Being in the middle of nowhere, with no way to contact those I left behind, created a space for growth. I found it both exhilarating and challenging—being disconnected from the world I was used to felt like flipping a coin. On one side was the thrill of living entirely in the moment, unattached to the steady ping of messages or the urgency of news. On the other side was the gnawing awareness that those I loved were still living their lives without me, and I couldn’t instantly be part of their moments or share my own. This experience, however, taught me something profound: there is beauty in this disconnection, a freedom that opens space for the unexpected and the new.
The next morning groups were assigned and we headed out on our transects. There was a variety of different stories and experiences when we all returned and almost everyone was just a little sunburnt. Some transects passed through the administration area of Patagonia National Park, others took transects into knee-high mud and others climbed up in elevation and were able to look down on the valley.
We took our natural history quiz in which we applied all the knowledge we had learned on the trip so far. It included identifying native trees and shrubs, bird calls, and geographical and geological features of the basin. The Tamango Sector backpacking trip was a perfect introduction to Round River fieldwork and fun.
You don’t need a huge property or a large amount of money to live a suitable lifestyle that benefits yourself and the nature around you. What was once just a campground at Alma Verde, became a garden and greenhouse which then turned into a school about permaculture.
Sebastian Szweda, Westminster College, gives a point-of-view look at a day spent summiting mountains in the Taku watershed for the global GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments) project.
he Llewellyn Glacier is retreating which provides an opportunity to view depositional glacial features such as recessional moraines, and to observe patterns of vegetative succession in newly ice-free areas. Perhaps future Round River students will one day have the good fortune of conducting a rain-free vegetation survey at the Llewellyn terminus, but we made the most of our rainy days, and were content to fondly recount this trip’s adventures from the comfort of Phil’s couch.
While the unrelenting daylight of Atlin doesn’t lend much to traditional nighttime pleasures, we’ve had the privilege of finally witnessing the beautiful British Colombia sunsets during Nighthawk surveys in the past two weeks.
The GLORIA project is a global project that maps out plant species on different summit altitudes. Sentinel mountain is the tallest mountain used for research in the GLORIA project. The data gathered from this four-day backpacking trip will be used to track and monitor species at different elevations which include Nival, high alpine, low alpine, and tree line.
Gwen gives a walk through of sweeping transects for Magellanic Woodpeckers at the Trapananda Reserve.
Patagonia – Spring 2024
Sarah Maroney from the University of Vermont gives a tour of Cochrane’s Waste Management
https://youtu.be/nur9XfzDMww
Mayson shows what trail condition data collection looks like in the rain! And what happens to noodles if you forget to stir the pot. Day 2 is much sunnier and full of fun surprises!
Follow East for a day of Nirre tree seedling surveys, and expert level mouse control in camp.
Its Vizcacha Survey Day! Catch a dramatic sunrise, a couple vizcacha, plus puma and guanaco sightings!
Paige brings us along on learning about Huemul deer and conducting surveys
Claire shares some field lessons in Patagonia including: plant and animal identification, Carpentera/Magellanic woodpecker nest cavity identification, and native seed collection
Caleb gives a layout of the landscapes of the Aysen Valley in Patagonia, Chile
We were camping deep in the Furiosa sector of Patagonia National Park collecting data for a pilot study looking at the endangered huemul deer in the area. The study was looking into the relationship between the populations of huemul and the cows illegally grazing in the park. Our tasks for the day were to document any signs of huemul (i.e. scat, tracks, rubs) and to retrieve the two camera traps left out by a past semester.