Monday, December 3, 2018
Sunday, December 2, 2018
One of our readers, Stanley, posted this comment to the dead body story earlier, and it was so good I thought I'd repost it here.
Thanks Stanley!
Here’s a follow-up to “dead body” experience from the Sacramento
River. I was a fisheries biologist who worked for the US Forest
Service research branch in Boise, Idaho. Snorkeling is a common
method of quantifying fish populations. It’s particularly effective
in the winter when the water is low and clear. You can spot the fish
and count them well. And, of course, you need a very good, well
insulated wet suit.
Here’s a related story you might enjoy. My colleague at the USFS in
Boise, Craig, did his Master’s thesis at Idaho State U and his
research was up in Island Park, ID, near Yellowstone. Craig’s
research was to assess winter kill of trout during extremely cold
temperatures. Like the researcher you observed, Craig would dawn a
wetsuit and swim the mountain streams in the dead of winter, but
Craig’s major professor required his students to do their snorkeling
and fish counts at night and with flashlights.
One particularly cold night in the remote Idaho mountains, Craig
finished his fish counts about 3:00 a.m. It was 10 degrees outside
with a chill factor below zero. Craig was walking back to his car
about 1/4 mile upstream, going across a snow-covered meadow. It was
so brutally cold he kept his wetsuit, mask, and swim fins on just to
stay as warm as he could. The nearby highway was deserted until a
lone trucker drove by and slowed way down. Craig waved at the
trucker, who immediately hit the gas pedal for all it was worth and
gunned his truck out of there. No doubt the trucker thought he saw
Bigfoot! Craig fears he scared the wits out of the poor guy. :-)
So clearly, fisheries biologists who do snorkeling are the source of
all kinds of confusion!
Here’s a follow-up to “dead body” experience from the Sacramento
River. I was a fisheries biologist who worked for the US Forest
Service research branch in Boise, Idaho. Snorkeling is a common
method of quantifying fish populations. It’s particularly effective
in the winter when the water is low and clear. You can spot the fish
and count them well. And, of course, you need a very good, well
insulated wet suit.
Here’s a related story you might enjoy. My colleague at the USFS in
Boise, Craig, did his Master’s thesis at Idaho State U and his
research was up in Island Park, ID, near Yellowstone. Craig’s
research was to assess winter kill of trout during extremely cold
temperatures. Like the researcher you observed, Craig would dawn a
wetsuit and swim the mountain streams in the dead of winter, but
Craig’s major professor required his students to do their snorkeling
and fish counts at night and with flashlights.
One particularly cold night in the remote Idaho mountains, Craig
finished his fish counts about 3:00 a.m. It was 10 degrees outside
with a chill factor below zero. Craig was walking back to his car
about 1/4 mile upstream, going across a snow-covered meadow. It was
so brutally cold he kept his wetsuit, mask, and swim fins on just to
stay as warm as he could. The nearby highway was deserted until a
lone trucker drove by and slowed way down. Craig waved at the
trucker, who immediately hit the gas pedal for all it was worth and
gunned his truck out of there. No doubt the trucker thought he saw
Bigfoot! Craig fears he scared the wits out of the poor guy. :-)
So clearly, fisheries biologists who do snorkeling are the source of
all kinds of confusion!
Shaving Scar?
Actually, a dueling scar. It was all the rage at the beginning of the last century for young aristocratic men.
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