“What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn’t have any doubt- it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn’t want to go anywhere else.”- Hal Boyle

Throughout my life the water has kept me sane, whether it is salt or fresh, hot or cold, or even stagnant or rushing, the feeling of being submerged is second to none. As my schooling towed me out of the salty oceans of Southern California’s arid beaches, my need for this lush chemical compound grew unwaveringly until my encounter with the great North West’s fluvial landforms. The feeling of constant flowing fresh water pushing up against my sun-charred pores is something I have trouble putting into words. These experiences shaped my view of how critical the hydrology cycle is, and forged a passion within me to enable fresh water access for generations to come.

This desire is best shown in my schooling, where I am currently taking a physical geography emphasis, and is mostly consolidated around studying fluvial geography. This has enabled me the skills to understand how rivers are formed, how they have been manipulated, and the general affects humans have on the ecosystem of rivers. Along with an emphasis in physical geography, I have also taken classes in order to obtain an emphasis in Geographic Information Sciences to further my technical skills and be able to turn geocoded data, into meaningful maps. These skills allow me to easily pin point landforms from topographic maps, and be able to see possible hazards from a wide variety of mass movements that could potentially be fatal to the public.

In Many exercises in my Geomorphology class I identified potential hazards through The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries online hazards map viewer, which is valuable in understanding why cities don’t allow building structures in certain zones. I found that many towns along the Oregon coastline are in severe danger of mass movements and Seismic activity that have the potential of creating a devastating tsunami in that region. Waldport, on the central Oregon coast, is a perfect example of a city that lies within a hazard zone. Sitting at an average elevation of thirteen feet, many crucial government buildings lie within the one hundred year flood plain, which could make a disaster much worse, by not having access to hospitals, schools, and police stations. Although the facts are known about Waldport, the city can do very little because there is such a large permanent population living there, with a very determined mindset to stay. This fueled my interest in discovering more about geomorphology and fluvial movements, and potentially saving towns from sure devastation.

The Geographic Information Science classes I have taken allow me to be more creative and to turn statistics into a painted image that the viewer can comprehend. This is a very useful tool to show stories and ideas, in a more visually appealing way that can sway people’s perceptions on a certain idea. A project that demonstrates these skills is a story map I created that shows the different urban farms that are a part of the Urban Farm Collective in North East Portland. In this project I researched what each farm grew, its location, and more general information to lure volunteers into growing there own food. I had to connect with many of the garden mangers, and was forced to persistently contact them to enhance my project. I used ArcGIS software to create my map, which involved geocoding each farm, finding pictures, listing foods, and giving volunteers important information. The final product was an easy to use map application that could have the potential of helping people in Portland find an urban farm near them. In future GIS courses, I plan on developing projects that directly affect watersheds and do purposeful research to maintain their tranquility. Eugene is a textbook place to do this type of research, with countless examples of watersheds and a fantastic community that has a huge sense of pride in its local waterways.

Water is, and always will be, one of the most imperative and treacherous resources that we have on our planet. The mistakes that generations of people made in the last few centuries, regarding our waterways, are countless and it is a trend that needs to be reversed before permanent devastation occurs. This is why I have looked to studying geography, to provide me with the tools I need to make a serious impact on the oversight that has already occurred and make serious improvements in how we conduct ourselves.