Bruce Melton PE - Bio
Bmelton at earthlink.net 8103 Kirkham Austin Texas 78736 (512)7997998
Personal Perspective:
I have been to see the "Big Melt" for myself. The scientists there are wide-eyed and talking fast. One of the scientists I met in Ilulissat, Dr. Konrad Steffen (Director of Cires (Cooperative Institute for resaerch in Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Boulder) - possibly the most senior active Greenland climate scientist, has recently stated that climate change is progressing ten times faster than predicted. That's what it looks like to me. Both from reading the academic papers, and now from seeing it with my own eyes.
This was my first year training for camping at the top of the ice cap in Greenland. This is in southern Colorado near the headwaters of the Rio Grande River. It was a low snow year, so I was able to drive to one of my family's favorite summer camps.
This is one of my earliest climbs in 1993, - a 13,000 foot saddle in the Mosquito range, just east of Leadville , Colorado.
Did you look at the chapters to my book Earth at Risk: Abrupt Climate Change is Happening Now
I am going to fish more from deserted barrier islands this year: The fish below was a redfish, 43 inches, maybe 40 pounds. It was caught at Pass Cavallo on the Central Texas Coast, between two deserted islands, Matagorda Island and Matagorda Peninsula (it's an island too, cut off from the world by the Colorado River). It is such a tremendous thing to be able to experience a wilderness of this magnitude virtually in the middle of Texas.
Dad's little homemade wooden boat needs to see more salt water. Thanks Pop, We love you.
Ice Melter #1 (the Suburban). Fifty miles down the Four Wheel Drive Only beach at the Padre Island National Seashore. One can not get here in a 2wd vehicle.
Summit of Casa Grande, 2005, Christmas, Big Bend National Park
2005 Rocky Mountain National Park
Another deserted island, 2000, Rabbit Key, 10,000 Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Everglades National Park. Solo in a 16 foot Carolina Skiff out of Chokoloskee Florida.
Fishin the back bays out of Port O'Connor, Texas - yet another deserted island. This one is called Bayucos Island. It's mostly grass, very little dirt comes up above the high tide mark, maybe none. It's about 2 miles from the boat ramp at Port O'Connor. Piloting a boat at night through twisty turning bayous, sloughs and back bays in a wilderness marsh at night is a hoot! We were catching a few small to medium sized (1 to 3 pound) redfish and then all of sudden we had two giant hookups of 40+ pound fish. One was likely a jack cravelle, the other a blacktip shark. The blacktip jumped once or twice - they have that reputation. WE could here the massive splashes in the dark, but could not see them. The jack took off like a pickup truck. Most of the terminal gear was lost on more than just the two rodst that had fish on them. Neither fish saw the boat. WAHOOOOOoooo....!
This is Woody. Pop built her in 1988 (I think). He gave it to us boys (me and my two brothers) if we promised not to fight over it. She's been in my care. One brother has a bay boat already and the other has too many kids to go fishing with us that often. The first year we had it we sunk her in a hurricane force wind during a blue-norther while camped at Pass Cavallo. No-one was hurt. The norther snuck up on us three days ahead of the forecast at dawn the third morning out. Little brother number 2 was walking the boat around the point trying to get her into quiet water when she got away from him out into the nine knot current of the Pass. We tied ropes to him and he swam out and retrieved it, all while the wind was blowing at least 50, lightning was crashing and it was raining to make the cows turn tail. You couldn't talk except to yell at the top of your lungs. We lost a lot of gear and learned a lot of lessons. Fortunately we saved the boat. We used the boat of Brother #2 to go back to town and get more beer and steaks and to haul gear at the end of the trip. We stayed the remaining 4 nights of our scheduled camp. The tally that trip was 13 sharks, each 4 to 5 foot long, and one stingray that had to go 50 pounds. Those are the ones that hit the beach. No telling what got away - there are some huge fish out there. We had several events where fish just took off without even saying goodbye and left us blinking and stuttering with double handfulls of busted tackle. It becomes obvious quickly in a place like this that man is just a small creature in the big picture of things.
This is what happens in the Austin Chapter of Trout Unlimited. We annually stock 20,000 pounds of Missouri rainbows and browns in the Guadalupe River. The Guadalupe is actually a Gold Medal River, designated as a supreme trout fishery, similar to the Madison, the Gallatin, the Cache La Poudre, Green, and the South Fork of the Platte, etc. It is the only year-round trout fishery in the state of Texas where there are no natural trout streams in existence. The fish we stock are not like those Parks and Wildlife stockers that most folks are accustomed to. We pay a little more and get the big fish. The one in this photo represents the 15% or so of the fish that we stock that are the old breeder fish used at the hatchery. Again, we pay a little more to get these pups, but they are worth it.
Endangered Species Surveying: Houston Toad - have you ever been turned loose on a unknown piece of property, at night, with a flashlight and a map, with a couple of lunatic biologists, and told to go find those toads you hear in the distance? Some pretty darned cool orienteering ensues.
Ancient History - the first one dufflebagger for me: Sequoia, 1985. I'm up top. Just out of college. My first cool really cool trip. We had one duffel bag each on a plane to LA with a rent car to Sequoia.
Cameras are cool~ This is on the Fryingpan River north of Aspen Colorado. I don't shoot film anymore, I miss the good old days. But my new work is far superior to film. Check out my a few of my photos at Casa Grande Photoagraphy.
Carlsbad Caverns
The bat flight at Carlsbad
Grand Lake Colorado
And my band Climate Change practices every Friday night at the studio here in Oak Hill. Please come to visit.
Austin is cool. Bands in every neighborhood. Support live music.
Do something important
Do something that matters
Do something that's real
Do something! And don't complain!
Park Creek of the Rio Grande River, Rio Grande National Forest, South Central Colorado
Extraordinary things are not done by extraordinary people, they are done by regular folk, who keep busy and who are dedicated and loyal, who understand that humans make mistakes and who can tolerate those mistakes, no matter what they are.
Watch your carbon footprint.
October 31, 2010 by Bruce Melton P.E.
Copyright © 2010 Melton Engineering Services Austin, Casa Grande Films and the band Climate Change