Drake Bortolameolli
bortolda@uwec.edu
“NOTICE: Fish from these waters contain chemicals. Eating too much [sic.] may be harmful,
especially for women and children. Follow the safe fish eating guidelines below.”
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
The signs stood at regular intervals all along the banks of the Fox River, which ran less than a
mile from the house where I grew up. Below that ominous warning (repeated in Spanish and Hmong)
lay a chart of three columns--the green for fish one could eat once a month, the yellow for fish one
could eat once every two months, and the red for fish one could never eat safely. The signs posted on
my stretch of the Fox River didn’t even have a green column. The neighborhood kids joked that you
might end up with all sorts of horrible mutations if you even put your hand in the waters of the river.
The Fox where I grew up excluded water recreation anyway, but until the Clean Water Act of 1972,
the half-dozen or so paper mills on it just dumped their waste chemicals into the river--hence the
restrictions on eating the fish.
Witnessing the effects of those operations on the Fox clearly inspired my interest in industrial
waste management and remediation. At present I’m tackling a project on industrial waste sediment
deposits and sunken logs in Rib Lake in north-central Wisconsin. That detritus results from logging
operations that ran until the late-1940s. With Dr. Harry Jol (GEOG & ANTH) at the University of
Wisconsin–Eau Claire, I and another undergraduate researcher first used ground penetrating radar
(GPR) on the lake during February 2015 to determine GPR’s reliability at sub-zero temperatures (-12˚
C). We successfully located and measured the thickness of industrial sediment lying on the lake
bottom, and even located a number of confirmed, highly-valuable first cut pine logs.
In summer and fall 2015 Dr. Jol and I returned to Rib Lake to capture additional data. Towing
the GPR behind a rubber dinghy, we reshot the winter profiles to confirm the accuracy of the two sets.
Next we made additional profiles at a new location not far from the original one, and eventually we
want to shoot the entire lake bottom. In fall I presented an update to the Rib Lake Village Board
indicating areas of large clusters of waste and logs, which in turn they will present to a third-party
dredging company to use in cleaning the lake. I successfully competed to present our research-inprogress in July 2015 at the Wisconsin Science and Technology Symposium (WISYS Technology
Foundation); among the 60+ presenters only I lacked a doctorate.
Besides this project, I also have a strong background in geographic information systems (GIS).
This background has enabled me to create maps showing several different aspects of data, as well as
create sustainability models, and elevation models. For one project in particular--Eau Claire
BikeShare Feasibility Study--I created several maps showing the more and the less populated areas of
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Drake Bortolameolli
bortolda@uwec.edu
the City of Eau Claire, its neighborhoods by income level, the bus stops and routes buffering the
respective areas, and population density a mile outward from the respective bus stops.
My GIS knowledge comes into play with my environmental hazard background; for example
on a feasibility study for a frac sand mine in Trempealeau County, WI. I created maps showing
routing information, proximity to bodies of water and major roadways, and even created a viewshed
analysis from the eight highest peaks in Trempealeau County.
My initial foray with mapping, a 2D production, involved designating dangerous and
impassable areas of a nature trail on the cliffs above the Chippewa River. Using Trimble XT I mapped
out where the hardest hit areas lay and mapped out the type of impact these may have on the area.
Finally, my coursework includes environmental hazards, global and international
environmental policy, U. S. Environmental Law, and an epidemiology. These classes, accompanied by
equipment mastery (Trimble GPS, Juno 3B and Pro-XT) and software competencies (Python/Pyscript,
Erdas Imagine, AutoCad, ArcMap, ArcWorld, Oracle, C++, Excel, the Adobe Suite and Prezi) provide
me a valuable theoretical approach, plus hands-on tools, to spatially characterize environmental issues.
Besides research and service projects, I have built background in environmental geography
through instruction. Since Spring 2014 I have served the Department of Geography as Student Lab
Assistant for its introductory physical geography course. This involves set-up of eleven labs/semester
for 60+ majors and lower-division students, tutoring lab concepts, training students on equipment and
monitoring their adherence to safety procedures. I also assist as a peer academic advisor to Dr. Marc
Goulet (MATH) in his introduction to college seminar for entering 1st year students. My specific
contribution to this venue involves teaching participants how to navigate our university’s registration
software system and degree building simulator.
I seek a doctoral program in Geographic Sciences and Environmental Studies. I want to assist
the work of faculty members through employing my advanced background in GIS, GPS, and GPR. I
envisage my thesis as a project on environmental cleanup in a freshwater aquatic setting(s) using tools
such as ground penetrating radar and GIS, or some aspect of urban geography/city planning—for
example, public transportation networks, green spaces on buildings, and/or networks of solar energy
installations. These latter would employ GIS tools such as ESRI and QGIS.
In Plato’s Cratylus Heraclitus of Ephesus purportedly said: “No man ever steps in the same
river twice, for it is not the same river and he’s not the same man.” I relate this quote to my area of
study, because I want to help clean up aquatic environments, and much like the river, I too have
changed and gained a much more mature attitude toward environmental issues.
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