Week 1 Spike (Work) Recap

Dear Reader,

First, your narrator apologizes for this past week of silence but assures his readers that while away from the keyboard, he has been on the ground with students so that his readers may obtain the most accurate (though not live) coverage of the happenings at YCC. Finally with a computer in hand, your narrator writes this post with thanks to readers who have patiently waited for this installment. In particular, this chapter will focus on Session II crews' first spike (work week). The next will focus on this past weekend's park tour. Alright, let's get started!

Work weeks typically begin Monday, but since orientation took place last Monday, students instead departed for spike on Tuesday. As with a typical first day of the spike week, last Tuesday opened with a guest presentation on visitor use monitoring (VUM), the study of visitor numbers, interests, and practices. These data guide park decision makers on resource allocation, e.g., whether to open new parking lots or pit toilets, and allow for data-driven improvements to the park. This talk proved pertinent to the crews as two crews would conduct such studies throughout this week (and all students will this session).

Once Mike and Bonnie concluded their opener on VUM, crews began to load the "burbs", the Chevrolet Suburban SUVs that transport the crews.

And they're off!.. accomplishing quite some amazing things:

Alpha Crew

Throughout the week, the three crews mostly worked on the same types of projects: bear box installation, visitor use monitoring, and community science investigations, albeit at different locations and times of the day. As such, alpha crew started the week with bear boxes near Yellowstone Lake, the largest high elevation lake in North America and then continued onto investigation on dragonfly populations via larvae counts:

Bravo Crew

Like Alpha crew, Bravo also began their week with bear box installation, though this time at the Norris and Canyon campsites.

Let's look behind the scenes of this grand opening, though, for the hard work that realizes an installed bear box:

They stayed at Canyon (brink of the Lower Falls) to gather VUM (visitor use monitoring) data with Bonnie:

Likewise, they also conducted dragonfly larvae counts as part of community science:

Charlie Crew

Another bear box grand opening!

And some other views behind the scenes:

Your narrator would now like to take a moment to remind the reader about the importance of bear boxes as the reader may have noticed that bear box installation has been and will remain a recurring theme in this blog. Bear boxes disincentivize hungry bears from interactions with humans and therefore reduce the likelihood of bear attacks. Since the park must neutralize belligerent bears, bear boxes discourage bear encounters with humans and therefore help protect bears and hence conserve Yellowstone's ecosystem.

Charlie crew also assisted in dragonfly larvae counts:

Recreation off-hours:

Thus ended Session II's first work week. Soon, they would embark on a tour of the park (to get the tourist experience). Stay tuned for those details!

Regards,

Your Narrator

P.S. Your narrator appreciates the answer on the last post's icebreaker question. He first posed a similar question at a scrum stand-up when he worked at an internet company. Memorable responses included: "develop a resemblance to bear prey so that bears could crack open the ice for them" and "develop social structures with other members of the species to (figuratively) break the ice". Now, leave a comment to answer this question: what is the most interesting insect you have seen in your hometown?