I am in Alaska as a paid technician on a PhD student's avian influenza study he goes to University of Minnesota but this project is in conjunction with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which is who pays me. This is the first study in North America of the effect of avian influenza on waterfowl fitness and population dynamics. Most of the people who study A.I. are virologists, very little of the bird science has been done.
I am getting paid. However I am here for another currency, the access to remote habitat that is prohibitively expensive to visit. I am in the boreal forest, at the edge of the tree line. I am in a location only accessible by boat, helicopter and float plane. This is what I live for.
Hi, Tony. I spent parts of a summer or two at the Minto Flats trying to trap Mallards with baited walk-in traps and Canon traps back in the mid-80's. You've got a great job in a great part of Alaska. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI should have known you were an Edward Abbey fan. My husband is a long-time Abbey acolyte and wilderness lover (mountains, rivers, wolves). In wildness is our preservation.
ReplyDeleteJo