Bollinger to assist lake study
CCC worker set to help scientists research in Russia
By Dylan Darling, Record Searchlight
May 24, 2006

In his four months of travel in Europe last year, Jason Bollinger passed through 17 countries.

But he's thirsty to see more.

"There is not a place on this globe that I wouldn't want to visit," he said.

He'll get to quench that thirst for travel this summer when he goes to the largest and deepest freshwater lake in the world -- Lake Baikal in Russia. His trip last year was as a tourist. This time, Bollinger will be going to southern Siberia as a water sampler wearing the crisp uniform of the California Conservation Corps (CCC).

Started in 1976 by Gov. Jerry Brown, the organization hires men and women, ages 18 to 25, to do conservation and emergency work that includes trail building, watershed restoring and wildfire fighting.

The current agency was modeled after the original CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps, established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 to put men to work during the Great Depression. Work for the original group included road building, tree planting and trail blazing.

Today, along with a popular backcountry program - where CCC members spend months camping and working in the state's least populated corners -- the organization sends members on annual exchanges to Australia. This year, the Tahoe-Baikal Institute asked for the help of two CCC members in the study of the two lakes.

Traveling with a group of eight American and seven Russian scientists, Bollinger will help with a study of what is clouding Lake Baikal's once-crystal clear water. But before he dives into his work at Lake Baikal, he'll spend five weeks studying Lake Tahoe, the second-deepest lake in the United States.

Russian and American scientists studying the two massive bodies of freshwater have found they share many common traits -- they're big, deep and becoming cloudy.

"They are clear lakes, but the clearness is diminishing," said Jennifer Smith, program coordinator for the Tahoe-Baikal Institute.

The institute was started in 1990 to help preserve the two lakes and has funded study of the lakes since 1991. The scientists are studying watershed pollution and other ecological issues at both lakes, Smith said.

Before going to Russia, Bollinger will not only learn how to do water sampling, but he also will take intensive Russian language classes. He doesn't have a Russian vocabulary yet.

"I don't even know how to say hello,'" he said.

Although he grew up in San Diego, Bollinger moved to the north state near the end of high school. He was home-schooled but earned a diploma from Shasta High School in 2001, he said.

Given his interest in seeing the world, Bollinger joined the U.S. Army after getting his diploma, but he hurt his knee during a march in boot camp so he was never deployed. He then started planning a trip through Europe but needed to find a way to pay for it.

He found the CCC.

For Bollinger, long days on a fire crew and then as a trail worker on the Pacific Crest Trail earned him enough money to bankroll much of his travels around Europe. Now, in his second stint with the CCC, he will get to combine work and travel.

When Conservation Supervisor Lynda Burkhalter heard that the Tahoe-Baikal program was looking for a CCC member who was a quick learner and wanted to travel, she immediately thought of Bollinger.

"It was a perfect match," she said.

Bollinger, 23, transferred this week from the Redding CCC office to the Tahoe CCC office and starts studying Tahoe's water on June 10. He'll then leave for Russia on July 15 and return August 18. While in Siberia, he'll stay in camps, in hostels and with host families.

When he traveled through Europe last year, Bollinger tried to go to Russia but wasn't able to because of its strict tourist visa rules. Visitors to the country need to have been invited by a Russian, he said.

Now, he's finally getting to Russia.

"This is one of the coolest things the CCC offers," Bollinger said. "It just fits me."