Week 1--June 18 – June 22, 2001
Used Trimble GPS to collect GIS Data.. Matched the farm boundaries
perfectly great for our first use of the Trimble. Moved furniture and switched
bookcase contents. Changed location of one office so that interns had more
room to work. Friday-Manastash Creek water flow meter route with Jill Gallie.
Week 2-- Monday, June 25th, 2001
I checked data loggers on data logger route. I rode with Anna to remove
loggers to be brought into the office for downloads. We then returned the
data loggers to their respective locations. We will try to plan to do the
data logger route every Monday. I also learned to run the folding machine
for the brochures for the KCCD mailing list. All interns then labeled and
sorted the brochures by Zip Code. We did the Manastash Creek flow and velocity
measurements on Friday.
Week 3--July 5th (Thursday) Worked on Excel spreadsheet table for NRCS Soils Map Re-do. I am beginning a new project for NRCS. It involves listing all soils data into an Excel Spreadsheet. The data will reflect the certain code of Prime, State, Unique, and Non-Applicable status. I typed data into a new spreadsheet created for this project. All soils data is to be color-coded dependent on classification.
Friday, July 13th, we did the Manastash Creek Route. I took Aiko with me to check the width, depth and velocity measurements. She learned how to use the depth gauge and also how to set up the flow meter.
Week 4 Monday July 16th
Friday when we did the Manastash Creek flow and velocity measurements
we found a very unfriendly rattlesnake at the Brown Road site. We decided
that from now on we would all wear long pants on the days we do the Manastash
Creek Route. We passed on the measurements for the day, but will definitely
be better prepared for next week's route.
Week 5 Monday July 23, 2001, 4:09 PM
Nicole McCoy worked with Aiko, Hilary, and me teaching us some of the
techniques she learned at her ArcInfo 8.1 training session, which was held
on July 19 and 20. The session was taught by a former 12-year employee
of ESRI. We will now try to remember as much as possible. We do have access
to the books included with the program. Hilary and I are hoping to get
more experience with Arc Info 8 before we take Dr. Hickey’s class in the
fall. It was a great day for GIS!!!
Tuesday July 24th and Wed July 25th. The Snow Level crew from NRCS asked for help at the snow sites installing new electronic equipment. I was the only intern able to go on both days. Hilary and Nicole went to a Remote Sensing seminar in Bellevue. The work with the snow crew was hard but very interesting. I am amazed at the technologies being utilized. The communication system does not use satellites, instead, it uses meteor trails. It is aimed towards the sky at a 450 angle and bounces off the comet trails back to the base. The snow depth gauges and moisture sensors are also first rate. I plan to do a paper on just the work I did with the snow survey crew.
July 26
Had planned to go with the snow crew up to either Colockum or Sasse
Creek. They did not need extra help so I stayed at the office. I read the
data that Hilary and Nicole brought from the remote sensing seminar. The
applications for GIS continue to improve. Thurs afternoon I went out to
do field work with Jill and Anna. We installed moisture sensors on Tom
Bull’s Thrall road property. We then did the data logger route and downloaded
data. We brought in the logger from Parke Creek drain, downloaded the data
and reloaded so they would start back up at 5:00 pm. I used the waders
to get to some of the dataloggers that were under water. When we came back
to the office, Jill showed me how to download into Boxcar (HOBO) and Specware
5.
July 27th
Nancy Hultquist came into visit with the interns today. It was fun
to see her again. We discussed some of our projects with her and she spent
time with Aiko because she is almost finished.
July 30th and 31st
I helped Nicole with a Beginning Arc View class. She was working with
2 people from the Douglas County Conservation District, Kathleen and Tim.
It was fun working with beginners. On the 31st at noon
Hilary took over as training assistant and I went with Allen Aronica to
CWU. He gave an introductory talk about GIS and how it can be used with
farm work and planning. I showed the students examples of GIS work and
answered some of their question. We then went on a farm tour of the valley.
We went to Bob Schnebly’s, Ron Gibb’s, and Tom Bull’s places. We showed
the Resource class how the new sprinkler systems work (linear). Allen explained
some of the problems involved and how they have been solved. We discussed
the different soil properties in various sections of the Kittitas valley.
This was a fun tour and we had our pictures taken many times. We met some
new people and hopefully encouraged a new perspective about farming.
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