Information Manager's Notes, 8/26-8/29

     The rain in Walla Walla could not have been more perfectly timed to dampen the spirits of the twenty Whitman students arriving from around the country to begin Semester in the West 2004. Even so, the students could not have been more ideally suited for dealing with the unusual August cold and wetness that had set upon us. Despite it all, nearly everyone was cheerful and optimistic when they arrived at Johnston Wilderness Campus.

     Johnston, located half an hour away from Walla Walla in the Blue Mountains, was our staging area while we prepared for our foray into the West. Although we would have normally forgone even the use of tents at this time of year, the rain forced us to prepare indoors. Even so, all meals were at least started in our outdoor cooking area, even if they were finished huddled around the fireplace in Chief Joseph lodge. Our full day at Johnston was spent packing and repacking our bags, shopping for last minute needs in town, and meeting during the evenings to discuss what exactly we had in store for us. Phil, the program's creator, director, and professor of Politics, gave us the opportunity to express our hopes and concerns for the journey, and gave us some idea of what experiential learning is all about. The program, he noted, is still experimental, despite having done it once before. It is an entirely new experience this time around, with new people, new places, and new issues to explore. This is to be, he implored, a completely unique journey for everyone.

     With orientation completed, we finished our business in Walla Walla, packed our trailer and headed south into Wallowa County.

     We are travelling in three Chevy Suburbans which we are desperately trying to cleverly name. Our trailer has been dubbed Further II--in reference to Ken Kesey's bus--and is pulled by a bright red Ford F-250 diesel pickup which we affectionately call the Hot Tamale. The trailer is our mobile lab, complete with solar powered computer terminals, a satellite internet uplink, desk-space, and an on-display book library of almost 150 volumes of poetry, prose, and books on Western history and ecology.

     Phil and many of the students are no strangers to Wallowa County. Phil has taken his politics classes to Northeastern Oregon many times over the years, and has established numerous contacts with ranchers, farmers, politicians, activists, scientists, and other residents of the area. Our first campsite is located just south of Buckhorn overlook by the edge of Imnaha Canyon, 37 miles from the town of Enterprise, Oregon across the Zumwalt prairie. Buckhorn is a frequent stop on Phil's field-trips and gives everyone just a taste of the physical grandeur of the West.

     We camp at a site overlooking the canyon and despite a late arrival at the site, everyone we are cheerful and full of energy, setting up tents in the dark, and enjoying our first meal in the field.

     The following morning is spent preparing for the start of our ecology course. Camp chores are assigned, students are oriented to the facilities of camp. There is ample time to explore, read, write, and enjoy the flora and fauna of the area. In the afternoon we meet with Ellen Bishop who gives us a birds eye tour of the Imnaha canyon region.

     Ecologist Mary O'Brien came to camp with Ellen and stays for dinner. She will lead us for the next two weeks on the first part of our ecology course. The evening is spent getting to know her as a person, ecologist, and activist in the Hell's canyon region. Discussion lasts well into the evening as we gain a general understanding of the political and environmental history of this place.

     We break camp the next morning. Everyone has a job to do, some for the first time. There is a kitchen to be broken down, a trailer to be loaded, groovers--our toilet system--to be carried ...but soon we are ready to travel.

     Mary takes us to another overlook down the road at a place called Frog Pond. Discussion continues about the ecology of the area, as well as the more general theme of what science is actually about. Science, Mary says, is an interview with the natural world. Science is about asking questions and accepting the answers which you receive. Good ecology, she says, is about getting beyond the answers we expect, the things we like to hear, and the things we think we know, to a more fundamental understanding of the real relationships between things. Afterwards, students sit and observe their surroundings for over an hour, then discuss their thoughts as a group.

     The next part of the day involves a descent to the bottom of the canyon via a bumpy and narrow road. There we meet with Angela Sondena, an ecologist with the Nez Perce tribe on the edge of Precious Lands, land purchased by the Nez Perce tribe with money from the Bonneville Power Administration. We will be assisting her by performing transects in riparian zones the following day, and she orients us towards the procedures and tools we will be using. The data gathered will hopefully be of use in determining habitat suitability for two species of birds: the downy woodpecker and yellow warbler.

     After the meeting we set up camp at the confluence of the Grand Ronde and Snake Rivers. In the canyon the temperature is warm well into the evening. Harmonicas, didgeridoos, and guitars come out and music is heard into the night.