American Whitewater's August 2014 Volunteer of the Month is Joel McCune!
It is really fun to watch the careers that AW interns eventually grow into, and Joel McCune is certainly no exception. It's been over a decade since his likely unpaid and overwhelming stint working with AW's then Conservation Director John Gangemi. Joel is now working with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at ESRI, the nation's leader in developing GIS software, based in Charlotte, NC. This is all to say that Joel is a map guy with mad skills.
Every so often Joel pings American Whitewater with a novel idea on how GIS can enhance the work AW does, and sometimes we reach out to him for help on projects. This summer was no exception. Joel recently helped us pull together information about rivers in the Pacific Northwest, allowing us to compare protected river reaches with dam removals and areas that the Department of Energy is targeting for new hydropower projects. His work was key to strengthening our comments to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and supporting our efforts to strengthen protections for over 44,000 miles of rivers and streams in the Pacific Northwest. Joel also recently took a deep dive into our website code and offered us some exciting ideas and support for new mapping applications. If you see some cool new mapping features on our site in the coming months you'll have Joel to thank!
We send a big shout out and many thanks to Joel for volunteering his time and skills with American Whitewater! For his efforts, Joel will receive a Kokatat Woolcore shirt and our eternal gratitude. Beyond this fame, Volunteers of the Month also frequently accept shuttles and cold beverages from other AW members.
