SWWASAS Posted June 18, 2015 BFF Patron Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) Whoosh! That sound was me blowing the smoke off the barrel of my government involvement gun. Doing some detective work today after trying to get to a new trail system. Back to the mysterious tower site. . Apparently they have been having problems with people finding the road to the location and making deliveries. A small sign was attached to a post directing people to the road that leads to the tower site. On that sign was "MWCC NEON" and an arrow. Parked at the tower site was a utility trailer with a Colorado license. The internet is a wonderful thing. A search of MWCC linked to Colorado reveals that MWCC is a construction company based in Colorado. They do a lot of things like build towers and other government related things including things for the military. I was about to give up at that when I noticed a one word reference to NEON without explanation on the MWCC construction website. A search of NEON of course gives you display signs and other uses of neon but one reference took me to NEON "National Ecological Observatory Network" which is funded by the National Science Foundation. You can look up their website. One of the stated goals of the NEON network is to "Determine the range of life forms in a particular region" It is not a cell or communication tower and as I watched workers were installing a large vertical radio antenna quite unlike any cell phone or microwave antenna. Well folks you don't need a big array of seismic sensors monitor weather, to detect squirrels in a particular area, or find life forms you already know are there. For something to trigger seismic sensors they have to be quite large. For some reason the National Science Foundation is very interested in my research area. I wonder why they are curious about the full range of life forms in that area?. Edited June 18, 2015 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeafTalker Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Fascinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMBigfoot Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Here's a video I found that may explain why the NSF is interested in your research area. You can watch the whole video or start around the :30 second mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWASAS Posted June 19, 2015 BFF Patron Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 I find the wording of one of the objectives of NEON fascinating. "Biodiversity: The full range of life forms on earth, or in a particular region." Full range of life forms? Use of the words "life forms" is curious. One would think they would say indigenous species or something like that. The entire thing is probably totally innocent and devoid of any connection to BF. But, inadvertently they have put the station right in the middle of an active BF area. I doubt that it will be manned as the intent is to remotely operate experiments and observations. As I mentioned this is within 100s of yards of where something put the above picture of the rock and stick glyph on the stump behind me. Once BF gets used to the station and curious they will come and explore it. I can just see curious teen juveniles climbing the tower. Right now the area is not fenced. If part of the objective is to observe wildlife in the area, I do not see how they can fence the area. I would expect remotely controlled FLIR and visual spectra cameras to be installed on the tower. It they do that they might get some interesting pictures of those "life forms". I may tip off our local newspaper reporters and try to get myself invited for a tour to check it out, since it is in Clark County. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWASAS Posted June 19, 2015 BFF Patron Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 (edited) Workers on the NEON tower yesterday. That is either a vertical antenna or a lighting rod they are working on. Mt Hood National Forest from my airplane the other day. Mt Hood off in the distance. On the very left side that is Mt Adams. How could a species hide from humans in that area?. Notice the lack of roads, trails or human access. The feature in the river valley is a river. This is near the Tarzan Springs area. I found another stuffed toy at the very end of a dead end logging road. What is the deal with stuffed toys in remote areas? I was exploring the logging roads in that area and had never been on that one before. I will not show the picture because it might be considered obscene. A stick had been driven through the crotch area of the toy into the ground. Edited June 19, 2015 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasfooty Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Is that a bug splatted on the window or something flying along beside you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWASAS Posted June 19, 2015 BFF Patron Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 Bug splat. I operate off a grass field and this time of year things are very buggy taking off and landing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigtex Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 What a very cool toy SWWAS.......love that plane!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1980squatch Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Very interesting reporting SSW, thanks much for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveedoe Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I found this http://www.neoninc.org/science-design/collection-methods/flux-tower-measurements gonna have to go up there and check it out, see if anyone is around to talk to. great work Randy. Love the pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigantor Posted June 20, 2015 Admin Share Posted June 20, 2015 (edited) I agree, great work Randy! I think daveedoe has nailed it. It could also double as a siesmic array to detect earthquakes. The new tech lays out sensors in a spread formation which makes the array more sensitive, like a radio telescope array. The sensors in the tower are above ground to measure sway.... just a guess. Edited June 20, 2015 by gigantor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyO Posted June 20, 2015 SSR Team Share Posted June 20, 2015 That would be you what, South East of Mt Hood then Randy in that plane ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWASAS Posted June 20, 2015 BFF Patron Author Share Posted June 20, 2015 Soils sensors makes sense the way the array was laid out. They probably will put a fence around the place at some point. All the workers were on the tower when I was there and did not figure I could even talk to them. There are not any no trespassing signs posted yet but they are probably coming. The Danger Keep Out sign probably would be grounds for calling the sheriff if they did not want you around. Metal theft is so rampant here that they better do something quick or their wires, conduit, and boxes could all disappear over night. They do not work on weekends. I was SW of Mt Hood when the picture was taken. I had checked out the area NW of Peavine Mountain looking for the ancient wall mentioned in the Oregon Bigfoot Highway. I spent about an hour zig zagging the Peavine area looking for the wall. Then I flew over to take a look at Tarzan Springs from the air. It was in that area that I took the pictures of Hood towards the NE. Was a pretty day. I could see Jefferson, Hood, Adams, St Helens, and Rainier all at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyO Posted June 20, 2015 SSR Team Share Posted June 20, 2015 SW of course yeah sorry, coastal side of Hood hence being able to see Mt Adams to the north. Bet that was a great trip up there, lucky you. Got any more pics ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted June 21, 2015 BFF Patron Share Posted June 21, 2015 http://data.neoninc.org/documents/-/document_library_display/8ZKhIGZpY9j2/view/1705460?_110_INSTANCE_8ZKhIGZpY9j2_redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fdata.neoninc.org%2Fdocuments%3Fp_p_id%3D110_INSTANCE_8ZKhIGZpY9j2%26p_p_lifecycle%3D0%26p_p_state%3Dnormal%26p_p_mode%3Dview%26p_p_col_id%3Dcolumn-1%26p_p_col_count%3D1 According to these protocols they are looking at small mammals, plants and a host of environmental, climate, hydrological and insect interrelationships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts