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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOut Here, No One Can Hear You Scream
On an early Friday morning in late June 2006, Cheyenne Szydlo, a 33-year-old Arizona wildlife biologist with fiery red hair, drove to the Grand Canyons South Rim to meet the river guide who would be taking her along the 280 miles of the Colorado River that coursed a mile below. She was excited. Everyone in her field wanted to work at the Grand Canyon, and after several years of unsuccessful applications, Szydlo had recently been offered a seasonal position in one of the National Park Services science divisions. Shed quit another job in order to accept, certain her chance wouldnt come again.
The Grand Canyon is a mecca of biological diversity, home to species that grow nowhere else on earth. But after a dam was built upstream 60 years ago, changes in the Colorados flow have enabled the rise of invasive species and displaced numerous forms of wildlife. Szydlos task was to hunt for the Southwestern willow flycatcher, a tiny endangered songbird that historically had nested on the river but hadnt been seen in three years. Her supervisor believed the bird was locally extinct, but Szydlo was determined to find it. The June expeditiona nine-day journey through the canyon on a 20-foot motorboat operated by a boatman named Dave Loefflerwould be her last chance that summer. When Szydlo asked a coworker what Loeffler was like, the reply was cryptic: Youll see.
Szydlo, whod studied marine biology in Australia and coral reefs in French Polynesia, was drawn to the adventurous nature of the work. From my earliest memories, she told me, there was never any place that felt safer or happier to me than the outdoors. On the morning of the trip, she arrived at the boat shop early. She assumed theyd leave at once, to make the most of the day. Instead, she said, Loeffler took her to a coworkers house, and for an hour and a half, she sat uncomfortably as Loeffler told his friend about the battery-powered blender hed packed to make the best margaritas on the river.
They set out from Lees Ferry in Marble Canyon, the otherworldly antechamber to the Grand. From there, the river winds through towering, striated red cliffs and balancing rock formations, under the Navajo Bridge, and, at around mile 60, into the Grand Canyon itself. The views are stupefying, the waters turquoise, and the disconnection almost totala moonscape beyond cell phone reception. For many people, its a spiritual experience.
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/park-rangers/
The Grand Canyon is a mecca of biological diversity, home to species that grow nowhere else on earth. But after a dam was built upstream 60 years ago, changes in the Colorados flow have enabled the rise of invasive species and displaced numerous forms of wildlife. Szydlos task was to hunt for the Southwestern willow flycatcher, a tiny endangered songbird that historically had nested on the river but hadnt been seen in three years. Her supervisor believed the bird was locally extinct, but Szydlo was determined to find it. The June expeditiona nine-day journey through the canyon on a 20-foot motorboat operated by a boatman named Dave Loefflerwould be her last chance that summer. When Szydlo asked a coworker what Loeffler was like, the reply was cryptic: Youll see.
Szydlo, whod studied marine biology in Australia and coral reefs in French Polynesia, was drawn to the adventurous nature of the work. From my earliest memories, she told me, there was never any place that felt safer or happier to me than the outdoors. On the morning of the trip, she arrived at the boat shop early. She assumed theyd leave at once, to make the most of the day. Instead, she said, Loeffler took her to a coworkers house, and for an hour and a half, she sat uncomfortably as Loeffler told his friend about the battery-powered blender hed packed to make the best margaritas on the river.
They set out from Lees Ferry in Marble Canyon, the otherworldly antechamber to the Grand. From there, the river winds through towering, striated red cliffs and balancing rock formations, under the Navajo Bridge, and, at around mile 60, into the Grand Canyon itself. The views are stupefying, the waters turquoise, and the disconnection almost totala moonscape beyond cell phone reception. For many people, its a spiritual experience.
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/park-rangers/
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Out Here, No One Can Hear You Scream (Original Post)
SecularMotion
Mar 2016
OP
PADemD
(4,482 posts)1. Warning! This link made my pc freeze.
My pic will not reload. Blue screen of death.
2naSalit
(86,567 posts)2. Thanks! I never open HuffPo and will make sure, now, that I don't.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)3. No problem with the link here.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)4. The link froze on my screen, would not scroll and would not close.
When I rebooted, I got a blue screen.