Streamside Story: Cody Hess

Over the course of that summer, Cody went on numerous overnight trips to carry out survey fieldwork. “I would go out with another intern to an area like Hampton Butte and we would use a GIS map on an iPad for navigation. As we found areas of concern, like barbed wire or a rusted out car, we’d take a photo and mark the spot on the map. We did the same for notable natural features, and brought the data back to ONDA’s GIS Specialist, Craig Miller.”  

On each day of a week-long backpacking trip around Steens Mountain, Cody’s team woke up at dawn to head out for six or seven hours of bushwhacking and surveying the area. 

“Whenever we weren’t bushwhacking,” he said, “we were relaxing by the water.” His favorite spot was a crystal clear, perfect creek running through their camp.

“There was this little creek that we would see grow as we walked west, and it ended up turning into a bigger stream that even had a beaver dam!” 

Their discovery was a great data point for Jefferson, who had been wondering how the beaver population was faring in an area that had seen extensive degradation. 

As an ONDA intern, Cody also explored Central Oregon in addition to his work in the remote eastern side of the state. An afternoon hanging out by Whychus Creek Falls stands out in his memories. 

“It’s an amazing spot. I can still remember how the falls sounded now and I haven’t been back since 2015.”

Now based in Corvallis, Oregon, Cody works in research administration for Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Although he’s on the other side of the Cascades, Cody has become a regular high desert visitor, with plans in the works to raft the Owyhee and visit the John Day River. 

“I was glad to see that the River Democracy Act will (hopefully) touch all parts of Oregon. It’ll be great to spend more wild and scenic time on waterways north, west, east, and south!”