Verle Belote was chosen as our very first volunteer of the month. Verle was nominated by the Bureau of Land Management where he volunteers as a Hydrology Program Assistant. Verle enjoys volunteering because it keeps him active and allows him to meet new people. He enjoys learning new things and also passing his knowledge on to others. Verle is a former employee of Lockheed Missile and Space Co. He worked on data processing, telemetry and calibrations for Satellites where he worked for 35 years. In short, he wrote programs and analyzed data and troubleshooted problems pertaining to satellites. So, that's why the Forest Service started calling him their "rocket scientist"
Verle Belote began volunteer service for the U.S.Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest in the spring 2005. Verle volunteered in the Public Affairs Office in Roseburg where he maintained the Correspondence Database. The database is a vital link to the general public, resource management agencies, community groups, local and regional government officials, retired Forest Service employees, and all those people who have requested information about resource management and recreational opportunities on the Umpqua National Forest.
Verle also did volunteer work for the Dorena Genetric Resource Center in Cottage Grove. He compiled and plotted 10 year weather data for the Cottage Grove area that he obtained from the National Weather Service in Portland. After making a few conversions from an html document to word to the excel program, he was able to plot the data. Verle is now poised to analyze this data which is something he really enjoys doing. It soon became obvious that he has a great analytical mind and a real interest in analyzing scientific data.
In June, 2006, Verle approached the Bureau of Land Management’s Roseburg District about volunteering. He mentioned that he had become widowed within the past 18 months and that he was looking for meaningful, productive tasks where he could actively contribute to the BLM’s natural resource management mission. He stated that he enjoyed doing data and statistical analysis.
With the Bureau of Land Management since July, 2006, Verle has worked steadfast to analyze climate and hydrology data. He has provided the District Hydrologist with plots of annual, monthly, and daily streamflow, flow duration curves, and low flow recurrence intervals on the gauging stations we contract for through the county. In addition, Verle has compiled the water temperature data collected since 1992, computed and organized the 7-day maximum values on over 500 data sets, included air temperature data for 5 stations that will be used for future analysis. He enjoys working with District Hydrologist Lowell Duell and learning about hydrology as he keeps plotting along!
Verle Belote work has contributed to BLM and Forest Service missions to manage Federal Lands and enhance the values or uses for a healthy forest ecosystem. Verle is very personable, extremely reliable, and always eager to get involved in new challenges. Congratulations Verle!
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Active Dec 6, 2006 to Jan 6, 2007
