I spent some time in the Elwha River area and the Olympic National Park and Forest over the long weekend. It was a timely trip, given that next week I head to Olympia for my last Board of Natural Resources meeting.
Lake Crescent was just as clear as I remembered. The weather this time was much warmer than my last trip to the park. Even the Hoh Rain Forest was considerably drier than I had anticipated, based on my recollection of a daylong hike two decades ago. At the Kalaloch Lodge, many of the cabins are permanently closed due to an unstable bluff. Despite having only a couple of data points, I worry about the rate of change in this place designated as a World Heritage Site in 1981. Wildfire perhaps serves as a bigger threat to habitat conservation than any planned timber sales. Time will tell. Perhaps my next visit needs to fall within the next decade.
Time certainly moves quickly. On Friday I tour the new USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Plant Sciences building. It’s remarkable to see how fast the structure has gone up since the groundbreaking in August 2023. Of course, I suspect the interior may be far from complete (I will know more after Friday), but from the exterior, the progress is impressive. I have a much smaller personal construction project that is further from completion though it was started not long after the USDA-ARS building. Who knew that scale and scope are not the determinants for rate of completion.
When I mentioned field days in my last post, I hadn’t even thought about WSU Extension’s shearing school. But after reflecting on it, I think it definitely fits in that bucket. Congratulations to Sarah Smith for another successful event this year! Most people likely don’t appreciate how popular a good shearing school can be. Clearly, Sarah’s school is one that is sought after.
A short post is fitting for a short week. Much of this week is blocked with standing meetings with the associate deans, chairs and directors, and deans, as well as regular one-on-one meetings. I’m also wrapping up some projects, including the monitoring plan and associated dashboard data for our new strategic plan. I hope everyone had a nice long weekend and unofficial start of summer.