From the Caribou Program’s Chinchaga crew, here’s an update on field work, July 2015.
Heli Yah! – by the MPB Chinchaga Crew, Shift 2
Do you remember The Neverending Story? More specifically the scene where Atreyu and his horse Artax are navigating the swap of sadness and Artax just sort of gives up and sinks into the abyss while Atreyu screams holding the reins? If you replace Artax with quads/trucks, reins with winches, and a crying runny nose Atreyu with crying runny nosed fRI field techs you would begin to understand some of the roads in the Chin.
Caribou 1 and 2 found their way to Manning/Chinchaga main and were quickly adopted by the local fire crews, most importantly Kyle, the camp sous chef, who would show up on our doorstep with desserts. After some impressive trailer hauling by our resident farmboy Adam, we set out into the Chin to start data collection. It was quickly determined that the Chin requires some sort of sacrifice before yee be granted passage. For Caribou 1 it was their pride as they managed to get their truck stuck on day one. It took Adam’s knife and the first lock of hair of the season from Marlene to get the truck out of the mud.
The last part of the shift had us flying to helicopter plots with the ever-awesome pilot Miss Danielle. Between hail and thunder storms we all made it out in one piece with the Chin granting Caribou 1 its first grizzly sighting of the season on the final day.
Thanks to Danielle and Ridge Rotors Helicopters for keeping us safe in the air, and to Steve Blanton and Manning Diversified Forest Products for facilitating use of their tree planting helicopter.
