Hi folks, I'm a biologist in BC. Self-employed which means I must learn all sorts of skills, including surveying! I'm hoping to draw upon the knowledge of more experienced surveyors so I can get it right!
Serious question: what sort of work does a self-employed biologist get into?
And how accurate do your survey measurements need to be, both with respect to each other, and with respect a large coordinate system (lat/lon, UTM, SPC, etc)?
I once had to follow a crew of science-minded folks through the woods that were identifying wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas in planning a turnpike route.?ÿ I would get donut shop napkin maps showing me where they had planted little flags for me to locate. They needed a quick course in mapping for sure.?ÿ
To top it all off the little flags had what appeared to me to be the entire Old Testament (in Latin) scribbled upon them. Try punching that into an a DC.?ÿ
I have wandered many wetlands looking for those flags. It helps if you know where to look for the edge of the wetland (it really isnt that complicated), but all too often I would get flag 1, 2, 4...??? spend half an hour looking for#3
#3 was either not there (someone lost count) or it was a tiny shred of flagging in the middle of a thicket.?ÿ
Now, I knew the biologist, and I wondered how in the world that big older fellow got through the brush without leaving me a trail to find...then I was out at the same time as him one day. He jumps out of his fancy truck, and out of the other side pops a 90lbs young lady fresh out of college. He stood on the road, and she literally crawled through the brush. The only way to become a certified biologist around here is to put your time in like she was. He was retired from the Govt and was doing this to pay for his trips to Australia to visit his girlfriend.?ÿ
