A Drone Double Play
PILOT REPORT
People believe what they see—so if you want them to acknowledge what you’ve done, or maybe even help you do it, they need to see it. Making that happen was the purpose of my mission on behalf of a non-profit group that recruited me to help document a beach cleanup this spring.
The mission was conducted over two nonconsecutive days, which I suppose makes it two separate missions—but they occurred at the same location and were launched for a common purpose, so we’ll treat them as one. I also learned a few things on my first outing that, as it turns out, were critically important to the safety and success of my second operation.
First, a little background: I’ve been working with the Human Access Project (HAP) for years now, although that name still makes me think of a clandestine government program run out of Area 51 to provide alien visitors with psychic access to unwitting human subjects. I suppose that says more about me than it does the organization, which serves much less sinister and more beneficial purpose: providing the citizens of Portland, Oregon, with access to the Willamette River, which runs through the middle of downtown.
The barrier preventing that access in this particular instance are primarily jagged chunks of concrete that have littered the shore for decades: a significant disincentive to any would-be waders or swimmers who might otherwise take the plunge. This was one in a long line of “Unrock the Beach” events HAP has organized over the years. At another beach, they had removed 27 tons of rocky debris through several years of similar volunteer efforts.
The site of this event is the aptly named Cathedral Park. The name is not apt because there is an actual cathedral located anywhere
