Each time I embark on a collecting trip to a new area, I read local guides to sights, weather forecasts and climate data, stream gauges and flow data, flora and fauna reports, and other such stuff. On this trip, however, I find myself looking at something few ichthyologist or aquatic bio people in the eastern US rarely deal with: wildfire. And wouldn't you know that some of our sites are VERY near some of the big fires in Colorado. So I'm concerned about how this affects my plans and keeping our crew safe and out of harm's way. I have been putting my knowledge of GIS and remote sensing to good use following the progression of the fires in relation to our field sites.
I'm also learning that there's no water in the Rockies this year since the snow pack was low (thus the wildfires). This means that there are few places to collect since fish usually like water and we are VERY limited with locations in most states that we are visiting. I hope there's water when I get to the preselected sites!
I'll update my lessons with the permitting process when I get a chance. It's been a long, drawn-out process that has been humbling and frustrating. That may take more than 1 post to get to, but in the mean time there is gear to gather!
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