Ethan Shaw

Ethan is an independent naturalist/researcher and freelance outdoors/natural-history writer based in Cove, northeast Oregon. Ethan is passionate about landscapes, from landforms and terrain to ecosystem geography and wildlife movements. “And definitely snow!” adds Ethan. Three years ago, he started a long-term project (Wallowa-Blue Mountain Snowfield Project) surveying and monitoring seasonal and perennial snowfields in his local high country, the Blue and Wallowa mountains of the Northern Intermountain West/Columbia Plateau. Learn more about the project here. Ethan says that it is important to “pay attention to the landscape—to get out there & OBSERVE, which is one of our main human strengths.”

Ethan enjoys hiking, backpacking, general mountaineering, and paddling. He adds that he is also a “hopeless fan of the Green Bay Packers and the Rolling Stones, and an enthusiastic (if middling) drummer & guitarist.”

What is community science? Why join CSO?

According to Ethan [community science] suggests how everybody, whatever their background, can make valuable observations about natural phenomena that might otherwise go completely unnoticed. He adds “Professional scientists are invaluable workers, of course, but there’s so much ground to cover; community scientists are essential, all the more so in this time of rapidly changing climate.” As somebody deeply interested in landscape ecology and the geosciences, Ethan is eager to study and track the snowpack in his local mountains. And, more specifically, he’s excited about expanding snow observations for his Wallowa-Blue Mountain Snowfield Project into the accumulation season (as opposed to the melt season, which is his main fieldwork window) for greater insights into how seasonal snowcover diminishes and how it influences summer snow patch distribution.

Check out Ethan on Instagram @wallowasnowfields