My Approach to the Whole Dam Thing.
When choosing my approach to studying my area of inquiry, I could’ve researched the politics and science behind the dam. There is currently a discussion between government entities and corporations of either keeping Capitol Lake as is or removing Capitol Lake Dam and returning the area back into an estuary. However, I felt all sides would’ve used my ignorance to steer me wrong, using over inflated prediction models or underestimated budget costs, all with hidden agendas. I could’ve filtered through tons of media spun statistics, searched for hours for scientific based data, and basically took up the entire quarter researching opinions. But instead of getting multiple biased perspectives, I decided to try and get a feel for the area and its sense of place. I wanted to get to know what was at stake if climate change did wreak havoc in the area. So I visited Capitol Lake, the Dam, Heritage Park, the North Basin Shoreline Trail, the Sidewalk Loop along Deschutes Pkwy SW, Percival Cove, and Tumwater Falls.
What I found out about my area of inquiry, and about myself, was that I have more questions than answers. There are a few species that I am very concerned about. How will the salmon be affected by the rising water temperatures? If they decide to turn it back to an estuary, what will happen to the bat population? Will the lake ever be open again for public recreation? Will joggers continue to use the path along Deschutes if they restore the area to an estuary? Will city officials use the estuary restoration as a way to also adapt the area to the future sea level rise? Will there even be a nature for me to photograph in another twenty to thirty years? Will I need to capture all the vanishing species I can right now, so that I can at least show my grandkids what a wild Coho salmon looked like? Will I have to explain to my grandchildren what a tree was just like the grandmother had to in Dr. Seuss’ classic The Lorax? How far is all this climate change going to go before either A, it somewhat stabilizes and we can mitigate further damage, or B, climate gets so inhospitable that the human population along with other species dwindle drastically in size? I could fill at least three more pages with questions and maybe only one with answers that aren’t even scientifically sound so not worth much as answers, rather good ideas of what’s going on. I will definitely say that I am possibly less ignorant to what is currently going on in the world around me than I was before. I miss the bliss of ignorance.
