I've gone through more training this week than seems possible. I've had sexual harassment training, communications training, shorebird survey training, aircraft training, CPR training, bear training, firearms training, distance estimation training, hypothermia and survival training, MSDS training, stream crossing training, hip wader training and probably a few others I have forgotten. And all this for only three weeks of work! Some of the days were a bit challenging to sit through, but today's aircraft safety training was fun. Basically, small planes are dangerous and helicopters are even more so. I think Dave, our pilot who was training us, said "if a helicopter's not broken now, it will be soon". We get to fly helicopters for most of the next two weeks, but hopefully we won't learn that firsthand. I guess the reason for all these trainings is that Alaska is a dangerous place to work- they sure seem to pound that into new people at least. Really, almost everyone here knows someone who has died while working in Alaska, a few of whom were associated with this refuge. So, they really focus on safety. I definitely feel well-prepared for the next three weeks of work.

My first trip to the field will be on Wednesday, when Kristen and I fly to a site south of here by helicopter. We'll set up camp and try to get a few bird surveys in before bedtime. Thursday, we'll walk transects as far as we can, doing surveys every 500 meters along the way. The terrain is swampy lowlands, so parts can be impenetrable or rivers can be uncrossable. We will wear hipwaders for the whole time. Then, Friday, the helicopter will pick us up and we'll come back to King Salmon. I'll spend most of the following two weeks out, moving camp by helicopter every other day. Hopefully I'll have lots of pictures and stories to share!

Thanks for the emails and comments!
Haldre