Last Friday, Lewis & Clark College held its 3rd annual Festival of Scholars, an entire day of programs dedicated to showcasing our student scholarship and accomplishments from the sciences to the arts. For a hefty two hours of this day, the Environmental Studies department deployed its army of students to present on capstone and other ENVS-related works. With just 2 weeks left of this semester, I’ve already been thinking quite a bit on how to proceed with my senior capstone project, and I talked with several seniors to get a better understanding of their struggles and successes:
Perri Pond: The Logger, the Salmon Fisherman, and the Kayaker: Assessing Collaborative Natural Resource Management in the Tongass National Forest
Perri performed a qualitative assessment of resource-management in the Tongass National Forest by conducting interviews and analyzing “meeting minutes” and other publications. Her project was the most related to my capstone idea, which also deals with resource management and conservation on National Forest lands. She claimed that spending the summer in the Tongass and learning about its current controversies drove her to do her capstone on the situation – a story similar to mine! Perri also took the numbers-heavy course GEOL 280 Fundamentals of Hydrology, so I was surprised when I found out that her project involved little quantitative research. Spatial and quantitative analysis are both areas that I hope will act as the foundation to my capstone research, yet seeing the vast vast majority of ENVS projects lean towards qualitative research makes me question whether this is indeed something I should pursue. One piece of advice Perri gave me is to conduct as much research or interviewing over the summer while I am in the Siuslaw National Forest, my proposed capstone situated context. She said to try to talk with as many people of interest as possible and get contact information for follow-up research after the summer is done. I am extremely lucky to be able to work the summer preceding my senior year at the very place and in the very program that one of my capstone ideas centers on, and I plan to take Perri’s advice to heart and document what I can during my three months at the Siuslaw.
Shiloh: The Grey Wolf: Apex Predator or Media Prey?
Shiloh expanded her focus on the biology of the Grey Wolf by examining the human-side of the controversial situation. She analyzed both scientific and popular literature and found that the best chance for success is to work collaboratively across boundaries, agencies, and interest groups. As a biology major and ENVS minor, Shiloh initially approached her minor project through a strictly scientific eye, but after being recommended by ENVS staff to expand her perspective, she did so without regret. Indeed, her project would not have succeeded in accurately evaluating wolf conservation if she ignored the “non-science” aspects of this issue. Her project’s development is a reminder to me to keep my capstone project a work of the Environmental Studies and not just Biology.
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