The grant project spearheaded by Dessa Emch, Surface Observing Program Manager from the National Weather Service in Oxnard, is complete. Dessa turned to me to lead the construction and design of the project as her Project Manager.

Dessa Emch came up with the idea for this project years ago, however funding was not available. After tireless effort, Dessa was finally able to obtain a $10,000 NOAA Grant in February 2009. A special thank you to Cheryl Oliver, Senior Program Advisor from the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries out of Maryland who was absolutely an integral part in us getting the funding to complete this project. Though I'd like to make it perfectly clear that Mark Jackson, the Meteorologist in Charge at the Oxnard NWS facility had nothing to do with this project and was most unhelpful and out of touch, so I find it odd he thought it prudent to add his name to the dedication plaque as someone who helped see this project through. I find that sort of thing, where someone who provided no support for me during the construction phases of this project, then takes credit for the completed work once it's completed, quite appalling. Shame on you Mark Jackson. Shame on you. And now back to the exhibit!

Originally, the site was to be located in front of the NWS Office building. Then intern, Jamie Stern, drew up the following sketches based off my initial ideas and Dessa's desire to have a section representing Fire, Climate, Hydro and Aviation weather:

I visited Dessa in April 2009 at the NWS office in Oxnard to make a final decision on the location, and I determined the drainage in the front area was inadequate for what we wanted. We discussed alternate locations for the planned exhibit and I finally decided to use the area out back behind the building. After that I went home and began drawing up the plans. Below are my original sketches for the site as I invisioned it (as you can see, art is not my strong point):

As you can see, my sketches were far from impressive, so Dessa sent them to Daphne Vandervalk who rendered them in Illustrator for a more professional look. These photos were submitted to HQ in Washington D.C., approved and the work began (oh I wish it was that simple).

I came up with the name, "NOAA Global Monitoring Exhibit". Dessa loved it, and as far as I know, that's what it's still called. I volunteered well over 800 hours of my time in labor to see this project through to completion, working from late May through the middle of December of 2009. I drove well over 10,000 miles to and from the job site, made nearly 100 trips to Home Depot, and put in nearly $1,000 of my own money towards this wonderful project. 100% of the design and 90% of the work I completed myself, working weekends from May through August, then working solo every day, 7 days a week from September through mid-December. About mid-way through the project Dessa came up with the idea to add a Snow Section to the exhibit. I sketched up some new plans, and a few months later we had it on the ground.

I'd like to thank Ahern Rentals, who came through by loaning me their heavy equipment, including excavators, skid steers, forklifts, stump grinders, plate compactors and concrete mixers to name a few. Fun to operate and they probably saved me about 1,000 hours of extra labor! I'd like to thank the Grandstay Hotel for giving me a room each weekend I was out there working from May through August, and a special thanks to Vulcan Materials for donating the dozen cubic yards of concrete and cutting us a deal on the nearly 20 cubic yards of material I used for ground cover and substrate; I'd also like to thank them for the several 3-ton boulders I used to landscape the Hydro section with.

I'd like to give a special thanks to Anthony Isgro, certified weather observer, who came out and helped me from May through August, working over 100 hours to help me get the project started. From the 14-foot diameter, 23,000 tile mosaic I made of the NOAA logo, to the custom redwood footbridge I designed and he built himself from scratch.

I'd also like to thank some other volunteers who came out for a couple days during the project to help: Jamie D. Stern, Geography lab teacher from California State University, Northridge; William T. Reid, Climatologist and Professional Storm Chaser out of Westlake Village; Kathy Hoxsie, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Sacramento, California and her daughter Rachel Hoxsie; Mark Lindaman who came out and helped tremendously with the big concrete pour day; Mathew Meyring from the Toyota plant in Oxnard who helped me place the navigational buoy. Each of them volunteered a several hours of their time to help me out in a big way, and I am greatly appreciative for their much needed help!

As for the project itself, I made the pathways using stabilized decomposed granite, landscaped the exhibit using native drought-resistant vegetation (except for the queen palms in the Marine section), and installed a water-conserving drip irrigation system to keep everything green. There are six distinct sections I designed based off Dessa's initial idea of having a section representing a different aspect of climate monitoring. The first is the Aviation Weather section, the second is the Marine Weather section, third is the Fire Weather Section, fourth is the Hydrological Section, fifth is the Climate Weather Section, and sixth is the S.N.O.T.E.L. section for snow level monitoring.

Contact the National Weather Service Office in Oxnard, California to set up a tour for yourself, family, friends, students or coworkers and drop me a line to let me know what you think! Dessa and I hope that this exhibit will inspire our youth to pursue careers in the fields of science and there's no better time to start a career-path than when you're young and inspired! Of course, it's never too late!

Below are some photos of the site, I have many more I will upload soon. They are in chronological order from when the project began to it's completion starting from top left-to-right. It began as nothing more than dirt and rocks, and is now a veritable playground of scientific monitoring equipment for everyone to enjoy!

- Steve Woodruff

This is the site I picked for the exhibit back in April 2009; just rocks, wood chips and dirt. Not much to look at!

This is how it looks now. They replaced the benches I originally put in with new ones, and the Forest Service came out and added the Smokey the Bear Fire Warning Level sign you see in back.

I will be back out soon to finish up some tile work around the rain gages and install some other things. A bronze plaque will be dedicated to the site sometime in November at the official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Jayme Laber, the NWS Hydrologist was able to obtain extra funding since I finished the project to have a working ALERT station installed in the Climate Section. Dessa and I originally wanted to put in signs giving brief descriptions of the various monitoring equipment, however our funding ran out and I was unable to get the signs in. However, I understand that new funding has been obtained, and signs will be installed soon!

I hope you all get a chance to arrange a tour of the NOAA Global Monitoring Exhibit, and be sure to drop me a line letting me know about your experience out there, because your enthusiasm is my paycheck! The official media-covered grand opening of the site will be in November. Everyone is welcomed to attend. I will be there of course! I will post the date of the ribbon-cutting ceremony when the date and time is announced.

This site is located at:

520 North Elevar Street
Oxnard, CA 93030

Call: (805) 988-6610 to schedule a tour!
(I do not lead any tours there)