Day 11 - South Slough National Estuary Research Reserve

The class excitement for today was an outing to the SSNERR (South Slough National Estuary Research Reserve).  This estuary is one of 5 national estuaries on the west coast of the USA and is only about 5 miles from OIMB.  Nice!

BYU-Idaho MBFE at the South Slough National Estuary

L-R: Ty, Tony, Lindsey, Blake, Mackenzie, Kristin, Daniel Dallas, Bailey, Patrick, Jessica, Elysa

We trekked about 3 miles this morning, visiting different areas of the slough, but mainly tidal channels, mud flats, and salt marshes.  The trails were well maintained and well marked.

MBFE making their way to an overlook at the SSNERR

Tidal channel at SSNERR during low tide

(c) 2013 Alan Holyoak

Salt marsh at SSNERR

(c) 2013 Alan Holyoak

We got back to OIMB just in time for lunch.

After lunch we had a lecture on estuaries, then students spent the rest of the day working on research and processing the sand samples we collected the day before.  

The sand was collected from 5 different locations with different degrees of wave exposure.  The sand was oven dried and then passed through a series of sieves to characterize each sample by sand particle size.

The student research projects are coming along nicely.  Students spent the rest of the day on that work.  

I am extremely pleased and proud of the dedication and self-motivation of this group of students.  They work hard, help each other, and include each other in whatever is going on.  There does not appear to be a weak link in the bunch.

I look forward to seeing what they discover via their research.  Stay tuned.