A student’s way of understanding the earth

learn. Some advice the person I interviewed gave was to always keep motivated and follow your passion or your dream.

I was nervous on picking a person I didn’t know so I thought of Ed Chadd. Ed is one of my favorite people out of anyone I worked with in Natural Resource 1 class. Ed is a really high spirited and kind person. I quickly found that out when I worked with him on a bug survey in Valley Creek; he made it very fun and he showed us some cool things like how to scrape off the bugs and how to clean the rocks properly without killing or squishing the bugs. My profile of Ed Chadd and other pro-files done by other Natural Resources 1 stu-dents are live on the www.opnrc.org website.

Sk i l l s Cente r Natu ra l Re sour ce s www.nops c . o rg / natu ra l r e sour ce s

Getting Professional

By: Savannah Kays

Welcome to

Terra Cognita, a student-written,

environmentally-focused

news report on events

within our Natural

Resources class, the Olympic Peninsula, and

the globe.

gxÜÜt VÉzÇ|àt

NR 1 Class Report: Getting Professional

1

Feature: ROV Getting Underway

1

Photos from Field: NR1 Class

2

Global News: Fish Farming

2

Photo Flash: GIS 3

NR Options: 2nd Semester Options

3

Community: NR Presentations

4

NR Student Poetry: Poem of the Plankton

4

In This Issue:

Students of the PAHS Science Club, with sup-port from Feiro Marine Life Center and Skills Center Natural Resources, are making steady progress toward the development of an un-derwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). The group decided to begin their mission with a real world science project by surveying eelgrass in Port Angeles Harbor. The mission adds new components to underwater ROV. Salt water ROVs require certain design modi-fications. On-board equipment and controller cables, buoyancy and maneuverability through currents are important elements to consider for a salt water design. Although the students are still building ROVs for the pool, they will begin the modified design at the next meeting in early February.

During the last meeting, students worked several hours discussing ideas and building two prototypes. After several frame modifi-cations and careful motor placement, the ROVs were finally connected to the power source to make sure everything operated properly. The incentive for three hours of preparation was the excitement of testing the

ROVs at William Shore Memorial pool. Stu-dents enjoyed the last hour of the day trying out their design ideas and making note of what worked, and of course, what did not.

After a few last minute adjustments, both ROVs moved through the water diving and turning in an almost acrobatic manner. The goal for conducting eelgrass surveys is to achieve steady, level operation about two feet above the bottom of the harbor. To practice methods necessary for the surveys, students successfully controlled both ROVs along straight lines on the bottom of the pool.

In addition, the group has been researching the importance of eelgrass monitoring and are developing procedures for conducting the surveys at City Pier and Ediz Hook. This se-mester students are earning credit through Natural Resources. If interested, contact the

Break was awesome but when I got back to Natural Resources 1 class we got to do some-thing really exciting. We got to interview professionals who work in natural resources in order to write profiles of them. We started reading other profiles made by past students on a website: http://www.opnrc.org/profiles-of-natural-resource-professionals-on-the-olympic-peninsula.html. Many of the profiles interested me but, we had to pick new people out of the contacts listed on www.opnrc.org.

I think interviewing people is great because if I wanted a job in the Natural Resources field I could always go to the person I interviewed and asked them about certain things I need to

Volume 3, Issue 2 Winter, 2013

ROV Design: New Mission

By: Tara Morrow

Erin Hennessey and Randal Walz design an ROV

Page 2

Fish farming in British Columbia is a huge indus-try that is booming right now, but there is a lot of controversy about whether or not fish farms are good for the environment.

The fish farming industry in British Columbia alone is valued at $800 million dollars and employs over 6,000 people, not to mention that in 2005, 125 farms in B.C. produced over 70,000 tons of farmed salmon (Report compiled by PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the BC Salmon Farmers Association: www.bcsalmonfacts.ca/). With all this money, employment and food you may wonder why there is controversy.

Naturally, salmon are not born into tray, net or pen. Salmon are not used to being crowded into a small space for their whole lives, and living in confinement can be a problem. With a lot of salmon in a small area the fish do not have as much room to move as they would have in the wild. This can be harmful because if one fish gets sick all of them could be infected in a very short time.

To a hungry orca or seal, a condensed group of salmon probably looks like a nice meal so there are a lot of predators in the waters nearby fish farms. Some of these marine animals are actually shot by fish farmers that feel that the animals are a threat to their fish farms (http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/salmon-farming-problems/environmental-impacts/).

Salmon inside of fish farms stay above the same part of the seabed. All of their waste goes to the sea floor below. Luckily most fish farms are built where there is a current that flushes away waste naturally. Sometimes waste will still build up and this can be a cause for concern because the waste produces CO2 and nitrogen. Having too much CO2 and nitrogen is not healthy for the fish.

Recently there has been a deadly fish virus (Infectious Salmon Anaemia or ISA) in wild Canadian salmon. Marine scientists have confirmed that the virus has been found in at least 2 out of a survey of 48 young wild Atlantic salmon taken from an inland lake on the central Pacific coast of British Columbia. It is thought to be a European strand of the virus AFP news.

If outbreaks of the virus accrue within the fish farming industry this could cause millions of dollars worth of fish to need to be removed from the farms. According to KOMO news there has been one outbreak of the virus IHN (infectious hematopoietic necrosis) in the Bainbridge Island, Washington farm of American Gold Seafood Company. American Gold Seafood also runs the fish farm off Ediz Hook. With the Natural Resources 1 Class I visited the fish farm off Ediz Hook and we had the pleasure of getting to tour the facility with manager Randy Hodgin. As our tour guide he ex-plained how the although the virus IHN was found, ISA has not been found in Washington State.

With all of the negatives and positives of fish farming it really is hard to pick a side. We all need food and money in this economy and fish farming produces a lot of food and jobs, but how much effect on the ecosystem is acceptable?

Fish Farming vs. Ecosystem By Karsten Turrey

Heading to the fish farm

Field Work NR 1

Randy Hodgin & Karsten tour Ediz Hook fish farm

Leaving the farm (see the seals?) Mr. L showing us the steps

Helping each other out

The group

Karsten & Keith working hard

Page 3

◄ Karsten (left) and Kelsey (Right) finding points for the GIS projects.

This is a finished project with points, labels and everything along Valley Creek by Karsten

▼

As part of our mapping unit the Skills Center Natural Resources One students went out to Val-ley Creek and looked at the tree planting sites we planted previously this year and past years.

While we were there, the three of us (Kelsey, Karston and I) all had different projects involving getting GPS points from some-thing such as Trees, noxious weeds or planting sites.

After getting the points, we found them on Google Earth and made GPS markers where we saw the objects. We also added pictures and descriptions to the GIS.

Photo Flash: GIS, the Future By Tyler Meguess

Natural Resources Options for 2nd Semester ENROLL NOW!

In the middle is one of the trees we planted October 29, 2012.

Tyler used this tree for one of his GIS points

▼

Sequim

North Olympic Salmon Coalition*

Tuesdays 3:00-6:00

Dungeness River Audubon Center

Thursdays 3:00-6:00

Dungeness Nat’l Wildlife Refuge

Saturdays variable times

Earn credit in science, English or

CTE + be eligible for internships

Port Angeles

ROV Science Club Crew*

Saturdays variable times

Olympic Park Visitor Center

Sundays 10:00-1:00

Streamkeepers of Clallam County

Mondays 3:00-6:00

Feiro Marine Life Center

Tuesdays 3:00-6:00

Olympic Marine Sanctuary

Thursdays 3:00-6:00

Forks

NR Options now offered in

Forks, plus there are new

projects in PA and Sequim*

Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition*

Wednesdays 2:30-5:30

Olympic Park Marine Debris*

Wednesdays 2:30-5:30

905 West 9th Street

Port Angeles, WA 98363

(360) 565-1892

www.nopsc.org/naturalresources

Sk i l l s Cente r Natura l Resour ces

gxÜÜt VÉzÇ|àt @ A student’s way of understanding the earth

Page 4

Art Design-Hannah McNabb

Layout-Tyler Meguess

Photos-Savannah Kays

Teacher-Dan Lieberman

Skills Center Natural Resources offers a variety of hands-on skills

training options for students 16-21 who do not have a high school

diploma. Enrollment is open now.

Natural Resources Options

Community Presentations

Olympic National Park Visitor Center

(2003 Mt. Angeles Rd.—Top of Race St.)

Sunday, January 20th, 12pm

Feiro Marine Life Center

(Port Angeles City Pier)

Tuesday, January 22nd, 3:30-6pm

Because if they die out then so will we

Now we need be real careful

And take care of our waters

So were left with more than a handful

My project is great so here I wait

For next coming Tuesday

I wait for my next chance to see

Whether or not it’ll be a doomsday

I know my project will have effects

That may e-logically affect me

But something else you may not think of

It gives me an SCP

Now not just for me but everyone else

But for the whole community

We must take care of the smallest of

things

So that tomorrow we’ll live to see…

At first thought one may not care

About small forms of life

But plankton is important too

And paying attention is right

Personally I’d like to see

How they grow with sunlight

Or how they live amongst each other

Swimming day and night

So here I contribute my studies now To

these small ‘Feiro-cious’ beasts

To learn how they support our e-system

By being our food chain feasts

Because if they die out then so will we

Now we need be real careful

And take care of our waters

So were left with more than a handful

Here at Feiro when we look

One can clearly see

That there is much beauty to behold

Where world meets the sea

We see the mountains and strait

With their grand lovely view

But now we need to look real close

To see the little things too

Poem of the Plankton By: Edward Stevenson

Join the Adventure! Enroll in Natural Resources program today!

Eddy observing plankton at the Feiro