data gathering on the interior plateau of BC

The field season has kicked off! I just returned from a brief and relaxing trip to the Interior, where I (along with a motley crüe of people from SFU and one from NYU), spent some time measuring up housepits and mapping the site with a Total Station. Both of these things were desperately overdue at the site, and will help to make the data from the site more accessibile and consistent for other researchers. What a relief that will be!

The site itself (for those of you who have had the pleasure of visiting it) is as magical and spectacular as always. The greens are bordering on neon, and the wildflowers are out: the yellow flowers ringing the high edges of the housepits and growing within the depressions, the white flowers clinging to the north-facing slopes, and small purple flowers scattered here and there in smaller amounts. The weather was absolutely fantastic - couldn't have asked for anything better: hot sun, blowing wind, blue sky. Lovely. And, as if this picture I have tried to paint for you wasn't enough, there were three new foals there, still shaky on their gangly legs, who must have just been born within the last two weeks. It also looks like the bears are starting to come out of hibernation, likely due to the warm weather. While we didn't see any bears, we found some scat on the road in.

The data gathering proved to be fruitful and slightly futile at the same time. As often happens, the more you research, the more you realize that there are problems to be solved - it's a very circular process. And, the more I dip my toe in academia - whether through writing, researching, or teaching - the more I realize just how ugly and political it can be. It all comes back to tradeoffs.

Soon enough, these posts will be coming from the Moab desert. Stay tuned...