Life Beyond the Undergraduate World

View from the summit of Rattlesnake Mountain

View from the summit of Rattlesnake Mountain

View of Cardigan Mountain from Cardigan Mountain Orcahard

View of Cardigan Mountain from Cardigan Mountain Orcahard

It has been over a month here at Plymouth State University in the Graduate Studies for Environmental Science and Policy. What first comes to mind is “wow, what a huge transition from an undergraduate degree to a master degree”. I cannot even begin to explain the differences between the two.

The Masters for Environmental Science and Policy program has been great. The professors, staff, and graduate students are one of a kind. I have never experienced such a “tight niche group” in my life. I experience new challenges every day and look forward to learning more in the future. A few goals of mine for this year are: learn more about research (everything that it entails), networking, learn more about hydrology and GIS, and to take classes that will help me with my research.

Being new to the school and also the town of Plymouth, I must say I have and have been already loving the area. For the past 5 years I have been use to the seacoast area of New Hampshire. Transitioning to the rural Plymouth has been a great experience. Having a passion for the outdoors really helps me as well. I want to take advantage of having the White Mountain’s National Forest in my backyard. Every week I try to go outside and explore the area.

This past weekend, I visited two amazing areas: Cardigan Mountain Orchards and Rattlesnake Mountain in Rumney. The orchard really stood out to me because not only did it have amazing apples to pick from, there was an amazing view of Cardigan Mountain from the orchard. If you want an awesome experience apple picking, I definitely recommend going there. They also have the best apple cider I have ever tasted! I was also able to do a short, but also awesome hike at the local Rumney Rattlesnake Mountain. It was a fairly easy hike, took about 30 minutes to get up top, and the view was SPECTACULAR. The foliage was unbelievable, and you almost have a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. I think this past weekend deserves an A+

Beach life: chronicling the summer field season of a PSU ES&P grad sdtudent

HigginsEvening

I spent this summer soaking up the summer sunshine and inhaling the sweet salty air and up and down the coast from Scarborough, ME to Seabrook, NH.

All in the name of research!

(Tough work, I know.)

For my masters thesis work Dr. Shannon Rogers and I are investigating local ecological knowledge and risk perception in the surfing population of southern Maine and New Hampshire. Our work is part of the New England Sustainability Consortium’s Safe Beaches and Shellfish project.

Within the NEST project our work is focused on the surfing population of southern Maine and New Hampshire.

Why surfers?!

Well, surfers are an ideal population to study when investigating regional water quality. This is because

  1. Surfers are in the water for longer periods of time and become fully emerged (versus wading
  2. Surfers participate in the sport year round (yes, even in the slushy waves of January and February). This is important due to seasonal variation in rainfall as well as changes in WWTP outputs.
  3. Surfers are more likely to ingest water or get cuts or scrapes through which microbial pathogens can enter.
  4. Surfers often surf during or after storms when water quality is the lowest.

 

This storm drain at Long Sands beach in York is one of several along the beach.

This storm drain at Long Sands beach in York is one of several along the beach.

At Fortune's Rock surf spot in Biddeford Pool, ME the lineup occurs at the outflow of a pipe.

At Fortune’s Rock surf spot in Biddeford Pool, ME the lineup occurs at the outflow of a pipe.

Faded lettering warns of potential E. coli contamination

Faded lettering warns of potential E. coli contamination

 

Over the course of the spring, summer, and fall we successfully recruited over 250 surveys respondents! I am forever grateful for the help of Trina Lafata, an awesome summer intern for The Stewardship Network and undergrad studying environmental engineering at UNH. Malin Clyde, Project manager for The Stewardship Network and UNH Cooperative Extension specialist, was kind enough to generously share Trina. She was a great asset to the surfer survey!

Trina and I at the Maine Beaches Conference in July

Trina and I at the Maine Beaches Conference in July

In July we presented some of our preliminary findings at the Maine Beaches Conference in South Portland, ME. We are currently wrapping up our data collection with final surveying and interviews to be completed by the end of this month.

While our work is wrapping up for many of the surfers of Maine and New Hampshire the prime season is just beginning. Fall is notorious for righteous waves and gnarly swells, SO pitted brah.

Chasing waves

Chasing waves at Higgins Beach, Scarborough, ME

 

 

My work on NEST is supported by the National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR programs in Maine and New Hampshire.