Let the good times roll....

OK I think I’ve finally got the 8 hours (behind) time difference down, I no longer wake at 4am thinking it’s time for lunch, although I was awakened at 5am this morning by an over zealous woodpecker outside my window!

So my first full week at the USFWS forensics laboratory brought a fantastic mix of activities and a great insight into the next two months. 

On Monday morning I had the opportunity to introduce myself to the thirty or so scientists and I began to find my way around the facility, which is no easy feat as it’s rather large and very impressive. 

I was then fortunate to accompany Dyan Straughan, a forensic geneticist on a wildlife forensics out reach trip to a children’s summer camp in the  Siskiyou National Forest. We drove up into the mountains by lakes with beautiful views and there was even still snow on the ground in places.  We took along many items including a polar bear head, cougar and bobcat hides, skulls, ivory and corals.  The aim was for the kids to deduce what they were and why they thought so based on morphological characteristics.  I went around the tables and talked with them to help but most were just giggling at my accent....AND they all asked about the recent royal wedding :-)

Scenery across a lake in the mountains with a view of Mount Ashland

On Tuesday of last week I met William Woody, the new chief of the Office for Law Enforcement in the USFWS who was on his first official visit to the laboratory from Washington DC.  A very kind and approachable man with a real sense of ‘can do’.  He was also kind enough to arrange a VIP behind the scenes congressional tour of Washington DC for when I get to the East coast later on during this trip.  Following a conversation about my additional aims to understand more about how wildlife law enforcement activities take place here in the US he also introduced me to the federal special agent in charge of operations along the West Coast,  They both suggested I get out in the field on operations with them.  Hopefully this can be arranged in the next few weeks but I’ll keep you updated.

The latter part of the week was spent in the genetics labs extracting and quantifying DNA from North American black bears, cougars and bob cats.  This piece of research is focused on looking at polymorphisms on the Y chromosome.  This is a very exciting project and as it progresses I will go into more detail.

An organic extracted sample of DNA (The white blob in the tube is DNA strands clumped together!)

And as if that wasn’t enough I’m also arranging my schedule at the USFWS forensic laboratory to spend some time with pathology, digital forensics, morphology, chemistry and criminalistics (ballistics, fingerprints, tool marks, documents, fibres, glass, paint)….I can’t wait!

For now I bid you a fond farewell but PLEASE do feel free to comment on these posts and add any thoughts you may have…. Thanks!

The Story So Far.....

Thursday (my first full day) was a day of exploring town with Darlene and a rather lovely lunch of hamburger and fries…. who’d have thought it!  The town is beautiful and has a fast flowing creek running through the centre, which originates from the mountains behind.  Ashland has a real sense of community and spirit, it feels like no place I’ve experienced before, I already love it.

Friday was my first day at the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) forensics laboratory.  I owe this experience to Dr Steve Fain who kindly made it possible to become part of his team to carry out some forensic genetic research on North American Black Bear (Ursus americanus).  During a tour of the facility I met some of the wonderful staff and saw some great exhibits of evidential items collected over the years.

Saturday saw a mix of work and play.  In between spending time on my Eurasian badger DNA analyses write up I managed to buy a cell phone and a bike, so I think I’m pretty much all set.  Oh and before returning home Darlene took me to a wonderful music festival in town. Here I met some of Darlene's  friends and saw a couple bands play, Jeff Pevar was playing guitar….. a famous American musician, anyone know of him??...

There was also some pretty free for all, free love dancing going on.....

So is this summer going to be an incredible experience?.... I THINK SO :-)

Looking forward to a full week at the USFWS forensics laboratory next week….watch this space!

The Arrival

I’m here in Ashland Oregon and what a beautiful place it is.  Everything from the scenery to the people and daily life is nigh on perfect. 

So the journey here was thankfully uneventful, I first flew from Heathrow to San Francisco direct.  The flight path took us via Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, around the North of Hudson Bay, through five Canadian states entering the US via Washington State and then along the West coast to San Francisco. At a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet with an average ground speed of 570 mph, 6000 miles and 11 hours later we touched down.  Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the journey was the 23 hours of constant daylight due to different time zones.  I guess I may have looked quite dazed on arrival.  Whilst circling in the air waiting for a landing slot I could clearly see the Golden Gate Bridge, which made me smile, of course I’d seen it before…… but only in the movies!

From here followed a somewhat shorter flight of an hour 20 minutes to Medford Oregon.  Leaving the Boeing jet behind this leg was on a propeller plane, which only had 20 seats and vibrated all the way to Medford (I think I successfully managed to hide the fear in my eyes), it was a little bumpy coming down through valley to land but the female pilot did a grand job and at 9pm local time I HAD ARRIVED!  Darlene my landlady collected me from the airport and we made the short drive to Ashland.  Darlene is already a firm friend and there is definitely A LOT of fun ahead this summer J

And we're off...... well almost.... 7 DAYS TO GO

A very big welcome to my blog, be gentle with me as it's my first attempt so any suggestions to improve it would be greatly appreciated.  I hope you enjoy my future posts and I look forward to hearing your comments and ideas during the next 3 months and beyond....

Firstly I would like to sincerely thank the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for awarding me a travel fellowship to study wildlife crime, law enforcement and forensics in the USA and Canada. I am very excited to be sharing my experiences and adventures on here and my hope is that it will also help to promote awareness and provoke discussion around issues in wildlife crime. 

You are all very welcome to join my facebook page Wildlife Forensics in Action and Twitter Wildlife Forensics.

Now I'd better start to think about packing.... 

More soon!