonight just south of jasper and was very happy to get a nice warm shower.

I have seen all kind of great wildlife on this trip: big horned sheep and caribou top the list, but I am also seeing lots of birds that I did not expect to see outside of the US and certainly not in the snow specifically the common loon, tons and tons of magpies and white-headed? sparrows.

Tomorrow I will travel to Edmonton to obtain a SIN (Canadian SSN) and a bank account. After that I will obtain a funny accent.

Cheers!

Not such a cold world...

2008-04-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Well I made it to Banff in one day. The whole trip from Seattle took 13 hours (including 1.5 hours convincing customs that a wildlife technician was indeed a biologist. Canada reminds me a lot of Alaska. Absolutely gorgeous, surrounded by snow covered peaks and driving through river valleys with shallow river beds. The only difference is that the accent is better and I pay with monopoly money.

I was a little sad to see how many starbucks and costcos there are, but they seem to be disappearing as I go farther north. On the plus side due to some money limitations I am forgoing coffee for a few days (there was a toll booth in the middle of nowhere...). The headaches are not so great, but it will be better for me in the end.

Banff is gorgeous. You can see snow-capped mountains and trees in every direction. I enjoy staying in the hostel because it is one of the few times I will get to interact with people for awhile. Also I got a great deal on a bed/lift ticket and am excited to go to Sunshine tomorrow- from the pictures it looks like a really beautiful place.

And so it begins...

2008-04-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

This is my last full day in the US. Starting tomorrow I shall be headed across the extremely large country of Canada. I am slightly nervous as I have a 2WD car and an inability to understand the metric system. I have been staying with my sister Hannah and Cousin Kat in Seattle as I make my last preparations to leave. This last week has reminded me how thankful I am to have such loving and helpful family and friends. I will miss everyone dearly.