Number one of three

It's been a while since my last post, and lots has been happening! Can't put everything in one post, so I'll have to break it up over a few days.

I got a new job! I'm now working for a land reclamation company based out of Edmonton. I started a week and a half ago. On Monday I went with a co-worker down to Manyberries (which is south of Seven Persons and north of Onefour!) to document a mess that an oil company made while dragging broken down equipment out of a lease after the ground had thawed. They made a disgusting mess. It's going to take some work to fix all that. And that's just a small portion of it. You'd be surprised at how ignorant some people are. That's Marty (my co-worker) next to his quad in the middle of the picture.
Of course I took my camera and I managed to get some cool pictures! The Prairie Crocuses (Latin: Anemone patens) are blooming in full force and are like tiny purple spots of joy and life in the brown prairie. They are always the first plant to bloom in the spring time.

The Moss Phlox (Latin: Phlox hoodii) is also blooming in full force. This is a small clump on an abandoned oil lease. It's great at colonizing disturbed areas.
On our lunch break I scrambled up the side of a coulee (it was hands and knees at the top) to take a look at an old hawk nest that was falling off a cliff. When I got to the top I spooked a Canada Goose sitting on her nest! She made her nest at the very point of a ridge sticking out into the coulee. I have no idea how she plans to get her babies down from there. When I sat on the top of this ridge, one leg hung down one side, and the other leg hung down the other side! It's so steep - I can just imagine the goslings tumbling down like little balls of fluff.
I was hoping that Cougar Environmental (worked for them in Jan down in Milk River) would ahve more work for me, but no such luck. I've spent the past few months working for a friend on his Ph.D. work, and have been searching intensively for a good job. I was stubborn and turned down some offers because I was holding out for the job I wanted. It paid off in the end. I'm now working on the "other end" of the environmental consulting industry. Instead of determingin how oil and gas development will affect animal and bird life, I'm determining how it will affect the soils and plant life. I'll also be involved with planning reclamation work for distrubances like the one in the picture at the top. It's interesting work and I've learned lots already.

I've completed my B.Sc. in Rangeland and Wildlife Resource Management, and have decided to go back to skool in Sept to finish off my degree with a double major - Land Reclamation will be my second - so this job is perfect for learning about things in the field before I learn about them in the classroom - very beneficial.