Irina Muschik Takes Adventure Science to the Next Level

“The night was clear, I saw all the beautiful stars up there, I listened to some night birds, saw a praying mantis right next to my head and in the morning I saw the sun rising over this red-brown-gray-green semi-desert.” – Irina Muschik

Irina Muschik is on a mission to meet some truly incredible people.   Irina has been backpacking on her own from Germany to the far eastern portions of Russia, and interviewing researchers and conservationists along the way. Her cross-continental journey is as inexpensive as possible; she has been hitchhiking and using buses and trains while camping and staying on couches whenever possible. From Eastern Europe through the Caucasus, Russia and Northern and Central Asia, her goal is to show a lesser seen side of conservation by documenting the people who have dedicated themselves to science and research in these areas.

ASC's most recent citizen science excursion took us far into the Elk Horn Mountain Range in the Helena National Forrest.  We partnered with 12 veterans from the Fort Harrison VA to search for signs of the elusive lynx and contribute to an important body of research to understand the biodiversity present in the Helena National Forrest.  We spend two days deep in the woods searching for the big cat's distinctive tracks, for tufts of fur caught on tree bark, and for the holy grail of tracking...a sighting of a lynx.