Worth a thousand words

I just finished a presentable version of a map I am working on for our study area. So, here it is, you can finally have a decent idea of what I am up to!

The big ta' do

Last week we gave our presentation at Studium at PC- I think it went really well. All the groups gave really strong presentations on their projects and I think it garnered a lot of interest in the REU program from the student body. I didn't even see anyone fall asleep!

What a weekend

So, weekend before last we had a super-major all-out research-prep fest.
It was awesome. The weather was great, eighties, not too hot under the gracious forest canopy. Lovely violets sparkled like flecks of gold in the green and brown sea of the forest floor. Vine maple vivid green as its new leaves unfold and soak up the light; skunk cabbage the size of small child, streams swollen with the sudden snow melt singing across our path and flooding the way with their mad dance.

I had mighty plans of getting every plot reestablished for the summer course. We came close. I suppose I can't really complain that I have to spend another day out in the woods, watching the salmon berries finish their blooms and getting to know that neck of the woods just a little better.

oh man!

So we had our presentations tonight at the Olympic Park Visitor's Center. I have to say, all the groups did very well. I think that the community members were also surprised and impressed at the graduate level of research going on at our "2 year community college". Most of the questions seemed rather informed, and it is always refreshing to be reminded how much of our community likes to be involved in educational programs and environmental restoration projects such as this. Pretty great for a small town.

All in all, I feel we left a very positive impact in the minds of our audience, on behalf of our small part in the research being done with the damn removal and on behalf of the advancements as Peninsula College.

This weekend: relocation bonanza!

Hey there!

This weekend a fellow researcher on the Rainy Creek project and I are going to make a weekend of it: we're heading out on Saturday and am going to camp out over the weekend, hopefully getting all the plots in the treatment areas found and flagged.

Anyone's welcome!

A plan

As I just mentioned, at long last all the data crunching and map making is completed. Sadly this took way longer that it ought to have, so now all we have is one month to get the prep field work done before the summer class starts.

What we are going to do is go out into the Rainy Creek area out west, armed with trusty compass, map, metal detector and reams of flagging. Our goal is simple: find the plots, mark them clearly, very clearly

One thing I found when trying to locate plots last fall and earlier this spring is that no amount of flagging can really be too much in the woods. Somehow, plots keep on vanishing, trees fall on them, the flagging gets eaten or taken away by strange magic kritturs, maybe hunters took the marks to brighten themselves up in a pinch... All I know is that it was gone, and we were damned lucky to have found anything.

So, if anyone has a free day this month and wants a fun romp in the woods marking up plots, let me know! I'll make some tea!

At last!

It is done! After much pain and hours of bitterness, I finally have my map done! It was originally created in a program no longer supported by the college, and which is no longer installed on any computers... I had to call in a favor from a friend to get it transfered into countless shape files, which I could then put in ArcView.... However; when I brought it in, all the geographic data was all hosed up, so it ended up in the great lakes instead of Sol Duc!

Though the help of one of the ARC teachers at PC, I was able to develop a method for tricking the program into storing them with the location data (for some reason it kept giving us error messages when we tried to do it in all the normal and customary ways).

Anyways, it is done!
Now that we can see what mapping was actually done last summer, we can move on to the field work. Its about time.

Its about time!

My angst from the prior quarters is finally over! This week I was able to get the program I need running on my home computer and also had the map files I needed transfered over into a format I can use- Weeeee! I was soooo bummed out by the prospect of having to remake these very intensive maps. Worry no more!

I also hear that there will be a good group of people on board to get our project done this summer as well as a few that will be working with me and Dan this quarter to reestablish the plots and finish up the forest inventory. With field work, the more the merrier! Especially when you know the work involves wandering around in the woods hoping to find some trace of where you were last year!

Video Up!

wrap up so soon

In spite of myself this had been a very full quarter and it amazes me that it is over already. I have been able to spend a fair amount of time in the woods, and get to look forward to ever-increasing amounts as the days get longer.

Technical difficulties and compatibility issues are still keeping a map linger over my head that totally needs to get made, that aside I am proud of the video I made about the project. When I get it up on the Tube tomorrow I'll embed it here so you all can see my multimedia madness and get the nitty-gritty on my project.

Thanks for tuning in this quarter- sorry for not keeping more frequent posts, but frankly, there hasn't been that much new and exciting going on!

Oh, one thing I thought to put in but did on another blog: I was interviewed in the Spring catalog! Check it out, its near the beginning where there in the scoop on Dan's summer research classes!

On the Forestry side of things...

Its official: Record Height Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii)

We went back out to the Rainy Creek woods yesterday to find the dogwood and document its height, diameter and to try to figure out its age.

here goes:
87 feet high with a diameter of 10 inches
Core rot prevented us from determining its age. Still, it is most likely the same age as the rest of the stand (63 years).
The spread of the crown is about 10-12 feet.

There is very little crown left on this tree, this and the core rot lets us know that even if measures are taken to try to save it, there is little chance it will live much longer. Go visit is while you can!

Three miles uphill, in the snow, eating sticks

The trail winds through forest, patchy at times with the sun gleaming through breaks in the canopy. Here and there an enormous (relatively) yew tree with its shaggy bark leans over the trail, a green cocoon embracing the path.
Cougar prints alight the section of trail- clearly embossed in the untarnished snow.
We turn a corner and step out up on Deer Ridge.
The clear blue sky stretched out overhead, pure and bright. The only cloud hung close to the not-so distant mountain peaks, seeming to find safety nestling near the snow and rocks, far from the never ending open pierced only by the bright glowing orb overhead.
We stop to freshen up, eat some, drink some- put the snowshoes on and continue along the ridge to find a good spot to sample.
A little trickier than you'd think.
Need to find a place with out too much slope (good luck) or too much canopy cover (yeah right). In the end we decided on Compensation Point to get it started, and began our descent. Stopping at a few points back down off the trail to set our new sampling locations.

Beautiful day.
Wonderful crew.
Deep snow.
Quality snow chains are important.
very important.

Hurrah for modern snowshoes! Some have a bracket that flips up in back to assist in steep uphill climbs- very handy when climbing up a ridiculous ascent!

So I got to the college thinking it would be a regular field day of driving up to the hills, stopping at the different sampling areas, trotting off road a bit to get to the plots, nothing too exciting... and lo! I get to PC to discover that there has been a change of plans- instead of same ole same ole, we get to go up Deer Ridge!

Man, I love field work.
What a glorious place to live.

Right On!

Ron Paul placed second in Nevada!!!!!

Yay!

update: and Louisiana! A very close second!
update II: Main?

Tallest Pacific Dogwood Ever!

This just in:

It has been confirmed that right here in the Olympic Peninsula is the world record for the tallest Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii). Last summer on our research expedition in the Sol Duc area by Rainy Creek we found this lone soldier in a mixed Douglas-Fir stand.

It came in at 83 feet- head and shoulders above the prior record holder, though now chopped down, was 60 feet (in 1986, at the last verified measurement).

(In case anyone is concerned, in the experimental forest we are working in all, all unique species (any deciduous such as this and ceders) are untouched as this wood is being managed to increase habitat and structural diversity.)

Keep on growing baby!