Friday Harbor High School STEM teacher Sam Garson is currently on a week-long expedition with Earthwatch to study Wildlife and Reforestation in Brazil. Earthwatch is an international environmental nonprofit whose mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment. Garson will be taking that experience back to the classroom this fall. During this particular study participants will “Investigate small, medium, and large mammals in REGUA, from the common southern four-eyed opossum to the rarely-seen puma. Using both live traps for small to medium animals and camera traps for larger animals, collect information about how the mammals of the reserve are responding to reforestation efforts. This project will actively contribute data to the management plan of REGUA and produce technical reports for reforestation decision-makers. Additionally, participants will aid in reforesting the reserve by helping to grow seedlings and may have the opportunity to plant them within the forest. Time in the reserve is limited, but the trees nurtured will be protected and may stand for decades,’ the Earthwatch website states.

After a six-mile hike into the Brazilian rainforest, he and his teammates set 180 mammal traps. “Tomorrow we’ll see what we get!” Garson said. Read more about Earthwatch at www.earthwatch.org

Contributed photo Sam Garson and his teammates.

Contributed photo The brown possum is one of the many creatures that is being studied.