Saturday the 20th

Today, Sergio, Dallas and I left a little earlier than the group so that Juan could make it to Pasco in time to get picked up for his family event. It was great to have Juan out here with us and he was really helpful in the field. Especially for all of the soil testing with different kits, he got us comfortable with everything so that over the next week we’ll be able to take soil samples and analyze them ourselves! Hopefully he’ll be able to do some adjunct teaching with Heritage and get us a soil science course. We hung out at the Starbucks in Pasco for a few hours to make sure everyone is able to get up to date on our blogs and data entry. I think we all enjoyed our time in the AC and getting a bit of rest. And thank you to Jessica for getting us all a drink! Salvador Ayala made it to Pasco to take over as our second driver now that Juan is gone, he’s a super friendly guy who I have had the pleasure of hanging out with at my internship down at the WSU IAREC location in Prosser. We all headed out to Glenwood where we were able to meet with Corbin Schuster, a former Heritage professor who is now down at OSU leading lots of research. He showed us the way to our campsite at Bird Creek Campground where we all hung out and made some dinner. Afterwards he explained to us how his lab is modeling different diseases in Zebrafish to better understand how they will change as the Columbia River experiences climate change. They are also studying different diseases and parasites to better understand how they affect humans, even how they could impact conditions like autism. I am super thankful to Corbin to making the drive out here to talk to us and show us around the area he grew up in. Our campsite is beautiful and the creek is very peaceful.



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