Clams, paper and education

Friday started early for the team. It was razor back clam digging time. Licences are only available for a few weekends a year, and as we were to discover, thousands of people head to the beaches in search of this tasty shellfish.

Waders on, and shovel in hand, the team, aided by a few local Rotarian's, began digging holes, and jamming our arms, full length, into the sand to pull out the clam. Shrieks were heard by all when a clam attacked Shana, but in the end, we all escaped with a bounty of clams, and memories of a very unique Western Washington experience.

So after an uneventful morning, we were now off to Grays Harbor Paper. We were treated to an informative tour through the facility, from electricity generation, to cooking the pulp, and the steps to making all sorts of different paper products. Grays Harbor Paper produces copy, waxed, printing, and other specialty paper products, and for those of us who had been through paper mills before, this was a great opportunity to see another side to the process.

And now for education, Grays Harbor College was our next stop. Here, we met with the lectures from the Natural Resources programme, and learnt of the history of Forestry education in the USA and Grays Harbor's role in delivering high quality and relevant forestry education. The education system in the USA is structured a little differently to that of Australia's, and best of all, they have plenty of students to teach.

As you can tell, a great day was had by all, and as we attended our final Aberdeen/Hoquiam gathering at the Polson Museum last night, it was clear that this GSE experience has by far, exceeded expectations already, and we still have over three weeks left.

Next Stop Port Angeles