Emerson Worrell, 2023 Community Science Intern, holds up a crayfish that will be analyzed for mercury.
The Spokane Riverkeeper, in partnership with the University of Idaho, held 4 crayfish collection events between July 1st to September 1st. Three of these events were with the general public while one event was with the Salish School. Out of the 4 events, we had 86 volunteers who helped catch 210 individual crayfish. The Salish School alone had 14 volunteers who managed to catch 100 crayfish in about 3 hours. Testing these crayfish for mercury will help inform the public if the crayfish and other species are safe for human consumption or if warnings are needed to be put in place due to high levels of toxins. Previous results show low levels of mercury in our crayfish.
As the intern for the project this summer, I was able to gain a lot of valuable skills in science, advocacy, and communication. As a current graduate student at Eastern Washington University, this internship was a great opportunity to add skills I will use for my future career in academia as well as helped grow those skills to help current students in courses where I am a professor assistant. I enjoyed learning about the crayfish project itself along with meeting many amazing community scientists and future scientist. I now have the skills to become a better advocate and understanding of how to get community involvement and interest in scientific research and issues. I hope to bring advocacy and outreach into my academic career using such amazing new knowledge.
