Weed Warrior

Migrations

2011-11-04T17:18:00.004-04:00

It was great having a few weeks off to enjoy the changing of the seasons in the mountains. The aspen trees turned their glorious gold, the oaks and serviceberry turned into ruddish browns, and soon the peaks had dustings of snow. We went on little hikes to scenic Spud Lake and the ghost town of Ironton. A longer overnight hike took us to Blaine Basin at the foot of Mount Sneffels, which had really neat examples of glacial moraines still actively eroding, along with a couple of waterfalls to explore.

You might think that Mt. Sneffels and the surrounding public lands in its shadow was included in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness, but you'd be wrong. The exciting news is that there is pending legislation before congress to be reviewed on November 10th to expand it by 22,000 acres to include the mountain! Please pester your favorite politician to make it happen, since it is an uncontested no-brainer of a designation; the only industry impacted, recreation, has grandfathered exemptions to continue heli-skiing and the hardrock races.

As Aldo Leopold eloquently said, "the opportunity to see geese is more important than television, and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech."

We made one last trip up to The Meadows to visit George before the snows set in. We're glad we did, since the upper elevations were soon socked in with snow. Wolf Creek Pass got over 36" and the ski valley had its earliest open season ever on October 8th. Since I hadn't been skiing since Snoqualmie a few years back (on its latest open day ever, May 25th), we had to check it out. The snow was great, but they only had enough staff to run 3 lifts. Whoa, I needed the practice!

Then it was time to pack up and drive the long, lonely road home.

End of the Season

2011-10-07T00:26:00.007-04:00

One of the wonderful aspects of working at Mesa Verde is the opportunity to make casual discoveries while walking about. Last year, it was a parrot figurine we found at Yucca House that piqued the interest of the archeologists. This year we were surveying the only known population of Acer grandidentatum (big-toothed maple) to exist in Colorado, which only grow along the north escarpment in the park. The terrain is really steep in places, so it's some of the least explored, and this is when I stumbled across Squirrel-Bear. I call him that, because the body looks like a bear to me, but the long tail makes me think of a squirrel. The archies were interested in him too, so they picked him up and brought it back to the lab for scrutiny. Surface finds like this, especially without the context of an ancient ruin nearby, can be tricky to date, but squirrel-bear was unique enough to that it was important to investigate. Looking under magnification, it became clear that the quartzite was worked by steel tools, and therefore historic. While it's not 100% conclusive, it was probably a Navajo fetish, since near the area was an old hogan and sweat lodge. Alas, probably not cool enough to go on display in the new visitor center, but it made me keep my eyes open.

The past few weeks of work went by very quickly, as they always seem to do. We headed into areas of the park I had never visited before, which is always a treat. One of the archeologists had spotted Ulmus pumila (Siberian Elms) growing in an ancient kiva on Battleship Rock. The kiva was one of the largest I had seen, although mostly buried under sand and shrubs. It was an interesting place to be, mostly since the archie escorting me was kind enough to take the time to explain all that I was seeing. After that, I spent a week with the Lake Mead EPMT team chasing weeds and dodging lightning bolts.

One of the biologists had placed a wildlife camera at one of the springs and got a series of amazing images of these pumas. I had seen a few paw prints and drag marks, but I'd never seen a mountain lion before... and still haven't... but I'm certain they've been watching me.

On my 2nd to last day, they needed someone to rotate onto a wildlife surveying shift... in a helicopter! My crew-boss graciously asked them to let me go, since I had been whining about missing a helicopter flight last year (2 of my crew last year were flown to a fire). This was my first time on a 'copter, so wasn't sure what to expect, so I popped some Dramamine and waited for the shift. My job was simple; look out the window for wildlife, call out anything interesting, waypoint it, and writedown the location, sex, and count.

The 'copter took off, turned, and started flying towards the south-east corner of the park to begin a series of North-South running transects. We were flying low, but also somewhat slow, to give us a chance to survey. It was really awesome flying over canyons... the same canyons that would take a half day long slog of a hike and were were just into the breezing blue like it was nothing but a walk in the park. The eastern mesa ends in a series of cliffs and steep slopes down to the river, so the 1st transect was fun topography... oh, there's an ancient ruin... I wonder why no sagebrush grows there... hey, is that an eeellllllkkkkk!?!?!? The co-pilot had just pointed out a herd of elk and before I knew it, the pilot had spun the copter and begun a dive at the same time, spiraling in close to allow the biologists a chance to photograph them. The first spiral-dive really caught me unawares, and I was suddenly glad for the dramamine as I fumbled with the GPS unit and tried to listen in on the counts. After I knew what to expect, it wasn't so scary, but there were certainly IMAX-like scenes of ridges and cliffs looming before us, especially along the north escarpments. The coolest thing was watching the pilot maneuver the 'copter broadsides down a canyon for survey photography-- it was really unnatural to look out the front when the motion was sideways with a pronounced yaw.

It was a terrific way to end the season; now if only I could fly home instead of drive. I won't be leaving for a little longer, since watching the aspens turn color and seeing the first major snowfalls are great incentives to stick around and I have the free time to soak it in. Meanwhile, is anyone interested in a not-so-gently-used alarm clock?

Equinox

2011-09-18T16:34:00.008-04:00

It's about time to post an update before the clamor of blog readers impatient for the next post becomes too much to bear.

It's the final week of my season here at The Rock. I've finally managed to explore some new areas of the Verde, such as Park Mesa, Battleship Rock, south Long Mesa, and south Prater Ridge. I've learned a little more about archeology and a lot more about plants. Projects are winding down, with our Long Term Post Fire Monitoring study complete, rare plant surveys completed, and most of our major re-vegetation projects finished.

On the weekends, we've revisited a few nice sites, such as Ice Lakes, and explored new areas, such as Owen's Basin, Crater Lake and Cajon Canyon. The weather has been fairly stormy this past month, with a chance of thunderstorms each day that keeps us on our toes. We've been rained on every hike, even when traveling into the normally dry canyons of Utah.

Now it's time for the Philosopher's Corner: What's the deal with exotic species?

There is a difference between non-native and invasive, and it related to the amount of damage the species is expected to cause. In the case of managing a natural area, damage is often to the biodiversity and function of the ecosystem. A non-native species may exist in a natural habitat and not cause undue damage, or perhaps even enhance the stablility of the ecosystem, such as the african violet or european honeybees. But a species that works to unbalance an ecosystem can destroy the biodiversity or even change the fundemental nature of the ecosystem.

Good examples of this type of damage can be found in Cheatgrass in western states, or the Paperbark tree deliberately introduced into the Everglades. In the case of Cheatgrass, it acts as a fast-growing annual that dies back in the summer. Aside from it's ability to crowd out native annual plants, the potentially more nefarios problem with this growth pattern is it creates a catatrophic flash-fuel type into ecosystems not adapted to frequent wildfires. Mesa Verde National Park has old growth Pinyon-Juniper woodland with the only surviving relic stands of Bigtooth Maple trees in the state. There are many species of endemic plants such as the Cliff Palace Milkvetch and Mesa Verde Stickseed. The presence of cheatgrass has resulted in wildfires being both more frequent, more intense, and having the ability to spread across terrain. Over the past 30 years since cheatgrass has appeared in the park, fires have destroyed almost 50% of the old growth forests and cheatgrass is more prevalent. Thus cheatgrass passes the first two tests of a noxious weed for management decisions here: does it impact the ecosystem? is it's trend increasingly problematic?

The Paperbark tree was intentionally introduced into Florida as a fast growing tree that could lower water tables and there make land available to agriculture. It worked extremely well... too well, since it escaped the private lands it was introduced on and spread across the state. Lowering the watertable to a wetland and shading out understory plants is obviously a game-changing problem for most of what makes a swamp a swamp. Both the structure (watertable) and the composition (species composition) are changing and biodiversity decreases.

So these two examples pass the test of being noxious within the parameters of a given ecological community (a biome), and get branded as invasive. Before a land-manager decides to start tackling such a problem, there's a lot more decisions to be made first. How much of the management area is currently disrupted, what charactertics are resulting in the spread, and what difficulties would there be in treatment? For now, nobody has determined a good technique to halt the spread of cheatgrass. The paperbark is fortunately a difference story, perhaps as a lesson that "the bigger they are, the harder they fall", and managers in Florida have found effective ways to control its impact.

Some invasives are likely here to stay, such as russian thistle. Trying to eradicate it would be like a game of whack-a-mole across an entire landscape. Other invasives are specific to smaller regions, such as Australian Pines in the Florida Keys, and managers have a decent chance at eradicating it from the landscape.

As far as worrying about what "natural" is seems less of a problem for most land managers. Biodiversity and ecosystem integrity are the goals, and ironically some of our ecosystems benefit from manmade disturbances. It is well documented that most prairies, especially in eastern states, were maintained by fires set by Indians. Trying to put a tallgrass prairie in a bubble where no humans can maintain the landscape would likely result over time of it growing into a forest, which is called succession. These are biomes that require an occasional "reset" to maintain themselves or they slowly fade into something different. Of course, even the best intentioned researcher can create a disaster, such as the accidental introduction and spread of chytrid fungus into a nature reserve. Considering that many protected natural areas were created in response to a rare species, spending time and effort to counter threats such as invasives to their existence is certainly resources well spent.

Recommended reading: "And No Birds Sing: A True Ecological Thriller set in a Tropical Paradise"

Mesa Verde and the Monsoons

2011-07-31T13:48:00.005-04:00

It's midsummer, and that means "monsoon" rains in the southern rockies. They are welcome for the rain they bring to keep the flowers and grasses growing, but they also are needed for keeping the heat down. The anasazi stylized the thunderhead clouds that is represented in many of their pottery and kiva paintings, so it's keeping the faith in the four-corners to appreciate them... even when it cancels your hiking plans.

Most of the storms are isolated and fast moving, just enough to make you run for cover and dampen the ground, but every now and then the mountains seem to grab hold of the clouds and not let go. In mid July, we had a storm at Mesa Verde where they recorded 1,850 ground strikes in a few hours. The bolts started a dozen small fires, and the sharp lookouts had spotted most of them. The following day the fire crews worked at full tilt, sending crews out to each blaze and using a helicopter to assist in finding new fires. Low winds and high humidity made it easy to snuff them out.

Despite the bad weather, we have been getting stuff done. We completed some surveys of the Schmoll's milkvetch (Astragalus schmolliae) along a portion of Chapin mesa, hiking past a ruined watchtower and cliff dwellings. We released a few more batches of Trichosirocalus horridus to feast upon the musk thistle. Long term monitoring plots of the burn areas are also being established; so far we've completed 25 of 100 that need to be done for sampling.

The weather also gave us enough breaks to go climb Wilson Peak and hike along Hope Lake. The wildflowers are going full bore in the alpine areas, where most of the snow is now gone. Elephant's Head, Castilleja rhexifolia, Monk's Hood, Delphinium, Bistort, Columbines, and many others are all blooming. Pikas scamper along the rock slides, harvesting grasses and drying them in little cute haystacks before storing them in their burrows for the long winter. Snow still persists along the north faces and other areas protected from the sun, but it is melting fast.

Goodbye George

2011-07-23T22:07:00.004-04:00

This is George T. Mouser; cat, companion, and fuzz factory.

born: circa 1993
died: July 23, 2011

George was as friendly of a cat as you could ever hope to meet. I found him in an animal shelter in Texas 18 years ago, and he'd been purring ever since. If you ever found a cloud sailing overhead with a touch of grey, that was probably motes of his cat fur that have been circumnavigating the globe for the past decade.

There's so many memories he gave us, like the time he came home pink (still a mystery), the time he summoned satan to scare away an opossum, the time he bawled like an evinrude outboard gettin bogged down in the mud (and was so mournful I had to stop the car to tell him he was a good boy), the time I patrolled my neighborhood until 3:30am to bring him in before a huge storm to find him up on a roof, and that he never once tried to hurt anybody -- including the many vets that poked & prodded him painfully, and being the best nap kitty in the world.

George began slowing down past Sunday evening. By Tuesday evening, it was clear he needed to see a vet. He was in Complete Renal Failure, and despite several days in the hospital, there wasn't anything that could be done to help him. He rallied a few times and tried so very hard to eat and drink for us, but since he could barely walk, losing energy, and in discomfort, we agreed it was time to let him rest.

We found a nice place to bury him in the mountains, close to heaven in a shaded grove with wildflowers blooming all around. If you ever find yourself in a field so beautiful and find a ring of small stones, say "hi" to George and tell him we can't wait to see him again.

We miss you George, rest in peace.

Into the Big Blue

2011-07-09T19:39:00.006-04:00

The Seeps & Springs monitoring has completed. We were able to combine the activity with some rare plant survey work as well. As always, it's a fun assignment, since we need to find routes into the back-country canyons that are seldom visited. We were able to locate a rare orchid, Epipactus gigantea, aka Giant Helleborine. Some of the routes through the canyons were challenging, but adventurous, we passed by many ancient ruin sites along canyon walls and hunted through thickets of Rhus toxicodendron (poison ivy) as tall as us.

For the holiday weekend, we met with family for a campout at Silver Jack reservoir. My orchid radar must've still been tuned, for we hadn't been there for more than 30 minutes before we found a nice patch of Calypso bulbosa (Fairy-slipper orchid) blooming in the woods next to melting patches of old snow drifts. I had been to this area a few years ago (thanks, bro!) to climb Courthouse and explore the area. This trip the goal was to dabble into the wilderness to see what the proverbial bear could see.

We hiked along the East Fork of the Cimmaron river for 6-7 miles before turning back. The snow melt along all the ridges provided us with a grand total of 27 waterfalls seen along the hike. Only 3 of them appeared large enough to last all summer. To celebrate the end of the trip, we had planned to soak in the Ouray Hot Springs, but the pool was beyond crowded. After a huge meal and a marzipan mouse, we left happy.

And now for my 4th of July Soapbox edition: Local geographers really need some imagination! If I had a nickel for every Bear Creek, Clear Lake, Lookout Mountain, Turkey Gulch, etc... I'd have enough to pay a therpist for all the angst these repetitive names cause me. Each county here has a Bear Creek Trail, so that's 4 Bear Creek Trails within a few hours drive... Sunlight Mountain, Storm King Peak... you'd think those would be slightly more original, but there's multiples within the Colorado Rockies. Equally mind-numbing is naming a natural feature after a person. Lame! So I propose geographers comb through this lousy nomenclature and put at least 5 seconds of thought before giving a major landmark a name.

Which is a nice segue into my next rant. Botanists, get your taxomy stable for once! Not only are the names churning constantly, but even the family definitions are fluid. I know there's good reasons behind some of the churn, but some of it is just stubborness and following rules for the sake of rules. Easy for me to complain about, but common names sometimes seem more useful (although some are miseleading, redundant, and worthless too). Still, it's strange to express disdain for regional common names when the scientific names are regional and temporal.

Finally, I'd like to wish STS-135 a wonderful flight as Atlantis and the space shuttle fleet flies for one last time into the Big Blue.

Southwestern Solstice

2011-06-26T12:38:00.007-04:00

Seeps and Springs monitoring has begun! This involves hiking out into the backcountry to springs that were known in the past and measure their current water flow. For Mesa Verde, often the flow rate is slower than a trickle, just enough to keep the sand damp; hence the term "seep". These springs are important for wildlife and can host isolated populations of riparian plants and animals, such as the Utah Tiger Salamander.

Often, many of the springs were known to the ancestral puebloans, so it is not uncommon to find archeological sites on or near the springs. One spring in School Canyon is along an outcropping of clay soil that looks like it had been an area were clay was collected for making pots or perhaps stucco. Pottery sherds littered the ground and a few areas look like they may have been firing pits. Other springs we monitor are at more famous cliff house ruins, such as Balcony House and Spring House. These springs were considered sacred, and still are revered by modern pueblo tribes. It is not uncommon to see offerings of shells and turquoise associated with them. Archeologists (who were mapping the Spring House ruins with a camera to track how cracks in the walls were changing over time) were gracious enough to invite us behind the leaning tower and see the spring hidden behind the walls. According to archeologists, the columns supporting the ancient roof there are rare to find outside of a kiva, so it is likely the spring chamber was a place of worship too.

On the solstice, I went on a survey to listen for the calls of the Mexican Spotted Owl. The Spotted Owl had nested in the park up to 2006, but it has unfortunately not been seen since. Before sundown, we had some time, so I helped the biologist set a few live traps to remove desert packrats from the Spruce Tree House structure. Walking behind the structure; snaking through tiny doorways in dusty rooms, and seeing the last rays of the solstice sun make beams of light on the back of the cave, was a fun experience. We heard poor-wills, great-horned owls, and a western screech owl, but no spotted owls. Let's hope for next year!

Another interesting research task was surveying the only known population of Acer grandidentatum (Bigtooth Maples) in Colorado, which exist along the north escarpment of Mesa Verde. A wildfire had swept across the ridge in 2006, which reduced the population size from 100-300 to 6-10. We had searched about 25% of the known area and found 3 saplings, so there's hope a few more are to be found when we complete the search.

Hiking out and about in the Four Corners always feels like discovery could happen around any corner... lots of geology, archeology, and varied biology lend itself to this feeling. In fact, Al Schneider, self trained in botany, has discovered a new species in the area: Packera mancosa -- the Mancos-shale Aster. So, with renewed enthusiasm, I am teaching myself botany in hopes I can both key plants out and learn what's going on all around me.

But perhaps the most exciting chance at discovery for the average Joe has been launched: imagine you have joined the crew of a sailing ship, exploring uncharted waters to a vaguely known destination. The captain asks you to man the lookout, your mission is to discover new land and steer the $650 million ship traveling at 150 times faster than a speeding bullet to the hitherto unknown destination... your only charts to study are some hazy projections pulled from Magellan's library.

Yes, this is an unprecedented chance for some schmuck like me to not only discover a new planet (ok, a minor planet like Pluto), but have it visited shortly after discovery. Icehunters here I come!

Strange Skies

2011-06-12T14:34:00.009-04:00

I awoke early one morning at the end of May to lots of squawking from the Magpies that built a nest in one of the Utah Juniper trees near the house. I glanced up to see a huge turkey vulture glaring down from the cottonwood tree, but that was not what was upsetting the magpies. Instead, one of the chicks had died. One by one, each of the dozen magpies in the yard would fly up to the next and cry loudly for a minute, and then fly away. Magpies are one of the few species that have documented behavior of a funeral (although many species have been shown to display grieving behaviors).

For a few windy days, we've also experienced strange, smoggy skies from the Wallow Fire in Arizona. Most of the southwest has been very dry this year, so wildfire is a big concern. Over the Memorial Day weekend, gusts of up to 50mph were stirring up dust and sand across the Four Corners. We had decided to visit the canyons of Utah to explore some ancient publeoan ruins. As we hiked Mule Canyon and Butler Wash, the sky was a salmon-grey color and occasionaly sand would sting the eyes and a hat would careeen down the canyon. It seemed fitting weather for exploring 1000 year old cliff dwellings.

The morning we hiked the northern reaches of Grand Gulch, the skies were clear blue and wonderfully cool. We saw several interesting ruins, some with kivas that had views of an arch, and another with a turkey-pen still intact. Everywhere there were sherds of pottery, corn husks, and charcoal fragments. A few ghostly handprints and other art were drawn on many of the cave walls.

The mountains are still too snowy for hiking above 9000 feet, but that didnt stop us from trying. We hiked to the base of Lizard Head in drifts still as much as 4 feet deep! The whole mountain side was flowing with meltwater, so it'll be muddy for a few more weeks. Any suggestions for next weekend?

This Wednesday, June 15th, will be a great chance to see a total lunar eclipse, and get ready for a Vesta Fiesta soon as Dawn releases its first images of Vesta.

Mesa Verde National Park

2011-05-22T18:14:00.006-04:00

Here's my Top Ten list of things you may not know about Mesa Verde National Park:

1. Identified as an IBA (Important Bird Area) by the Colorado Audubon Society

2. Designated by UNESCO as a World Hertitage Site for it's nature and history.

3. Under the Clean Air Act, it was designated as a Class I Air Shed, which means the air quality is supposed to be as good as it gets, and is protected by law.

4. Part of the Nature Conservancy's southern Rockies Network of Conservation Areas.

5. A component of the Park Mesa Research Natural Area.

6. Recognized as a Colorado Outstanding Waters due to the Mancos River forming the eastern edge of the park's borders.

7. Considered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to be in the top 25 National Parks most vulnerable to climate change, with a climate monitoring station established at Far View.

8. A member of the SCPN (Southern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Network), which conducts surveys of Long Term Monitoring Plots inside the park.

9. the Colorado Plateau is considered by the International Dark-Sky Association to be one of the best night skies in the country.

10. In the top 28 Places to See Before You Die, a bucket list published by Smithsonian Magazine.

Meanwhile, my crew-leader's boss's boss has established a reward to the person who reports the most interesting (from the general public's perspective) wildlife sightings during the summer season. The list is weighted towards the classic charismatic megafauna, with Big Foot topping the list at 100 points! Wish me luck!

May Daze

2011-05-08T17:50:00.008-04:00

Work is progressing swiftly. The wildland firefighter red-card refresher course was held last week, along with the dreaded pack test. Fortunately, my flat-lander feet could keep up the pace and finished in plenty of time. Whew! While I was off doing that, my coworkers were assisting a botanist from the University of Colorado's state Natural Heritage Program. They visited several pre-existing study sites and inventoried the plants they found. The exciting news is they may have found a new species of Astragalus to add to Mesa Verde's species list. It's preliminary, but if they are positive in their identification, they hope to submit a voucher for it.

I suppose to counter a possible first, I should include a photo of a definite last. This skull is the last known Desert Bighorn to have lived in Mesa Verde. The wildlife biologists are still hard at work to attempt a reintroduction, and perhaps soon the bighorn will be seen once again along the cliffs of Mesa Verde.

This year, there is much more emphasis in qualitatively analyzing the native flora, as well as accurately mapping out weed infestations. Dare I say, I have been blind-sided by science. The new crew is well versed in botany, so I need to catch up so that I can contribute what I can.

To help me gain some traction, I attended a field trip this past Friday to Narraguinnep Canyon Natural Area. In a rare moment of political precognition, these natural areas were set aside to serve as reference types for a particular ecosystem. Therefore, Narraguinnep can be studied to understand what a "natural" (as natural as humanely possible) Ponderosa ecosystem should look like. Of particular interest in this area is the realization that old growth Ponderosa forests are the best defense against forest fires, much like a mangrove hammock resists the destruction of a hurricane.

I'm slowly learning my plants, so be prepared for more latin words and a "Plant of the Week". Today's plant of the week is Lithophragma parviflorum the Woodland Star. It is common saxifrage upon the mesa tops, and blooming now. It also highlights why I need to learn the real names of plants, because another common plant Lithophragma glabrum, also called Woodland Star, is a different species, which can be distinguished by tiny, red buds along the infloresence. There will be a quiz later!

For a weekend reprise from plant ID, we went to see the mountains still buried in snow and hunt down a few geocaches. The highlight was seeing Cornet Falls breaking free of its icy prison.

Happy Arbor Day!

2011-04-29T09:56:00.007-04:00

It's good to be back in the four corners once again. The mountains are still sleepy with snow on their shoulders, and it snowed on my first day of work! On the day we arrived, it was very windy and "Arizona came to visit", which is how the locals describe the dust storm that accompanies the strong southwest winds.

This season, there are only 4 members on the vegetation crew, but we have a new ecologist to help direct the program. Our immediate goals are focused on surveying for rare plants, especially in areas where the public may visit. We hiked the Petroglyph Trail to view some Wild Parsley and Cliff Palace Milkvetch. A short trail to an overlook of Cliff Palace may also be created, and we will consult the trail crew on how to route the overloook trail to prevent Cliff Palace Milkvetch and Townsend Daisies from being lost.

Especially exciting was our hike down to Square Tower Ruin. It is an iconic ruin, but previously only visible from an overlook. This year, archeologists are considering opening up a trail for the public to tour it this summer. There are many rare plants along the trail, including an endemic variety of stickseed (Aletis MacDougalli) and Schmoll's Milkvetch. Our goal is to monitor those populations, since it is inevitable some will become trampled.

Visiting Square Tower ruin from below was a real treat, since it is still so much intact without restoration. A kiva with its roof still intact and some plaster on the walls can be seen. Rock art and sherds are still present, and some of the rooms are painted. The enigmatic Crow's Nest ruin can also be seen much better from below, perched above the tower. I found a Packrat's nest underneath a boulder who had smuggled out an ancient corn cob. Ironically, it's a raven that nests in an alcove above Crow's Nest.

So this first week has been a great start to the season, and it looks like I'll learn a LOT more plants this year -- the good ones, not the bad ones.

Lionfish: the other white meat!

2011-04-07T12:28:00.004-04:00

Just 10 years ago, researchers noted the presence of about 10 lionfish scattered across the east coast of the United States. There was concern that the lionfish would become invasive, and within a few years, hundreds were being seen along the coast of the Carolinas and northern Florida. While I was living in the Florida Keys in 2007-2008, there was alarm the lionfish was coming, but I never saw them in my dives around Big Pine and Key West.

This past March, my Dad invited me along on a diving trip to Little Cayman Island, and I saw first hand the power of of the sigmoid curve of unchecked population growth. We saw several lionfish on every dive, so clearly the population is thriving. The good news is that lionfish are a beautiful addition to the reef: it is their exotic and striking looks that made them a hit with the aquarium trade, which likely resulted in the contamination of the east coast by dumping unwanted adult fish.

The bad news: they are voracious predators, especially of juvenile fish. They will clearly have economic impacts to the grouper and snapper fisheries, and ecological impacts could be more devastating if they can exploit coral reefs in preferential ways. The immediate problem is that there are no predators that view them as a food source, except people brave enough to avoid their poisonous spines and fry em up.

Researchers have been looking into training reef sharks in the Atlantic to prey on lionfish, since sharks are their natural predators in the Pacific. This is proving difficult, apparently because sharks make crappy students. The dive team at Little Cayman Beach Resort have found some willing students: the friendly, and sometimes lovable, Nassau Grouper. Some of the grouper are excited to see scuba divers enter the water. They swim over to greet the divers and follow them around like a puppy dog. Some are so friendly, they have been given names, such as Benji and MiniMe. When the dive masters encounter a lion fish, they point it out to the grouper, which then chomps it down in one bite! Hopefully, the grouper will learn that lionfish are prey and help balance out the current unchecked population growth.

One problem with this scenario is the Nassau Grouper is often overfished. For the past 7 years in the Caymans, the Nassau has been under limited protection on Little Cayman due to devastating overfishing, but those protections are set to expire. Please sign this petition to inform the Cayman Island government that protecting the Nassau Grouper from over-exploitation is in the best interest of everyone: including the fisherman... and ultimately even the lionfish. If anything exploits a resource to the point of an ecosystem crash, everyone loses.

We had a great time in the Caymans, and saw many wonderful sights. We saw so many hawksbill sea turtles, we became acclimatized to swimming along an endangered species. Coral reefs are just a riot of strange colors and shapes, but with some practice we began seeing more and more each dive. The island itself had its own set of rare animals, such as island tree snails, lion-tail lizards, and rare rock iguanas. I was also lucky enough to add two birds to my lifelist: the largest colony of Red Footed Boobies in the Caribbean and a Bananaquit in need of voice lessons. On unrelated news: I'm returning to Mesa Verde National Park for another season!

Happy Columbus Day!

2010-10-11T19:56:00.006-04:00

Ok, maybe it feels a little weird to be observing Columbus Day when I'm surrounded by Native American tribal lands, so I guess I'll smoothly segue into another topic sentence...

I'm unemployed once again! The season is over, and we're all wondering what we'll do next summer. It's nice to know I'm welcome back at Mesa Verde, and it looks like there will be a three person crew next year. Unless another adventure lands at my doorstep(s), mooring buoy, tent flap, etc... then it's great to know I can return here. Of course, as a wise hobbit once noted, "Adventures make one late for dinner. "

We've a few short weeks left to explore the Four Corners. Autumn has come, with snows reappearing on the mountain tops, quaking aspens turning gold, sincere pumpkin patches burgeoning with treasure, and little pika scurrying to harvest their haystacks for the winter. Folks familiar with my amazing hiking techniques will not be surprised I wore out the bottom of my pants on a glissade down Centennial Peak yesterday. Fortunately, that adventure did not make us late for dinner at the Absolute Bakery. Yum!

M is for Moose-atat

2010-09-12T20:15:00.013-04:00

Tempus fugit, eh pardo?

The news from the Natural Resources department of Mesa Verde is a little stranger than normal. It begins with the reports of 6 stray cows ( 3 cows and 3 calves) found within the boundary of the Park. Since the cattle have been hanging around the fence at the southern border, there's suspicion that they snuck across. The biologist thought that we could get 4 members of the veg-crew to sweep down from the top of Navajo canyon, chase the cattle before us, and then be joined at the confluence of Spruce and Wickiup canyon by a posse of Rangers and the remaining veg crew.

Being a Texan, I felt it was my duty to join the vanguard. We swept down the top of the canyon, and after a few miles began seeing cattle tracks, but no cows. With hopes that we were driving the cattle before us, we kept moving down canyon, with 2 of us climbing up on the canyon slopes periodically to ensure cows weren't hiding up on the benches of some of the canyons. The long story short is that we were outwitted by the cows, who probably smelled a trap in the making and ran up the west fork of Navajo canyon. We never saw them that day, but did shore up the fencing. I think plan-B is to find some real cowboys.

For recreation, we took the 4 day holiday weekend to backpack into Vallecito canyon. Before reaching the trailhead, we drove by Vallecito reservoir, which was site of the 2002 Mission Ridge wildfire that burned the same year Mesa Verde had its worst fire season. The fire burned so intensly that embers spotted new fires on the opposite side of the lake. It doesn't take a genius to realize that if a lake doesn't work as a firebreak, then there's not much one can do to stop it. Just like the Boulder blaze that's currently burning, it is likely that the fire was human error. The fire is commemorated in a Trail of Carvings.

We had a great backpacking trip, with the weather nice enough to just rain while we slept. We saw waterfalls and many new peaks, such as The Guardian, and Mt. Silex, and hardly saw a soul in the backcountry. While hiking up the river, we mentioned how it was perfect habitat for a moose... Mooseatat! We were really thrilled when hiking back to camp, there was a bull moose staring back at us. He didn't trust people, so he's a smart moose.

Work continued with a few other intersting activites, such as UTV safety training, the last day of the hummingbird project (thanks to the volunteers of the Hummingbird Monitoring Network!), and the release of Roundtail Chubs into the Mancos River canyon. The Colorado Division of Wildlife is raising the chubs from stock saved from Mesa Verde during a severe drought when irrigation had depleted the river so much that it no longer flowed. Hopefully, these efforts will restore the species back to healthy levels.

We celebrated the release by going on an overnight rafting trip down the Colorado, right along the boundaries of Arches National Park in Utah. Floating down the majestic canyons was great, seeing the Fisher Towers and Red-necked Phalaropes was sweet, but the icing on the cake was seeing a family of river otters swim and scamper along the shoreline.

Outsourcing in the Natural Resources Dept.

2010-08-20T22:40:00.008-04:00

Summer is blazing by here in the Four Corners. We have had a nice monsoon, with the rains just taking a long enough break to give our recent guests a nice visit. Projects are finishing up, such as the Seeps and Springs monitoring and the Bighorn Survey.

Another very interesting project we assisted with was establishing long-term study plots for the Integrated Upland Monitoring program done by the Southern Colorado Plateau Network. These plots are intended to be monitored almost indefinitely, so the boundaries of the plots were marked with stakes and witness trees, with GPS waypoints for all reference marks. Once the study plot was established, all kinds of measurements were taken: gap analysis, soil samples, measurements and tagging of all trees, and exhaustive description of plant species and coverage within sampling frames. It takes a team of 3 experienced scientists all day to complete 1 50m study plot.

Assisting other researchers is always a treat, since it's a chance to learn a lot from smart people and also a nice break in our routine. We never let go of our primary directive -- combating invasive plants, and now we have competition! This past week, we've "contracted" out controls of musk and canada thistle to "foreigners" that work for free, and with luck, they'll do a great job. I'm not too worried about my job, since these competitors have historically only shown to be about 30% effective, and more importantly, they have the IQ of... well... a tiny bug. Yup, I'm referring to the biocontrols used against thistles: Trichosirocalus horridus (the Musk Thistle Rosette Weevil) and Larinus Planus (the Canada Flower Weevil). We set these weevils free in areas of high infestation that were also difficult to treat with herbicides, due to remoteness or sensitive riparian areas that might contain Tiger Salamanders or other species of park concern. I hope they work well!

With all that the rain promises, I considered myself fortunate to attend a Mushroom hike organized by the San Juan Mountain Association. It was great, and I learned much. Tonight we feasted on Five-Shroom-Pizza, including the coveted Chantrelle (spotted by yours truly!), Aspen Bolete, tiny puff balls, and a few others. So far, we've survived our first harvest! Important tips from my field notebook: be careful, cook practically everything, test for allergic reactions (esp for Boletes), watch for maggots, and be even more careful.

'Till next time: peace out, bro!

Mountains, Monsoons, and Mines

2010-08-01T12:56:00.009-04:00

The summer "monsoons" have begun in the rockies, and for the past two weeks we've enjoyed watching the storms build each afternoon. The humidity is much higher, but the clouds and cool breezes make it very enjoyable. I was hanging laundry as a storm raged in the nearby La Plata mountains, and watched the inflow from the storms flap the damp clothes dry and draw that vapour to feed the maw of the thunderstorm. Isn't it strange how we can perform routine tasks while a phenomenon with several times the power of an atomic bomb rages just a few miles away?

The summer rains are always welcome here, and the plants are greening up again. Also importantly, the rains have greatly reduced the chance of fires, so that's one less thing to worry about. Mesa Verde National Park and adajacent Ute Tribal lands have seen 4 fires so far this year, each caused by lightning, and each caught and snuffed out before they had burned more than a third of an acre.

Lately, the vegetation crew I work with have been assisting other researchers. There's two teams doing different bird-banding surveys. One team is doing many surveys in different locations across the southwest. The station I helped at had several nets along route almost one mile long, which required frequent checking, which adds up to a lot of walking. It was a slow day, but we caught a black-throated gray warbler, and several ash-throated flycatchers. Another team is focused solely on hummingbirds, and most of the work is done by volunteers. The morning I helped, we caught over 50 birds, with only 3 that had been previously banded. The rufous and black-chinned humming birds are migrating through, so there's lots of turn-over during these weeks. The broad-tailed hummingbirds seem to stick around though. It requires certification to band the birds, so the poor researcher in charge of the station was constantly busy taking measurements and placing on bands. Fortunately, we can close the nets so we don't get too many birds at one time.

Another researcher, who is a new employee at Mesa Verde, has big plans for the park. When the park was first established, natural resources were not really protected very well, and for a variety of reasons many species began to dissappear. His goal is to reevaluate the habitat for some of these missing species that belong in the park and determine if conditions are right so that they can be reintroduced.

One of his first priorities is gathering data for Big Horn Sheep reintroduction. It's a complicated problem, especially since nobody is really sure which sub-species of bighorn lived in the park; were there once Mountain Bighorn or Desert Bighorn? There's many factors that go into making a decision, but the one part my team has been helping with is going out into the field to perform terrain-coverage estimates. We do random transects across the terrain, and at several points within a transect, measure the amount of coverage a sheep would experience. Bighorn prefer a mostly open terrain, where ambush predators such as puma can be seen from a safe distance (14 meters). So as we hike along to each point, one of us crouches down to sheep-eye-level (90 cm) and the other drags a checker-board to the North, East, South, and West 14 m away and determine how much of the board can be seen. If you glace at a map of MEVE and draw about 50 points, with each point having a line 140m long in a random direction, and then look at the terrain, it is clear that this involves some challenging hiking. It's often an adventure, and we've seen interesting fossil beds, anazasi ruins, and lots of wildlife.

The rainy weather has impacted both work and play, and we've been limited to day trips in the area. I really enjoyed a hike along Red Mountain pass; one trail followed a cliff edge around a canyon, and another went past the old Joker Boarding House and up to an old mine and mill site way up on the mountain. Long ago (how long I shall not say), I explored this area and the mining tunnels were oozing really vibrantly-colored goo that was as clear a warning sign of toxicity as any aposematic coloration in nature. It looked like something Dr. Jekyll might keep in vials. Fortunately, much money has been spent to try and clean up and reclaim the soils and water of the area to keep the toxins from contaminating both people and wildlife. Many of the old tailings have been worked into large leach fields (about as pretty as it sounds), and water from the Joker tunnel is now channeled into a small canal that has some weird string-alage growing in it, which I think was planted to help eat the acids and perhaps even store some of the heavy metals. I'd like to know more, so if anyone has some info, please share it.

We all live downsteam!

The rainy weather has finally given us some downtime to go into town and see some traditional Ute dances and listend to a Navajo Code Talker down at the Cortez Cultural Center. I hope we have good weather next weekend, since I'm ready to go hiking again.

Midseason

2010-07-18T18:09:00.003-04:00

Sorry for being a slacker, but I just havn't had the chance to write much. I guess procrastination pays, because others have written excellent blogs about stuff i like to talk about. In lieu of being a parrot, I'll just link em here:

Mesa Verde is cool: and so is Marilyn Collyer, who is mentioned in the article and very knowledgeable about the natural history of the area. She volunteered to lead us techies and the interps around to look at plants and stuff.

ZOMG, don't forget the first annual NATIONAL FOSSIL DAY!

Fiery Fourth

2010-07-05T20:59:00.009-04:00

It's been steady progress at work, with us making thwarting thistles, knapweed, toadflax, and other noxious weeds. We'll soon be trained in chainsawing to begin fighting tamarisk growing in a few areas of the park. Fire season is also upon us, and recently the fire crew has been short staffed as a portion of their team is in Arizona beating back a wildland fire started by a sloppy camper. Four of us on the natural resources crew have red cards, so a few of us were called in to fill in weekend dates, and were outfitted with linepacks and associated gear.

I passed on the first round of overtime, since I had some family come in for a nice visit. We had a lot of catching up to do, since my brother works as a contractor for NASA's manned space program that is currently in the process of reinventing itself as the space shuttle is retired. They met me at Mesa Verde and we toured Balcony House, Spruce Tree, Sun Temple, Far View, and a few other sites, which made for a full day. I was hoping we could check on the status of the parrot figurine from Yucca House, but I'll have to find out another time.

We spent a day rafting the lower Animas River in Durango, and the next day saw Cascade Falls in Ouray. We saw a bear cross the road at Pinkerton Hot Springs. That worked up our appetite, so we scarfed down some Mouse's Chocolate and then went to a local pub to watch the sunset. It was a busy holiday weekend and the hot springs were packed like sardines. My brother's family went on north to visit with more relatives, and we went in search of a campsite. The nearby Forest campgrounds were all full, so we drove to Dallas Creek and found a nice gravel patch along the roadside to call home.

Dallas Creek is the trailhead for the hike we did on the 4th of July. It goes up into the Mount Sneffels Wilderness to the Blue Lakes, which is some spectacular alpine scenery. Snow banks along the mountainsides were melting into cascades, all of which fed into a strangly blue lake. The water clarity was somewhat clouded by glacial flour from the slow moving rock glacier on it's south shoreline. We explored the shoreline to get a few nice views of the nearby waterfalls, and then trudged up to the upper Blues. The trail is very steep and messy at first, probably because the original trail washed away. After about half a mile, it improves and the going gets much easier.

At the upper lakes, we had a nice lunch and just soaked up the incredible vista. Mount Sneffels just seemed sooooo close, I figured I had to try it while I was there. The hike up to the saddle was fairly easy, and I could see all the silly jeepers below bouncing around the Yankee Boy parkinglot on the non-wilderness side. A study in contrasts. Mount Sneffels summit sits outside the Mount Sneffels Wilderness, and I suspect someone in the jeep touring industry can explain that irony.

From the saddle, the route quickly became interesting. It took some focus and gumption to scramble around the pinnacles guarding the South Ridge couloir. Once past the couloir, the summit loomed above, not looking much easier. The wind tried to convince me to turn around, but it slacked off and after a few moments of wondering what I was doing, I was on the summit with 3 other nice folks. The view was amazing, and I tried to take a few photos, but as always they don't do justice to grand scenery of dappled sunlight racing across distant ridges, etc, etc. I went back down immediately, and began the hike out.

We celebrated in the hot springs as a rain storm came over the mountains. We watched the fireworks and began driving back home in the dark. After midnight, we began singing the Deer Patrol song to keep us alert, as we passed many a mulee munchin on the roadsides (one was taking a dirt nap). It was a great holiday weekend, but now it's back to work.

Happy Solstice!

2010-06-21T23:17:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to wish the planet a happy summer solstice, and especially send some good vibes to those helping protect and restore the Gulf Coast. National Park Service personnel are being enlisted to assist in the BP oil spill cleanup and all of my crew has signed up for the job. We're not sure where or when folks will be deployed, but this will certainly impact our restoration efforts this season at Mesa Verde.

Here's a photo of the beautiful mountains just north of us at Lizard Head pass. We saw lots of waterfalls and mountains the past two weeks. The alpine meadows are starting to thaw and light up with amazing wildflowers.

Cheapers the Gosling

2010-06-13T23:15:00.004-04:00

Hi World, I'd like for you to meet Cheapers, the Cute Canadian Gosling. We found him in the middle of the road, trying to keep up with Mama Goose and her other 3 chicks. Cheapers was having a hard time walking, so we tried to help. A long-tailed weasel scampered nearby, so we didnt want to leave the scene until Mama came back. She never did, instead leaving Cheapers behind as she went far away. We decided to adopt Cheapers and take him to a rehabilitation center (why dont I donate more to them?!?!?). He was having convulsions and died a few minutes later. Poor Cheapers, I'm sorry you never had the chance to fly, honk at the full moon, and eat delicious pond scum.

I felt bad for depriving the weasel of what he probably considered his job in nature, so we brought the chick back and laid him on the log I saw the weasel scamper upon. Then we went on our not-as-merry way.

Since summer kicked it in with a vengeance, we wanted to see some waterfalls whilst the streams are all running full bore with snowmelt. We were not disappointed. We had a wonderful hike along Four-mile Falls trail and saw a pair of stunning waterfalls. I was hoping we could keep hiking upstream to a lake and hot spring, but there was still too much snow in the trail to be safe.

Denied a hot-spring soak, we stopped in Pagosa Springs to try one of their hot springs. ZOWEEEE! It was so hot I could only stay in for a few minutes before turning lobster red.

Work at Mesa Verde is in full swing too, with us spraying gobs of Musk Thistle, and chasing the Hound's Tounge from under the oaks. From what my boss has noticed from last year is that these treatments make a huge difference. Wahoo! This coming week we are to begin work on Seeps and Springs monitoring.

summertime?

2010-06-07T22:41:00.005-04:00

What a difference a week makes. After just one week of spring-like temps, suddenly it feels like summer! The snow had completed melted off Sleeping Ute, which is the locals indicator for when planting should begin. Then we hit several bright, sunny days reaching into the 90's and snow in the nearby La Platas began melting fast. All the rivers are running full bore, even though it hasn't rained in weeks.

At work, a long time employee of Mesa Verde National Park gave us an excellent field trip to learn the plants of the area. She was extremely knowledgeable, and not only knew the life cycle of many plants, but also the various indigenous uses of them.

Afeared the canyons might become too hot to handle, we forayed into Utah to see some ancient sites along the enigmatic Comb Ridge. We saw the Petroglyph Procession panel, Monarch Cave, and Fishmouth Cave. The last two caves were very interesting sites, with sherds all about the ruins, and even dried corn husks here and there among the ruins. We also saw mountain lion paw prints in the dried mud of a tinaja. Alas, the gnats proved too annoying, so we retreated to the Abajo mountains to camp in the cool conifers.

The next day we toured Arches National Park. It is full of majestic sandstone sculptures, and a photographers paradise. Being Memorial Day weekend, the park was very busy too, especially at such iconic sites as Delicate Arch. However even on one of the busiest days, we could find solitude just a few miles from the campground, such as Tapestry and Navajo Arches. We explored the parks until dark, grabbed grub in Moab, pondered the Polygamy Porter, and blazed on back home. Time flies!

Bears, Bees, Buntings, and a Parrot

2010-05-31T14:10:00.013-04:00

The past two weeks at Mesa Verde National Park have been eventful, so I apologize for the delay in updating the blog. I went with the Natural Resource manager on an evening survey for the Mexican Spotted Owl. It was almost too windy to go, but we gambled and it paid off with a very nice sunset and evening. On our hike up Wickiup Canyon, we stopped to observe some of the Cliff Palace Milk Vetch and saw a black bear ambling along the far side of the canyon near Buzzard House. We climbed atop the ridge just as the last light of dusk faded, and then began our owl calls.

At first, all we heard were the crazed calls of Poorwills along Bobcat Canyon. Towards the end of the first survey, we very faintly heard a few hoots, but couldn't identify them. Later, as we hiked down Navajo Canyon, we distintcly heard the calls again. The first guess was that it was a Flammulated Owl, but since the Long-Eared owl call is similar, we weren't sure until we returned to the office and listened to some recordings to eventually conclude it was a Flammulated. It's too bad we didn't hear the Spotted Owl, since it once nested in the park, but hasn't been observed in nearly five years. There's concern that a long-lasting drought is limiting their prey, which consists mostly of small rodents. Both the Mexican and Pacific Spotted Owls are in trouble, so it would be great news for it to return.

Weed killin' is also off to a good start. We went down to Mancos River Canyon to begin treating Whitetop (aka Hoary Cress). The willows along the river bank were a great birding area, and we saw many different species. The most exciting for me was when I looked up to see a brilliant azure bird shining in the sun. I hastily yanked out the binocs to get a better look and immediately recognized it as the Lazuli Bunting! My lifelist luck continued when we saw a Lewis's Woodpecker foraging in the utah junipers near our house while we were having dinner. It's another amazingly beautiful bird, with metallic green along the back and rosey-colored breast.

Another goal in the past two weeks was treating areas we expect to become busy with summer, the campgrounds and parking lots. Not very exciting terrain, but we added another new weed to our kill list: Houndstounge. For the weekend, we went on a trek down Sand Canyon, which had many Anasazi ruins along the trail hidden in the canyon. We also saw a lot of lizards, including a pair of Collared Lizards and this Whiptail enforcing the law. During our explorations in other areas, we noticed many ancient pottery sherds, but also spotted a tiny figurine. When I emailed the photos of the figurine to our staff Arche (short for archeologist), she became exicted and her boss recommended going back to recover the figurine so that it can be studied in the lab.

Typically, most sites are strickly in a non-collection status, even for research archeologists that oversee the site. Only until funding becomes available to begin a proper excavation and research program is a site to be disturbed, otherwise important information would likely be lost or destroyed in a piecemeal approach. This means that the figurine will likely be replaced exactly where we found it, instead of going on display in a museum, the only exception would be if the piece is of special significance. We were able to find the tiny artifact again, and the arche decided it was made from stone and probably represents a parrot. Once the lab investigation is complete, we hope to know more about it.

Meanwhile, back at the ol' homestead, our neighbor has brought in many beehives. The worker bees are efficient foragers, and made a bee-line straight to our hummingbird feeder. Often, the swarm was over 20 bees. The birds didn't trust the bees, and seem to have migrated onward. Hopefully we'll find a way to make both the birds and the bees happy.

Remembered Earth

2010-05-15T11:59:00.009-04:00

"Once in our lives we ought to concentrate our minds upon the Remembered Earth. We ought to give ourselves up to a particular landscape in our experience, to look at it from as many angles as we can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. We ought to imagine that we touch it with our hands at every season and listen to the sounds that are made upon it. We ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. We ought to recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk."

So that's the plan. We made the run to Denver last week and passed the supervisor exams, so that should officially end the paperchase for this season. I had the afternoon off, so I took the advice to check out the Nature & Science Museum. The paleontology exhibit was awesome, and I had to give close inspection to the hadrosaurs on display. Another favorite was the lifesize model of a Big Pig (Archaeotherium), that startles the crud outta people when they walk into the room and turn around. So numerous are these rhino fossils out in the badlands that the plains Indians have legends about the time of the Thunder Horses. The museum also had a nice section on Indians and Gems (including Tom's Baby). The human body exhibit was studiously avoided -- I'm the kid that was disturbed by dissecting the cat in highschool bio, so seeing a room full of flayed dead people in strange poses is not on my to do list.

On the drive back home, I stopped for a few leg stretchers along the way. My face quickly began to freeze in the cold, snowy winds at Kenosha pass. Much nicer was the west slope of Wolf Creek pass, that has a nice path to Treasure Falls. The rapidly melting snow has the creek running full tilt, so the viewing area soaked me quickly! Brisk! To increase the excitement, the mist freezes in the fir tree nearby, forming icicles that were melting and falling down. It was nice seeing the Collegiate peaks and Crestone Needles still draped in snow, and I had to dip my hand into the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Brrr!

This week was notable for the first paleontological park opening in Texas: the Minerals Wells Fossil Park - where the public is allowed to collect for free! Too bad I missed the ceremony. I also missed attending the launch of STS-132, the last scheduled flight for Atlantis, but at least was able to watch her fly on TV.

The work week went by quickly, since we're all business now. Lots of dead thistle, and we're just gettin' started. Last night, I was up till 1am helping with an owl prowl. We were surveying for Mexican Spotted Owls, which haven't been conclusively seen in the park for over 4 years. Once the owls would nest, sometimes in conspicuous places. There is concern that recent summer droughts are limiting the rodent population below critical thresholds needed to support more owls. On a more positive note, we saw a black bear on our hike into Wickiup Canyon, and heard many poorwills and a long-eared owl for much of the night.

The area we conducted the survey is along a 90 year old trail that has been closed to the public in modern times to protect the archeological sites. This year, a pilot program has begun to allow hikers a guided trip to see some of the ruins and experience the backcountry, such as Spring House and the Honeymoon Suite. Also along the trail is the rare and endemic Cliff Palace Milk-vetch. We are concerned that hiking will trample many of the plants, so we surveyed the population and flagged the plants we deemed in harm's way. Hopefully visitors will tread even lighter than normal -- since nobody should be a meadow stomper.

"It is here that I can concentrate my mind upon the Remembered Earth. It is here that I am most conscious of being, here that wonder comes upon my blood...." -- Momaday

I feel... Refreshed!

2010-05-02T13:32:00.012-04:00

It's springtime! It seems everything from the air to the flowers seem to be renewed, in fact the federal government even presented me a certificate proving I'm officially refreshed! That's right, the RT-130 Fire Refresher and pack test is complete. Some of the material was reinforcing previous training, such as analyzing factors behind accidents and pretending to be a baked potato. We did cover some new topics too, including how to properly call in an aircraft order.

The cooler weather has resulted in a slower start for some of the weeds, but we are getting ready to begin knocking out the invasive exotic plants. After cleaning and adjusting the backpack sprayers, we needed to uniquely identify them as ours. Mine has been christened Thistle's Bane.

The cool and damp weather this weekend also put a slower start in our exploring the nearby canyonlands. Instead, we hit up a few garage sales in town, patronized the library, and scored a few geocaches in the lovely town park (up to 900 finds!). We also tried one of the two chinese restaurants in town ($3.50 for a bottle of sake), and Once Upon A Sandwich. One of the local art establishments is worth a visit, Notah Dineh, which has many museum quality Navajo pottery, rugs, and other decorations for sale too. Another trading post down the store specializes in beadwork, and I couldn't leave without buying a dinosaur charm.

Staying at home isn't as boring as it sounds. We have great views of the La Plata range to the east, Mesa Verde to the south, and Sleeping Ute to the west. In the far distance is the Chuska mountains in Arizona. Below the hill are two ponds full of geese, ducks, and redwing blackbirds. Closer to the cabin are western bluebirds, Audubon's warblers, broad-tailed hummingbirds, among the usual cast of birds. Mule deer are seen each evening munching outside the fence, with rabbits, skunks, and lizards making guest appearances. There's 3 different types of cactus, prickly pear, claret cup, and rat-tail cholla. There's a venerable Utah Juniper in the yard that I suspect may be old enough to have provided shade to the Anasazi. Considering some Bristlecone pines are over 4,000 years old, they have stood testament over many changes to this land.

This week, I'll be gone for 3 days in Denver to obtain my pesticide license. That should put an end to the paper chase and we can finally begin the weed chase.

It's beginning to look alot like... April?

2010-04-25T22:03:00.006-04:00

We have been watching the snow melt away quickly from the lower elevations here, and being from Texas, felt a slight twang of loss as the pretty snow left the nearby mesas and canyons behind. Imagine my surprise to wake up on Thurs the 22nd to several inches of snow on the ground. Fortunately the roads were in great condition, and we were able to look around a little before getting to work.

Earlier in the week, we had spent a warm afternoon surveying nearby Yucca House Pueblo for several weeds, such as Whitetop (aka Hoary Cress), Knapweed, and the ever present Musk Thistle. We found a huge claret cup cactus that was getting ready to bloom. The ruins themselves are difficult to appreciate: only one wall still stands, and the great kiva looks more like a crater. Large mounds are all that's left of one of the largest pueblos in the area. What was exciting was the vast number of sherds we saw, some with enough painting and markings to be identifiable. This ruin is still unexcavated, so it will be certain to thrill the archeologists who choose to research it.

The following day was spent on Weatherhill Mesa, which is still closed. This summer will be exciting there as a new trail is being opened up to view Mug House Ruin. Something up there has been feasting on the Yucca, so that's a mystery we need to solve. Wild horses still roam the park, mostly at the behest of the neighboring Ute Tribe. However, horses are not native to north america (well, there have been other species of horses in ages long long ago, but not the modern Equus). They are beautiful animals, and those in the park are certainly wild, but if there is no way to keep a balance, both the habitat and the horse will suffer. As you might guess, we suspect horses may be the culprit.

This weekend was mostly spent playing house again (we scored a TV, loveseat, and stuffed elephant - among other treasures)! Sunday, we managed to tour the Canyon of the Ancients. We stopped at Lowry Pueblo and had the place all to ourselves. There is a very interesting Great Kiva there with strange structures inside. The mural inside the indoor kiva was deteriorating, but can now be seen at the Anazasi Cultural center. After that, we toured Painted Hand Pueblo, which so far has been my favorite "wild" archeological site. Very mystical feeling to the area. Further down the road is Hovenweep, which is a large collection of sites. They have a new visitor center and campground, with many ruins nearby. A canyon wren has set up home inside the Castle, and a Raven was laughing at us from Square Tower for having to hike around the canyon. Our brief foray into Utah brought us closer to the Abajo and La Sal mountains, still wreathed in snow. They are a little lower in elevation, so perhaps will be the first mountains we venture into... assuming they haven't been overrun with ORV trails.

Wish me luck for next week: red card refresher complete with pack test is on the schedule!

ps - just a reminder to readers: you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Anasazis in April

2010-04-18T21:38:00.009-04:00

It's still early spring, and it looks like it's arriving slowly here in Montezuma county. Until the snow melts at higher elevations, don't expect too many alpine photos. Some ski areas were still operating on weekends, but we didn't want to risk bad weather on Lizard Head pass -- no snow tires, no chains, no 4wd, no dice.

Instead, this week was wisely spent exploring the lower canyonlands of the Four Corners region, which contain thousands of archeological sites. One of my job responsibilities is to measure and map the flow rates of various springs and seeps at Mesa Verde National Park. We took advantage of nice weather to visit Balcony House ruins, which contains amazingly preserved architecture and two springs which were used by the Cliff Dwellers as a municipal drinking well. These springs are important biologically because they create moist microclimates where ferns, mosses, and even orchids can thrive, some of which are endemic to Mesa Verde.

It was really exciting to be exploring 800 year old ruins as part of my job! Sometimes, it's hard to believe I'm getting paid for this, until we return to the office to keep cramming for our upcoming pesticide licensing. The Red Card refresher course, complete with the dreaded pack test, is also looming on the horizon. Maybe they should call it the "regrunger" course?
If you're jealous that I get paid for this, don't fret too much, because for the next two weeks you can get into Mesa Verde for free. This is because the Spruce Tree House is closed for reconstructing the trails, and isn't scheduled to be complete for a few weeks.

On Saturday, we made the short drive north to Dolores to see the Galloping Goose. The Engineer came out from the station and graciously opened the museum for us. He was very informative, explaining both the interesting history of the Goose, but also information of the upcoming railroad events in Colorado. His enthusiasm was contagious, and his excitement stemmed from their great work in restoring Goose No. 5 to operating condition. It's small enough to be transferred by truck to the D&S and Cumbres & Toltec narrow gauge rails, so we are looking into riding the rails once again.

From Dolores, it's a short drive to the excellent Anasazi Cultural Center, which contain many exhibits and have a short trail up the hill to the ruins of Escalante Pueblo. The receptionist at the museum was also very friendly and helpful, providing us with much information about the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument that extend all across the area. So we spent Sunday afternoon exploring the ruins nearby. The first site is Sand Canyon Pueblo, which is seldom visited. We were all alone, except with the snowy head of Sleeping Ute watching us from over the ridge. Sand Canyon is archeologically very important because it was one of the largest pueblos in this region (bigger than Cliff Palace) and one of the last pueblos to be occupied, being abandoned around 1280 AD. Most of the walls have crumbled, and archeologists chose to rebury rather than reconstruct the ruins in order to preserve them. After that, we spent a short hike along the Hawkins Preserve trail, which contains several archeological sites. I was very excited to find a pottery shard along the trail! We took some macro photos of the nondescript shard and placed it back where we found it, near some spoil heaps just south of the main pueblo. We found out later that shards are not uncommon along the trail, and that we are indeed to never remove an artifact. In general this is very excellent advice: never remove historical artifacts from where you find them (unless they are in immediate danger).

We spent the evening sipping wine and reviewing the day, watching Canadian Geese, Coots, and Buffleheads swim in the pond below and recalling the Golden Eagle that was just down the road. The Buffleheads will soon be gone, and thus mark the end of spring.

Ski Mesa Verde

2010-04-13T23:03:00.004-04:00

Yowza! We made it to our new cabin and have mostly settled in, and after much phone finagling we were able to get online once again. I began work yesterday, which was mostly an orientation and paperwork shuffle. We're a six person crew this year, so we have high hopes that we will more than double the productivity of last season's 3-person crew.

Leaving work yesterday, it was 70 degrees and REALLY windy, with gusts easily topping 30mph. It kicked up a huge dust storm that momentarily obscured the nearby mountain ranges and gave the sky an eerie metallic cast. As they say in many places, if you don't like the weather in Colorado, just wait a few minutes... yeah, heard that before. Woke up this morning to 28 degrees and snowfall! The drive up the mesa was ok, but looked like it could get sketchy.

Then, by lunch time it had warmed up and the snow melted away. We went for a short walk along Soda Butte to a burn area from 2008 to check on musk thistle. Found 20 rosettes, which we manually eradicated from the area! Hooray! Our first kill of the season! Things will pick up once we get our herbicide licenses. Along the hike, we found this interesting basin with a small hole that may be an archeological site. We took a picture to show the experts for tomorrow.

Leaving Texas behind during it's best month was hard to do; wildflowers everywhere and beautiful weather. But now that we're here, it's great to enjoy the great outdoors.

March Madness

2010-03-31T12:51:00.006-04:00

March always seems to be a crazy month; the weather changes with wild mood swings, plants begin showing signs of spring, birds begin migrating... and this year is no different.

Two weeks ago, I was offered a biological science technician position at Mesa Verde National Park. Considering we are to start mid April, that left a few scant weeks to prepare for the next trip. This past weekend, I just flew in from scouting out the greater Mancos/Cortez area to find suitable habitation. Originally, I was hoping to live in one of the cabins in Mesa Verde itself, but it was not to be. So in just two more weeks, I'll be living in Cortez.

Mesa Verde was the first national park created to "preserve the works of man", these works being the beautiful and archeologically enigmatic ruins of the ancient Pueblo culture. American Indians first arrived in the area around 550A.D., their culture began to flourish and they built many towns in the 4-corners region, such as Hovenweep, Aztec Ruins, Chaco Canyon, and many other impressive sites. This culture eventually faded soon after about 1200 A.D., and the reasons for their disappearance is still debated, although one factor that certainly added stress and may have been the most important was the changing climate made their agricultural practices impossible to sustain such high density communities. Mesa Verde contains so many complete ruins spanning such a long time that it has been declared a World Heritage site.

The park also protects other important and rare "resources", the biological diversity. The Nature Conservancy classifies the entire Mesa Verde National Park as part of the Network of Conservation Areas (NCA) due to exceptional occurrences of rare plant and animal species.

Meanwhile, the Arlington Archosaur Site is off to another great year. Many croc and turtle bones have been recovered, and even a few nice therapod fragments. Unfortunately, I will not be able to assist again until October. I may still have a few chances to contribute to paleontology of the Cretaceous era, since most of the rock formations near Cortez were deposited in the great Western Interior Seaway.

I'll definitely be writing more about all this stuff, but it's time to get moving!

Stones of Summer (and some garbage)

2009-08-18T15:51:00.013-04:00

This summer has turned into a season of paleontology. I've been volunteering at the Arlington Archosaur Site most weekends, where lots of activity has been taking place. Around mid-July, it was decided to try some Texas-style research; Tractor Prospecting! They had just begun at the base of the hill not far from the main quarry when bones were exposed. A team of volunteers worked long hours uncovering the preserved remains of several animals, most notable being a large crocodile. It was a major find, and a major effort to extract it, in some majorly hot weather. All the local TV networks came out for the story, and the major newspapers. It was nice to realize how interesting this work is to the public, especially since this media blitz occurred right after the sad closing of the Laramie Geological Museum. (how can a university close a historic & scientifically important museum, but still spend 20 times more on recreational sports?!)

At least science museums in Dallas seem to be doing well. I was lucky enough to be invited along on a tour with some paleontologists who volunteered and worked with the Dallas Museum of Natural History. We also stopped by SMU's collection, where I saw some amazing turtle fossils and get to touch a protohadros! Another volunteer invited me to work on preparing fossils from a mosasaur found not too far from my house, and now being housed at the Heard Museum. In the photo above, the plaster jacket is being removed. Plaster jackets are used to protect and move fossils found in the field by covering the matrix containing the fossils with paper, burlap, plaster, and battens. Once the jacket is removed, air-scribes and other tools are used to delicately remove stone around the fossils. Sometimes, the fossils are treated with resins to help hold them together. It's very loud and dusty work! (check out the huge tooth sockets in the jawbone at the bottom of this photo by Roger Fry).

After all this hard work, I was ready for a vacation. My brother, a friend, and I went hiking around the Rockies. Our first stop was the the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. We found an excellent campsite in a copse of trees, with the meadow having a stunning view of the Three Apostles, Mt. Huron, and Granite Peak. We did a short dayhike up to Lake Ann, which passed a small waterfall and the lost townsite of Hamilton. It's always a thrill for a Texan to put his hand in snow in late July, it seemed unreal after digging fossils in 104 degree heat. We also attempted to summit Huron, but a thunderstorm made us turn around after getting very close to the summit. On the hike out, we explored some of the ruins of Banker Mine and the ghost towns of Vicksburg and Winfield.

We then took a raft ride down the Arkansas river, through a fun section called The Numbers. To dry out, we headed west to the Big Cimarron area. This is my brother's favorite spot, and now I understand why. There are giant mountains, rivers, and most of the ridges are made from a pyroclastic tuff that erodes into all kinds of fantastic hoodoos. We climbed up Courthouse Mountain and bushwhacked up a ridge near our campsite to some neat formations we called The Pie Crust. After camping, we showered up at Ouray's hot springs and visited my bro's in-laws at Montrose, where I saw two lifelist birds: pinyon jays and a chukar. On the return drive, we stopped by the Black Canyon for a short visit to ponder the vastness of time for rocks, but lament the brief time of our short trip.

My worms, however, did not take a vacation. We've been dumping garbage on their heads since March, and they're finally getting the upper hand. My hometown offered a free class on how to create a worm bin, and even gave me a few tiny red wigglers to get started. At first, things progressed slowly, and I'd rarely see the worms around. I had to watch to be sure I wasn't smothering them with garbage. But either they've been growing, or maybe the warmer weather, or maybe my delicious coffee grounds has spurred them into a feeding frenzy. My bin is now half full and they are eating about half of our kitchen plant waste, soon it should be running at full capacity and I'll have to start sharing my worms. I dunno what the microbes in my compost pile will think when they're cut off from everything but leaves and the occassional weeds. After learning about the Medea Hypothesis, I'm very concerned about spurring a slime revolt!

The Archosaurs of Arlington

2009-06-01T14:45:00.010-04:00

When dinosaur digs come to mind, the Dallas-Fort Wort metroplex isn't an area most folks would consider. But geologically speaking, there are some interesting things taking place, and I'm not just talking about the 2 earthquakes we've had in less than 12 months...

Yet the past several weeks, I've been volunteering with the Dallas Paleontological Society and the University of Texas at Arlington to search for fossils from the mid-Cretaceous era. The most interesting find at this dig has been many large fossil ornithopod bones that are from a duck-billed dinosaur, likely a new species discovered just 10 years ago in nearby Flower Mound, just across the international airport. This species is called Protohadros, since it is considered an early ancestor to hadrosaurs. Since the type-specimen is so far the only described find for Protohadros, it does not have a strong body of evidence. Therefore, finding a second specimen will really enhance what is known about this species.

Ironically, at the first site in Flower Mound (a road-construction zone), only the skull was well preserved. At the Arlington site, most bones have been recovered except for the skull. This makes matching the two incomplete specimens more difficult, so finding the skull at our site is the most pressing priority. As with anything inside city limits, it's only a matter of time before this dig site is buried under concrete in the name of Progress (the current landowner has been very gracious in allowing the university access to the site). Therefore, 2009 is the last chance research can be done at this site. A new museum, the Scotese Museum, will open up at the university (the photo above and below are from the collection), and Roger from the Dallas Paleo club taught a fossil prep session last saturday.

I've only found a few fossils: fragments from a turtle carapace, a small oyster, and a tiny gastropod. These finds are still very important, because they help characterize the environment that Protohadros lived, and helps paint the picture of the ancient coastal plain that was once north Texas. Near my house near Garland, several Mosasaurus skeletons have been found. One recent find is currently being prepared by volunteers at the Heard Nature Museum.

If you're bemoaning your lack of fortune for not living in Dallas around such wonderful geology, don't feel too bad. Chances are there are very interesting fossils near your house. South of Tyler, sharks teeth can be found along roadsides. West of Austin, there are all kinds of late Cretaceous sea shells. One of the more impressive sites is Dinosaur Valley state park near Glen Rose. Petrified wood can be found in some creeks near Giddings.

On another topic: I'd really like to thank all the volunteers and workers at wildlife clinics and rehab centers! I hope Gimpy the Grackle is doing fine.

Contemplation

2009-05-15T15:43:00.005-04:00

I once had a conversation with someone whom lamented how dull the world seemed now that everything had been discovered. I understood the sentiment from a perspective in the spirit of Aldo Leopold's rhetorical question: "of what avail are the forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?". (Leopold was more referring to the sense of Wilderness, as opposed to geography). Even from this perspective, and the fact that this sentiment was echoed by many famous scientists in the 19th century, I still find this attitude very surprising.

If The Map is limited to Earth, I'd agree that most of the low-hanging fruit has been mapped, yet that still leaves most of the ocean floor as nearly a complete mystery. Satellites & depth sounders have made some rough topographical sketches, but as to the nature of what lies beneath is still mostly undiscovered. Amazingly, the most active research vessel, Alvin, predates the Apollo mission, and has yet to effectively be replaced. With the exception of petroleum surveys and military vessels, most of the abyss remains literally in the dark. We have better maps of Luna and Mars than the Atlantic!

And that's just on our own planet. The surface of Venus is another extrapolation by radar (most detailed resolution is 150km), with the sole exception of a few photos from the surface. Similarly, Titan is currently being mapped (next flyby May 21st!), but with mostly a rougher resolution and short swaths during flybys (despite 5 years in orbit, only 38% is mapped). We have nice photos from Europa, but only of the surface ice layer; what lies beneath the ice is still conjecture, although evidence is consistent with a global ocean! We only have educated guesses as to what Pluto and Ceres look like (stay tuned for New Horizons and Dawn). And this is just our backyard! We have just begun detecting planets (biased towards top-heavy), and it will be a long time before we can infer the actual surface of extra-solar terrestrial planets... and to actually explore one, even as fuzzy as a fast Pluto flyby, is only a crazy dream.

But that's only geographical unknowns. More fundamental is our lack of understanding, well, practically everything. Pick any discipline; biology, physics, psychology and ask some naively simple questions;
"how did life begin?"
"what is the universe mostly made from?"
"what is consciousness?"

Despite having 6.5 billion people roaming the surface like so many ants, and whizzing satellites, we still have only discovered about 10% of the living species (likely even less than that) -- and that's only counting those species that someone made a few sketches and published a quick paper. The number of species we have more than superficial descriptions are about 1%. It's likely a scoop of dirt from your backyard contains species of protists & fungi that are completely new to science. Now imagine how little we know of extinct species only preserved helter-skelter in the fossil record...

As Bryson noted in 'A Short History of Nearly Everything', "we live in a universe whose age we can't quite compute, surrounded by stars whose distances we don't altogether know, filled with matter we can't identify, operating in conformance with physical laws whose properties we don't truly understand."

A few questions I'd like answers to are:

1. Was there a Cambrian Explosion, or simply a fossilized manifestation of an existing progression? If the Explosion resulted in many new phyla, by what mechanism is DNA currently restricted to its form (or to rephrase this question, how rigid is DNA to evolving from any existing gene pool of a species?)

2. What are the causes of mass extinctions? For instance, what the K-T event caused solely by meteor impact, or was it a combination of impact that led to other calamities such as increased volcanism -> climate change -> sea level rise -> hypercanes -> ozone depletion & unstable climate regimes?

Why did some orders, such as turtles and crocodiles survive mostly intact, and other orders (mammals, birds) go through intact, but then radiated into many new species?

3. What is the climatic history of Mars and Venus? Why does only Earth exhibit Plate Tectonics?

4. How did life arise? Do other planets have complex organics (Mars, Europa, Titan, Triton, Ceres, Ganymede, Venus) that hint at events critical to prebiotic chemisty?

Wishes for a New Year

2009-01-27T12:56:00.003-05:00

A wise man once said, “You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. Don't let yourself indulge in vain wishes.” Then instead of wishing, I'll call these Resolutions for a New Planet, and all we need is the will to make them reality.

1. Peace. Many fiction books I've read recently have dealt with the theme of violence at the core of humanity: Ender's Game, Chasm City, and to a lesser extent, Deception Point & The Gunslinger. It's depressing to think we're nothing more than tribes of baboons battling other tribes and each other for the same ol' reasons. So get over it and be sapient.

Currently, the USA spends over $500 billion each year on military defense, with the world total around $1,500,000,000,000. Each year. That's just the money... but the true cost in deaths, lost property, or just misdirecting talents is harder to quantify.

I realize that it's naive to think we can just hold hands and then *poof* global harmony appears, but it's time to figure out how to work towards that goal.

2. Vanquish violence. I do not understand the causes of violent crime and how they relate to poverty, education, culture, or mental health. It does seem that violence does tend to feed off itself like a cancer; revenge killings, acceptance or resignation to death, loss of empathy, psychological damage. If we could stop this tragic waste, both in terms of lost lives and lost money on police & justice, we could take yet another step towards ensuring life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

3. Happiness is a full stomach. I'd like to think that by turning swords into plowshares, we could easily end world hunger. Just converting the mess halls and medical facilities to mobile facilities that could relief natural & economic disasters would make a huge contribution. There are roughly 15 million active duty soldiers each year, not including resources spent on reserve and paramilitary forces. It turns out that is roughly the same number of people that starve to death each year.

4. Enlightenment. Access to education and opportunities are what make people grow. Not just formal education & economic opportunity, but cultural exchanges of ideas and chances to find your calling. Dispelling poverty and ignorance would strengthen and unite the planet, and providing opportunity would end the cycle of desperation that leads to overpopulation coupled with overexploitation. Self actualization enables each of us to live full lives and find value in experiences instead of hollow luxuries.

Imagine; no wars, no fear, no desperate poverty. Overpopulation pressures begin to fade as the biosphere we depend on and the richness of biodiversity is restored and maintained. Teamwork on a global scale to solve our problems and achieve goals. Billions of people living toward full potential with nothing wasted on war.

Well, what are we waiting for? After solving world strife, hunger, and the ecological crises we can really get cranking. "The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but we cannot live forever in a cradle".

Here's my wish list for a self-actualized planet (keep in mind that the entire cost of all of it is less than what we spend each year on military budgets -- imagine projects of this scale being done annually!).

1. Zero Extinctions! Full funding for all institutions and projects identified by this report.

2. Accelerated funding for ITER and other fusion research projects, such as polywell; complete ahead of schedule and results are quickly used the design the next generation. The economic and environmental gains are potentially huge.

3. Terrestrial Planet Finder; Understanding solar systems is key to understanding our own. Finding a living planet would be such a fundamental discovery it would spur much excitement in biology, philosophy, and perhaps even instill a manifest destiny of epic proportions.

4. Accelerated funding for Constellation, Mars Exploration, Jovian Orbiter, and others. MSL & MAVEN are on the way, but recent confirmation of methane on Mars should ramp up design of the Field Lab & Sample Return. Europa and Ganymede both likely have subsurface oceans that are begging to be explored. The question of life on mars needs to be researched very throughly before humans add to possible confusion, and certainly need to be completed by 2050 because according to my plan, the first impacts of TNOs will be arriving!

5. Terraform Mars. Mars is so close to being a viable planet with it's own unique future. Understanding the past biology of Mars, if it existed, would help plan any new direction. If some microbes still exist under ice sheets or near geothermal vents, they should be collected and grown in special "ecological reserves" to protect them during terraforming. Collecting a few dozen TNOs to restore the atmosphere is both technological feasible and not prohibitively expensive, likely less than $10 billion per 'roid. Now just add a few orbiting mirrors to help compensate the seasonal freezing at the poles and voila: an entire new planet for much less money than the Department of Defense plans to spend in 2009. Now seed the biosphere with stuff that likes to breathe CO2 and adding O2, and eventually recreate a unique fauna... perhaps something not too different than the Pleistocene megafauna, which would be well adapted to cold and sparse vegetation, and the lower gravity would allow for even larger forms.

Homeward Bound

2008-11-20T17:51:00.004-05:00

It's been a great season working with the Washington chapter of The Nature Conservancy. My time here has run out and we're on our way back home for the holidays. This week went out with a buzz, fortunately not a bang!

It was the one week per year the TNC is allowed to work on the Artillery Impact Areas of Fort Lewis. We had been through Unexploded Ordinance Training, which can be summed up with; "don't touch anything metal". We did see lots of weird things out there, and fortunately had a trio of soldiers to sweep the area first and flag anything they thought looked dangerous. Lots of mortars, shells, armor piercing rounds, flares, RPGs, and other strange stuff were out there, including tanks, trucks, and dumpsters used for targets.

Unexpectedly, this tortured landscape is also very healthy fescue prairie, on account of very frequent (albeit unintentional) burns that wipe out any plants not adapted to such a frequent fire regime. Also unexpectedly, we spent our time chainsawing native fir trees -- whose crime was encroachment on the prairies. Most of the trees were "grandfathered" into the prairie before the impact area was established, and had grown beyond the reach of fast burning grass fires. It was certainly a juxtaposition of place, equipment, and activity that I normally wouldn't associate with ecological restoration!

Now, it's time to pack up the old truck for a long ride back home to Tejas!

Find the Fish

2008-11-13T00:47:00.006-05:00

Righty ho, time indeed to play Find the Fish. But first, I'd like to impart a bit of wisdom to any future perspective field technicians planning to treat invasive weeds on a military base: don't spray bushes that move! Driving to a prairie on Fort Lewis last week, I happened to see some shrubbery out of the corner of my eye. I normally wouldn't have given shrubs a second glance, except they appeared to be walking across a parking lot. On closer inspection, I noticed these botanical beings were well armed, and had two eyes peering from a green and gray face. Either these were hasty bonzai-entlings, or well disguised snipers. Either way, I'd not want to make the mistake of rousing them about.

Did you know it can be rainy in the pacific northwest? It can.

I mowed Scotch Broom (in the rain), and was glad to have a canopy above my head on the tractor. The wind still soaked my legs, but as coach Pappy would tell me, "no pain, no gain boy!". We had a meeting with the acting Director of the Washington Nature Conservancy, who came down to explain the 2015 campaign, and also discuss how our finances look for the upcoming year. (it was raining outside). The red-card brigade also had an after-action review of our fire season, with some plans on how to be more effective next year. TNC's global goal is to burn 15 million acres, but annually we are only achieving about 100,000 acres. That's a current burn regime of 150 years, so clearly we need to crank it up a notch. I know my home state of Texas has recently begun an active burn program, so it'll be interesting to see what they're up to for 2009.

Once the rain started again, it was back outdoors. This time, it was to help reseed some of the test plots with seed mixes. These test plots are measuring the most effective methods to restore prairies. When the weather is at its worst, Lisa's been helping me design a fancy custom database for the TNC Knotweed crew.

On Sunday, when the rain backed down to more of a mist, we took the chance to visit McAllaster Creek. A big surprise was the small creek had a big Chum Salmon run taking place as we watched! It seemed very primal to watch these fish valiantly strive against the current to find their spot in a sandbar. Enjoy this video of another wonder of fall migration... underwater!

Hope & Feathers

2008-11-02T11:48:00.005-05:00

My time here as a South Sounder is drawing to a close. Our departure date is a mere three weeks away and we're already paring things down in the apartment. At my job in the Olympia Nature Conservancy, things are drawing to a close as well. Brian, my coworker I've been working with all summer, has left for vacation back to Illinois and Iowa. We spent a few last sunny days spraying Aquamaster on some renegade patches of Reed Canary Grass, and then went after Yellow Flag Iris. Treating Iris is a slower process, since it involves a cut-n-dab method to ensure the huge tuber-roots soak up the herbicide.

I spent the last sunny day spraying Garlon on Hairy Cat's Ears on Johnson Prairie; which was in preparation for Cheryl to replant these plots with native forbs that are valuable to some rare & threatened butterflies, such as Taylor's Checkerspot and the Mardon Skipper. Fort Lewis has become these butterfly's last stand, so we're trying hard to determine ways to restore prairies that allows them to flourish again. Some restoration treatments, such as prescribed burning, ultimately benefit the butterflies, but if the timing is wrong, such as when caterpillars are foraging, the short term could result in wiping out an entire population. While spraying, I came across a clump of pretty feathers of a Ring-necked Pheasant in the grass, perhaps the scene where a hawk had cleaned a kill. It reminded me of a book I'm reading, "Hope is the Thing With Feathers", which is a mournful memoir for 6 extinct birds that once were significant components of North American wildlife. It's a book suited for this time of year; sad ghosts of the past reminding us of what has been lost, which is a form of bitter inspiration for conserving these remnant prairies.

My friends from Redmond came down last weekend for a visit, and we spent perhaps the last warm, sunny day hiking up to Snow Lake on the Tatoosh Range in Mount Rainier National Park. The shadowed portions of the trail still had snowfall from the past week, and footprints of elk could be seen alongside the meadows. Unicorn Peak and the Castle had a light dusting of snow, making the grey rocks look even colder. Bench Lake dutifully reflected the grandeur of Mount Rainier, but Snow Lake itself had a thin veneer of ice over it's surface, already in the clutches of winter, a frigid portent that yet another year is drawing to a close.

We will likely not visit Mount Rainier again this year, but we have drunk from the artesian spring in downtown Olympia, whose waters originate on Nisqually Glacier on the slopes of Mt. Rainier. Local Legend has it that this will always bring you back to Olympia.

Beginning on Halloween Eve, the weather has shifted into classic northwest winter: raining every day. Our work schedule must shift too, so we're readying the tractors to mow Scotch Broom. I hope my rain gear is up to the task!

Run, Salmon, Run!

2008-10-21T01:15:00.008-04:00

The salmon are returning back to Tumwater Falls! Many rivers and streams along the Pacific Northwest have historically suffered much damage to salmon; mostly from water quality issues due to overly intensive logging or dams created for various reasons. However, the Deschutes River in Washington enters the brackish waters of Puget Sound with an imposing waterfall. In 1952, engineers built the salmon a fish ladder to climb past the waterfall. Now, the Chinook Salmon are coming back to spawn, slowly working their way up the rushing river to spawn. Over 10,000 are expected this year!

We also went to visit Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, which is currently involved with a huge earthworks program to allow floodwaters to restore wetland habitat on the delta that was lost to agriculture. Along the river we saw a family of three sea lions swimming up stream! We couldn't walk too far though, since most of the trails were blocked off because of hunting on nearby state land.

While the western Washington weather is getting gloomier by the week, the autumn is still providing nice days. This weekend we explored more of the Columbia River Gorge. This majestic canyon was created about 15 million years ago in the Miocene era, when massive basalt flows poured in from the east. Then, during the past ice age, the massive Missoula Floods carved out the land and essentially created the landscape seen today.

The area has more impressive waterfalls than any other region I've been too, and being so easily accessed from the interstate, many of them, such as 620' high Multnomah Falls are popular attractions. We started our hike by returning to the first place we ever saw in the Cascades: Horsetail Falls. We met a couple coming down from a hike to Rock of Ages, but they had encountered too much snow, in May, at only around 900ft above sea level! Since it sounded interesting, we returned to do the hike.

We hiked up the slope to see Ponytail Falls, which is one of my favorites. It has a cave set into the basalt cliff behind the falls, so you hike behind them. From there, the trail leads up to a bluff overlooking the Gorge and then goes down to Middle Oneonta Falls. Making our way upstream, we encountered the beautiful Triple Falls. Retracing our way back to Ponytail, there is an unmaintained trail leading straight up the ridge. This eventually led me to a huge cliff of lava turned golden in the setting rays of the sun. Along the ridge is an outcrop of basalt that has eroded into a perfect arch, just big enough to stand in and gaze out eastward. It was a tough hike up, but worth it for the exhilaration of being there to watch the shadows stretch across the valley below, eventually reaching across the river to Beacon Rock where we were camped just a month before.

The next day we started out at Oneonta Gorge, which is an unexpected slot canyon. Unfortunately, it begins with a huge log jam slippery with slimy mold that required climbing past. Beyond was a very narrow and high canyon walls covered with mosses and ferns. If it were 10 degrees warmer, I'd think I was in Hawaii instead of the Cascades! We hiked up past Multnomah Falls, where there is an overlook to watch the falls spill down. And then the trail follows the crashing, noisy stream past a few more shorter falls and cascades when Wiesendanger Falls sneaks up on you from around a bend.

Down the road, we made a few more stops for short hikes. We saw the ruins of 92 year old Mist Falls lodge, which is now nothing more than a collection of broken stone walls, pottery, and a robust black stone chimney standing alone in the woods. We saw Wahkeenah Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls, and just when I thought we'd seen them all, the last one was one of the best: Latourell Falls. It's only a mere 250' high, but it has it's own upside-down ampitheatre that reminds Lisa of a madman's pipeorgan petrified in stone. After that last fun hike, it was time to drive home and hit the hot tub for a long soak.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

2008-10-11T13:15:00.007-04:00

The difference one week can make is amazing. One week ago, we performed what might be our last burn of the season at Glacial Heritage Preserve. It was about 20 acres in size, but with heavier fuel types, such as logs, snags, and stumps that kept burning long after the grass fire was out. The perimeter of the fire break had a few weak spots too, due to unburned heavy fuels. We wanted to ensure the break stayed secure and patrolled the area frequently, so Lisa, Brian and I camped out overnight. The winds would change several times during the night, and each time the wind shifted, many new fires would flare up inside the burn unit. We still had 2 pumper trucks on site, so we were certainly able to tackle any problems that might get started. When the shifting winds would settle down, smoke would pool around the area like the fog of war.

In the morning, there were still many areas of open flame, but it began raining. We traded our watch for someone to monitor the area, but the rains kept falling for the next 4 days, letting us sleep tight knowing the fire was well doused. Unfortunately, the rains also put a damper in our plans for camping over the weekend. We opted instead for a brisk walk through Tumwater Hill. Lots of the big leaf maples were turning colors, so we collected a few leaves to decorate around our pumpkin, and our walk reminded me of the famous Frost Poem:

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

That seemed to be foreshadowing for Wall Street as well. It might seem surprising, but many of the equations used to model both ecological systems and economics are very similar. Concepts such as feedback loops, competitive exclusion, laws of diminishing returns, and others can be applied equally to both disciplines. However, one thing Wall Street does that is not paralleled in nature is having a mass-herd mentality result in jumping off a cliff. The wives-tale of lemmings leaping to their deaths is actually a manufactured myth perpetuated by a Disney film in which the directors forced lemmings to jump to their deaths (and subsequently won an award for best documentary!). Other species can also be forced to jump to their deaths, such as bison being tricked into galloping over cliffs by Plains Indians, but one would think that human investors would not be as foolish (our species name 'sapiens' implies we are wise). Taking a manageable credit crunch and turning it into a negative feedback loop, thereby virtually ensuring a recession, reminds me of an old saying, "argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours".

But don't worry, my fellow earthlings; I have been in jobs where I worry about my entire division being eliminated, or teaching foreigners how to perform my job because they are willing to work cheaper, or automating a process to make it more efficient and require less manpower... but I bet very few of you have had your job threatened by a work force of Goats!!

Yes, you heard (herd?) me correctly, certain aspects of my job can be performed by goats, willing to work for the pure joy of killing weeds. The idea of using livestock as a tool for controlling weeds is not new, and goats are almost like mercenaries in the sense you must control what they are doing at all times, or they might become your worst nightmare. Like many weapons, they are capable of doing much damage to an ecosystem if not carefully deployed, but if used with precision, can be effective and mutually beneficial. In Washington, goats are employed by the Nature Conservancy to tackle dense stands of blackberry thickets. I have also wondered about using them to tackle the marshes on Fort Lewis that have become mono cultures of Reed Canary Grass.

Well, the Winds of Change are nothing new to me, and can be interesting times; like the many unique species of birds now migrating south on these northern fronts. It's a great time to view many birds, such as the majestic sandhill cranes, so I plan to get out and make the most of it. I'm going to miss BirdNote when I leave the Puget Sound, so I'll have to lobby my own Audubon Chapter to make a Southwest version of the show.

Hoh Hoh Hoh!

2008-10-03T15:23:00.010-04:00

Merry Autumn!

The weather is starting to change over to cooler and wetter conditions here at the Puget Sound and coastal prairies. The few sunny days left are going to be action packed, as we race to treat areas of Reed Canary Grass that we had previously brush-cut along stream beds. Reed Canary Grass forms such a tangled mass in creek bottoms that it prevents salmon and other fishes from being able to swim upstream to spawn, and can even grow to such densities as to lower the water table. It's also very difficult to kill, requiring us to wait about 1 month after cutting to return and spray it with an aquatic-approved herbicide. Fortunately, weeds we've sprayed earlier in the summer look like they are not resprouting, so we seem to be making a difference.

Our prescription fire program is also trying to finish up a few last burns before it becomes too damp to continue, so early next week will be a rush to complete a few last important areas.

For our weekend adventure, Lisa and I went exploring the Hoh River and Rainforest on the west side of the Olympic Mountains. We saw huge, old growth Western Red Cedars, Hemlocks, and Sitka Spruce, and an area in the forest called The Hall of Mosses. Our campsite for the first evening was simply along the river banks in an area manged by the Hoh River Trust. We had the entire river to ourselves, and made a little fire along the gravel bar as Kingfishers would fly past and chatter. During the night, we heard sounds of a large animal rummaging around, but fortunately we are careful with locking away food at night. In the morning, near our campsite, we found fresh bear scat.

The Black Bears are busy this time of year trying to bulk up for the winter, and the nearby Himalayan Black Berry bushes (alas, an exotic invasive weed, but a tasty one!) were providing the bears most of their diet. A full bear is a happy bear, and we were glad to have not let this one sample human camp food and begin associating people with food; bears are very smart, and when they learn that campsites have food, they will keep returning and eventually cause a problem. Unfortunately, the bears get blamed for eating any food lazy campers leave out, and eventually are killed.

The following day, we hiked up the river to where Mount Tom creek flows into the river, and a pretty waterfall cascades down. We saw bald eagles, baby coho salmon, red squirrels, and lots of signs of elk. When we returned to our camp in the National Park, a pair of bull elks began sparring with each other!

On Sunday, we visited several of the coastal beaches and watched the tide roll out. These beaches are much rockier than what I'm used to seeing, and even stranger, have huge masses of driftwood logs piled along the shore. Looking out west into the Pacific Ocean, I was reminded by Lisa about an article in my American Bird Conservancy magazine about death by plastic. Plastic is a wonderful material; extremely durable & lightweight, and cheap to make; but sadly it's inexpensiveness has let society treat it as disposable.

I recall one of my old school friends dad, Dr. Foss, predicting in the early 1980's that since plastic is so durable that it will quickly accumulate if we are not careful how we use it. Sure enough, plastics have accumulated so much that out in the middle of the Pacific floats an island out of trash as big as the state of Texas! Prior to 1990, this area was known as the North Pacific Gyre; a slowly rotating current similar to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic. Now, it is called the Pacific Garbage Patch. The patch amazing only represents about 10% of the total plastic trash in the north Pacific. Seattle had recently passed a law requiring a 20 cent fee charged for disposable bag use to encourage us to reuse bags instead of trashing them. Unfortunately, this plan has stalled. Hopefully, more cities and states will adopt measures to reduce the amount of garbage, especially plastics, which ultimately save much more in the long run; not only in reducing waste, but preserving natural systems like the pacific ocean that provide us food.

Autumnal Equinox

2008-09-26T12:40:00.009-04:00

This week was off to a great start, as we had our quarterly meeting along the Black River. This river has it's origin in deep, dark springs of Black Lake, just a few miles from my apartment in Tumwater. The lake is strange in that it has two outflows from it; a canal that stretches north to Puget Sound, and the Black River that stretches south and eventually joins forces with the Chehalis river that heads out west to the Pacific, technically making the Olympic Peninsula the largest island in the United States. We spent the day on the river, which the Nature Conservancy has helped protect and restore, and as thanks, Black River Canoe and Kayaking Trips very generously loaned us canoes and shuttled us back from our drop off point! We saw lots of belted kingfishers, cedar waxwings, and blue herons. There were also these huge globs stuck to the base of some of the water lilies that are probably the egg cases for a newt.

Then it was back to business as usual, which some spraying of nefarious Scotch Broom and then two more burns. One burn was at Scatter Creek, which is a diverse wet-prairie located at the base of the Black Hills. We burned several small test plots there, along with two other units a few acres in size to determine how the prairie there responds to fire. I think these were the first prescription burns done in that area, so it was great to accomplish them. The next area we tried to burn on Friday was a 5 acre unit on Rocky Prairie. We began setting blacklines, but the wind kept shifting back and forth, and eventually decide to drift smoke over a nearby busy road. To prevent the smoke from affecting visibility, we tried to go slowly, but it became clear it just wasn't going to be a good idea. That was probably a good decision, since a sheriff was nearby attending a historical reenactment at a nearby pioneer settlement site. The DNR Burn Boss said, "I've called off fires because of bad weather, broken equipment, medical emergencies... but this is the first time I've had to shut down a burn because of a bleepin' stagecoach." Always nice to be a part of history.

Lisa and I didn't get much of a weekend, because on Sunday morning, we joined up with Casey and Brian to drive down to Pierce Island on the Columbia River gorge. We setup camp in the rain at Beacon Rock State Park, and then canoed each day over to the island, armed with brush cutters and back pack sprayers to treat the False Indigo that is starting to form a dense stand along the eastern shores of the island. It was a spectacular setting to work in, with the massive 900' tall Beacon Rock jutting up from the shoreline, the rocky cliffs of the Columbia Gorge framing the valley of the river, and even the huge Elowah waterfall on the distant Oregon cliffs could be seen.

This area was named when Lewis & Clark first camped at this spot and named Beacon rock 200 years ago, and noticed the river level changed with the tides, the first sign their journey to the Pacific was almost over. Less than 100 years ago, the Army Corps of Engineers saw this rock as nothing more than rubble; they planned to blow it to bits and use it to make a large jetty (fortunately, Mr. Biddle begged the state to stop the nonsense). Thankfully, this small area was protected, and we saw herds of elk grazing on the island, a peregrine falcon feasting on a gull carcass, an osprey with her nest, and a new lifelist bird: a pair of horned larks! We didn't have much time to explore the park, but we did manage to do the short hike to Little Beacon near our campground, which was very rewarding: we saw rare lowland Pika in the rock slides along the trail! Casey had also noticed some wood fragments that glow in the dark, which I found really interesting. I suspect it's from a mold, so I brought them back to the apartment to try and figure it out.

Of all the times I've worked through the weekend, this was the best!

Whales Have Tales

2008-09-19T11:45:00.008-04:00

It was an eventful week, as we burned some test plots at West Rocky Prairie and Mima Mounds, and also a large 80 acre unit on Glacial Heritage Prairie. The Glacial burn included a small sections of fir woodlands, which subsequently took two days of work to douse all the smoldering spots. Photographers from National Geographic had attended that burn to tell the story of how the Nature Conservancy is using prescription fires to restore native plant populations. That was a good fire to take pictures, since it had some large flames and big columns of smoke.

For the weekend, Lisa and I camped out at Olympic National Park's Heart of the Hills campground. We did spend a little time there attending a ranger talk and exploring a small stream, but really we just wanted a nice place to sleep near the ferry docks in Port Angeles. We woke up at dawn on Saturday to drive down to the docks and catch the first ferry to Victoria in British Columbia. Victoria is a nice city on Vancouver Island, and we had arrangements with the Prince of Whales to take us out on a boat ride to find some Orcas.

Upon landing, we had several hours before our boat ride, so we rushed to see The Buchart Gardens. 100 years ago, it was a cement quarry, but when the limestone deposit was exhausted, the Burcharts turned it into a magnificent sunken garden. Even at the beginning of autumn, the gardens had lots of blooms to enjoy. We rushed back to the docks to catch our boat for the three hour tour. It was hot standing around in the docks in our jumpsuits, but once the zodiac got up to speed on the open water, we were wishing we had brought gloves too!

The captain had heard a sea plane sight the J-pod family of Orcas, but they were heading east and nearly 2 hours away. The captain instead opted to head out west, where some transient killer whales had been seen, along with reports of a Humpback Whale too! We circled a tiny island with a lighthouse that is now an important rest area for Harbor Seals and Sea Lions. It was great to be so close to hear them, but not so great to smell them. Ugh! The pinnepeds were so used to seeing boats, that we hardly got their attention. Instead, they fear the killer whales who hunt them. One thing I did not realize is that the resident Orcas feed primarily on fish such as salmon, but the families of Orcas that travel long distances on the west coast are hunters of seals, Dall porpoise, and sea lions, which earns them the title 'killer whales'.

We continued our search for Orcas, but the only cetaceans we saw the entire trip were Dall porpoise, who were not interested in playing around in the pressure waves of our boat, as most dolphins and porpoise seem to enjoy doing. I wonder if the Dall porpoise have learned that tour boats are heading towards Orcas and following us would lead them into danger? Riding out, we stayed near the coastline where the Orcas would likely be hunting, but on the return back to Victoria, we rode the open & deep waters of the Juan de Fuca Straight, where the Humpbacks would swim.

So we returned to shore without seeing any Orca, but the good news is that Prince of Whales has a guarantee that you can continue riding with them until you finally see your whale. We made our plans to ride out with them again on Sunday. This time, we headed east toward the San Juan islands, where our captain found us a pod of transient whales, which she believed to be the T-30 family. Thar be whales! The two males would stay a distance away from the family, and the matriarchs and one calf would form the core of the pod. They would breath at the surface about 5 times and then make a long, deep dive for several minutes, leaving us guessing where they'd surface next. Our captain had radioed in the discovery to other tour operators, and after about 30 minutes of observing, we left the area to make way for the next boat coming on scene.

It was a great experience, and I'm glad we had the perfect weather for it!

Volcano!

2008-09-09T11:46:00.013-04:00

The burn season continues, with more prairies getting torched. We've noticed that without enough fuel load, problem species like Scotch Broom or exotics like St. Johns Wort seem to survive the burn. I've also discovered how much hard work goes into mopping up after the fires! Ugh. Mosses, rotten roots, and fir needles will continue smoldering underneath the surface unless they are dug up and doused. We try not to disturb the soils, since that gives an opening for weeds to encroach, but more important is ensuring the fire doesn't escape it's boundaries. Fortunately, I was able to leave work early enough one evening to attend Tea & Tales at the Tumwater library... whew!

For the weekend adventure, we climbed Mount Saint Helens. Since Rainier and St. Helens are such big draws for hikers, there is a permit system in place to ensure the number of people on a given day does not exceed a certain limit. Otherwise, too many people cause severe trail damage and it would be impossible to determine who is on the mountain if an emergency occurs. Only 100 people per day are allowed to climb Mount St. Helens, and the weekend reservations for summer book up months in advance. We bought our permit for last Friday, but had to reserve it in June!

We picked up our permits Thursday evening before and established our base camp at Climber's Bivouac, which gave an expedition-style feel to our climb. Before bedtime, we prepared our gear for the ascent. The following morning we awoke to a cold sunrise and began our trek up the Monitor Ridge Route at 6:30am. There were still some snow banks sheltered in the forest by the trailhead at 3800 ft and in the deeper gullies on the flanks of the volcano.

We cached our heavy jackets and some water at treeline (around 4700 ft) and began the scramble up the boulders. The weather was perfect, which gave us views of Mount Adams, Mount Hood, the Three Sisters, and in the far distance, Mount Shasta in California! On the climb up, we passed by two monitoring sites: one was an abandoned platform, but the other site was an active EarthScope Plate Boundary Observation Station. Its job is to continually receive GPS satellite signals and plot its location, then transmit this data to help monitor shifting continental plates.

After the boulder field came the pumice field (starting around 7800 ft) and the final push for the top. Ever walked through sand? Now imagine doing it uphill and you have an idea of what walking through pumice is like. We continued marching upwards and onwards, until finally we were at the rim, where we celebrated with an early lunch.

It was tremendous staring at the inside of a mountain that ripped itself apart. Spirit Lake was still, some twenty years after the eruption, 30% covered in floating logs. Several steam vents hinted at the possibility the dome was alive and waiting for the next mountain-building cycle. Rock slides tumbled down the crater walls. We also thought we heard gurgling noises below the dirty glacier. Mount Rainier beckoned in the distance to the north.

The elevation we have for the rim is 8,280 ft with one of the higher points on the rim at 8,365 ft, although the wind and almost continuous rockslides are probably shrinking those numbers down. Looking over the edge of the rim was very windy, and large dust devils almost continually scoured depressions around the rim. This flying ash and dust is why goggles are recommended gear for climbing to Monitor Ridge. We could see Johnson Ridge Observatory in the far northeast, and in between the desolate Plains of Abraham stretched below, still mostly barren after 20 years. If you look closely at the flat, broken rocks (remains of the whaleback dome shattered during the 2005 eruption), you can see an orange dot that is a geologist far below, investigating the dome. He must've been transported there by helicopter.

We headed down at noon, but it took a long time to pick our way across the boulder fields. We took the chance to glissade down one of the snow banks, which was a nice change of pace.

It was a great and unique experience to climb this wicked landscape and see an active volcano! Next weekend, we hope to see a real whaleback on a boat trip to another country!

Burning the Last Great Places

2008-08-31T12:23:00.009-04:00

The Nature Conservancy has a slogan of 'saving the last great places', named for an intensive initiative of identifying and securing many of our intact ecosystems. The prairies and woodlands that are now protected from agricultural and development often have a long term relationship with wildfire that acts as a recurring disturbance that keeps the ecosystem from slowly changing into a different form. This need for fire to maintain an ecosystem is referred to as a 'fire regime'.

This past week, we performed our first burn of the season on a small section of Wolf Haven. It was a small burn, only about 2 or 3 acres, and we had over 20 people to manage it! Many of the folks at the burn, including myself, were first-timers on a prescribed burn, so this was was as important for training as it was a trial to see how the prairies at Wolf Haven respond to fire treatment. Our Burn Boss tasked the Nature Conservancy Crew with holding the western line, and the East Olympia and Thurston County firefighters managing the eastern line. My coworker managed the TNC pump truck, which provided one water source. My job was keeping fire from creeping across the burn lines into our fire break, which was a mowed area.

Ideally, fire breaks are best as bare soil, but since we want to restore the prairie, and not leave permanent scars on the land, we simply mow the fire breaks and keep them doused with water. The winds were from the south, so we began at the north end of the unit and started a test fire. After observing how the test fire behaved, the burn boss decided to continue the burn. A person on each end of the fire line would use a Drip Torch to ignite a line of grasses that "backburn" into the wind. The wind tries to push the fire across our fire break, but we use water and flappers to prevent it, which is referred to as a wet line.

Once the fire has crept far away from our line, the two igniters move the fire towards the center, where the wind rapidly sweeps it across the unit and creates what is called a Head Fire, hopefully creating the right conditions to accomplish the restoration goals. Once the head fire reaches the burned line, there is no fuel and it is contained, but if it ever crossed our blackline, the head fire would become a wildfire and could quickly become a problem. Another potential danger is wind throwing embers far over the blackline and creating a Spot Fire, which could become it's own fire and spawn yet more spot fires. In prescription burns, weather is monitored continually for bad conditions, and lookouts are posted to watch for spot fires.

We continued this method of parceling the burn unit into chunks like this until the entire area is completed. Three acres of grass burns very quickly, so it was only about 45 minutes before only the poor, smoldering ruins of Thatcher ant mounds were left. These ant mounds are quite large, sometimes build to heights of 4 feet! Many chambers are tunneled under the ground too, with stored seeds and other organics that will smolder a long time. We needed to ensure these were doused before calling the burn completed.

Thatcher ants are really fascinating insects: they don't really bite humans, and they perform many beneficial services for the ecosystem by collecting litter and controlling bad insects from damaging the plants and trees. Their mounds can extend up to 15 feet below the surface, and perhaps for this reason they were one of the first animals to recolonize Mount Saint Helens after the 1980 eruption.

After a busy week, Lisa and I spent most of the weekend camping out at Big Creek, which is near Cushman Lake. The southern entrance to Olympic National Park is at the north end of the lake, and is called Staircase because nearly all the trails leading from there go in only one direction... up! We saw ancient Western Red Cedar trees, century old manganese mines, waterfalls, and crystal clear water flowing down the Skokomish River. There wasn't much wildlife readily visible, except for a few squirrels and birds. Most of the birds were high up in the trees, and wouldn't come down to visit except for a Hairy Woodpecker and Stellar's Jays. We did see a pair of Osprey tending a nest high up over the river, so they seem to know where to find food - any maybe why we didn't see anything else.

I hope everyone else had an enjoyable holiday weekend too!

Midway at Midsummer

2008-08-23T20:32:00.011-04:00

The time between summer's solstice and autumnal equinox is upon us; summer is half over and so is my season with Olympia's Nature Conservancy chapter. The weather seemed to signal that summer's days are numbered, since a prelude to fall arrived in the form of rainy and cool weather. We are now wrapping up our Reed Canary Grass cutting, and will transition to late summer work schedules. There are several prescribed burns planned for the upcoming weeks, and I may be called in to assist with them.

The blackberries, salmonberries, and thimbleberries are ripening on the prairies of Fort Lewis, and we've seen many signs that black bears have been feasting on them. We've also seen deer carcass, likely roadkill, that was dragged into tall grass and munched upon by either coyotes or bears. Along the oaks lining Johnson Marsh, we had an excellent view of a Red-breasted Sapsucker, another life-list bird!

Lisa and I decided to explore more of Mount Rainier National park, and we left early on Friday to secure a campsite... but the entire park was already full. Fortunately, Gifford-Pinchot National Forest borders the park, and we were able to nab a campsite at La Wis-Wis. This allowed serendipity to guide us to a wonderful cascade called Purcell Falls. Its icy cold waters air-conditioned the little canyon with cool, damp air that was welcome relief on a day with temperatures reaching record highs in the area. There was a pair of Winter Wrens chasing bugs in the moss covered rocks to feed their chicks hidden in a cliff-side nest.

At Mount Rainier, we first visited Grove of the Patriarchs, a small group of ancient Douglas-firs, western hemlocks, and western red cedars clustered along the flood plain of the Ohanapecosh River. There is a nice suspension footbridge across the river. The same clear, friendly waters under that bridge turned into a raging torrent a few miles further downstream at Silver Falls.

The following day, we explored many other sites, such as Martha Falls, Box Canyon, and Reflection Lakes. Martha Falls is actually a long series of tiers along Unicorn Creek, with a grand total of 650' of falls. We hiked down to one section that can be approached along the Wonderland Trail. Trees and logs from last winter's avalanche littered the canyon, and the ruins of two footbridges could be seen, one that was made from reinforced steel I-beams! The tier of the falls we could see from the trail tumbled over a columnar basalt palisade, and was the only trail at Mount Rainier we had to ourselves.

For the afternoon, we had a nice dayhike up Pinnacle Saddle. From the saddle, there are trails to The Castle and Plummer Peak, so I went up Plummer Peak. There were amazing views of Mount Rainier, with Mount Adams and even Mount Saint Helens could be seen on the hazy horizon. Along the same ridge as Plummers, Pinnacle Peak loomed nearby, with The Castle looking more like an ancient fortress and Unicorn Peak in the distance, whose snow banks become the headwaters of Unicorn Creek. There is a perfectly sloped snow bank on Plummer Peak that makes for an excellent glissade down a portion of the hike. Soggy buns are a cheap price to pay for a cool thrill like that in August!

We hit up a few other roadside attractions, such as Narada and Christine Falls, and walked along a huge bridge that crossed the valley carved by the Nisqually Glacier that has retreated several miles upslope. The headwaters of the Nisqually churned a muddy brown below our feet, and occasionally a booming sound of a rolling boulder would echo up to us. We might return again this fall to see the first snows and the brand new visitor center at Paradise. Maybe I should've bought an Annual Park's pass this year?

Sedges have edges

2008-08-17T16:48:00.006-04:00

Ok, it's been busy since my last post, but also boring, so nothing too exciting to report... just lots more dead Reed Canary Grass. I hope the salmon appreciate it! We plan to begin using the amphibious Argo in this photo to begin accessing more swampy areas soon, so we're firing up the engine and getting it ready for battle.

If you're new to botany, you might realize how difficult it is to identify grasses. One of the first lessons is a handy little ditty taught to me by a Nature Conservancy botanist some 10 years ago: "Sedges have edges, Rushes are round,
And grasses have nodes from top to the ground."

Sedges, rushes, and grasses are all members of the Class monocots, which means that seedlings have just one (mono) 'leaf' called a cotyledon. Flowering plants have seedlings with two leaves, so they're dicots. Sedges (Cyperaceae) have a triangular solid stem, so when you feel it between your fingers, there is an edge. Rushes (Juncaceae) often look similar to sedges, but their stem is round. Grasses (Poaceae) have hollow stems with nodes, or joints, that often have a leaf attached to the node.

But as with practically everything in botany, there are no absolute guidelines. Sedges won't always feel like they have an edge. Plants have an amazing variety, including carnivorous plants and ones that don't bother photosynthesizing... and lots of ways to trick the unwary observer. Plants also have incredible abilities to hybridize, such as polyploidy, which can drive botanists bonkers.

Meanwhile, it was a rainy weekend, so we holed up at home. We realized, living in Olympia, that we are therefore Olympians and should observe the opening ceremony and view some events. We also went to a nearby park for some great birdwatching and a fun puzzle geocache.

For the Safety First portion of this blog, I'd like to remind readers that it is now a primary offense in some states not to wear your seatbelt... so buckle up, or you'll be paying a steep fine ($125 to be exact!).

Alone in the Wilderness?

2008-08-08T13:09:00.010-04:00

'Twas another exciting week of Reed Canary Grass carnage, interrupted briefly by skirmishes with Diffuse Knapweed and Tansy Rangwort. Some of the creek beds are very treacherous, with hidden holes several feet deep that make one trip while harnessed to a running brush-cutter. I fell into the same hole twice! Looking at my muddied boots, I now understand why they call it Muck Creek. Stink boot strikes again!

Astute readers may recall me discussing way back in February citing a Nature Conservancy study about the lack of connection to the average american to the natural world, with books such as "Last Child in the Woods" highlighting the increasing disconnect with nature and reality. Well, the good news is that from my recent summer experience, I'd say lots of folks are indeed enjoying the outdoors here in the northwest.

I recall reading some science fiction novels, such as "Earth", where embedded in the setting is the concept that there is so many people and too few natural areas that camping trips must be reserved far into the future and permits awarded by lottery. Well, the future is now: many hiking trips to very popular areas require permits to prevent the stampede of campers from destroying what they came to visit: the wilderness.

Nearly every major peak in the Cascade range requires a permit, with popular places such as the Enchanted Lakes and Monitor Ridge being booked up months in advance. Campsites at many National Parks fill up early; I recall breaking camp last summer at 6am to reach the Camp 4 ranger station to ensure we got a site (note: all sites are shared to max capacity here), and there was already a line of other campers ahead of us... on a tuesday! Campgrounds accessible by cars are even more popular, with anything in or near a National Park or coastline being 100% full all weekend long during the summer.

Time for another "Safety First message": I often sense a strange fear of nature from adults & children when they leave cars behind on a trail. The most popular fear that often exasperates me is, "are there poisonous snakes?". Deer and dogs kill far more people than mountain lions, bears, AND snakes. Let me reassure phobia suffers everywhere that the scariest thing in the wilderness is: weather, gravity, and kids with high powered rifles that think animals wear blue ponchos (and anyone else with a gun & poor judgement). That tragic accident happened within miles of where my friends and I camped this past weekend.

We spent Aug 2 and 3rd camping with friends at Horseshoe Cove at Baker Lake. It was cloudy on Saturday, so we spent the afternoon hiking along a trail along the north end of the lake. Unfortunately, some of the bridges were damaged or washed out from floods this spring. We had to turn around after a short while, but still had a nice walk along the river and streams. Sunday, we checked out the views from Anderson Butte and made the short hike down to Watson Lake at the edge of the Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness. The skies were clear and sunny, and we had amazing views of Mount Shuskan, Mount Baker, and other rugged peaks in the North Cascades.

All Your Base

2008-07-31T23:13:00.005-04:00

Working on a large military base can be confusing sometimes; there's lots of protocol to follow and lots of activity. The geography itself is very confusing, with so many roads crisscrossing the prairies and woodlands that it seems like a maze... in fact one of the training areas is referred to formally as The Maze.

We continued our activity of clearing Reed Canary Grass from Muck Creek. Muck Creek was once an important Coho & Chum salmon hatching site, but it has become so choked with vegetation that the water level dropped too much and weeds became too thick for the fish to swim through. The Nature Conservancy and the Fish & Wildlife biologists hope to restore the hatchery by removing the tangled mass of invasive grass and planting native ash trees to shade the banks and steal the sun away from the weeds.

This past Friday, my previous boss from the Florida Keys Nature Conservancy came to the Northwest to attend a wedding. We caught up on news and then spent the day playing in the snow at Mount Rainier National Park. We went to the Paradise area, since it has lots of trails that loop through alpine meadows, with nice views of the summit and surrounding peaks. It looked as if springtime had just arrived. We walked past Myrtle Falls, and next an area scoured a thousand years ago from a jokelhaups; a catastrophic debris flow caused when a volcanic eruption occurs underneath a glacier. The landscape, devoid of any topsoil, still resembles the moon, even though nearby ridges are filled with cheery wildflowers. Another great sight was seeing a waterfall disappear underneath the Nisqually glacier, emerging again a few miles down the valley where the snout of the glacier forms the headwaters of the Nisqually River. I can also check Hoary Marmot of my lifelist, and have now seen all three species of marmots in the USA.

Up on the watershed

2008-07-25T15:34:00.008-04:00

I just added yet another weed to my death-list, Reed Canary Grass. This grass has the bad habit of smothering riparian habitats, which is very detrimental to wildlife. The grass forms a dense matting of roots and grows over 6' tall, which totally chokes out any plant diversity. Over a few years, the grass becomes so thick that it actually begins lowering the water table, slowing stream flows, and making it difficult for aquatic animals like fish, frogs and newts to make a living. About the only good thing to be said for it is that it controls erosion very well, which astute readers might recall is also the reason the invasive plants Kudzu and Salt Cedar were intentionally planted with eventually disastrous results.

Treating Reed Canary Grass is difficult, since the grass first must be cut down, and then after the shoots begin reemerging from the root mass, the plants must be sprayed with glyphosate, with care to protect the aquatic habitat. Stream beds are often tricky terrain to drive a tractor, being uneven ground, muddy, and often with trees, shrubs and other obstructions. This means cutting Reed Canary requires a small army of people armed with 2-stroke brush cutters, who must return when the shoots emerge and use backpack sprayers to finish the job. Often, this process must be repeated two or three years in a row to finally control an established infestation. The results are worth it though; higher stream flows and a healthy variety of plants that magically brings back the birds, bugs, and small fry.

For this week's adventure segment of this blog, we ventured to the watershed of the Elwah river, at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park (we are seated at the picnic table around noon with the orange daypack). Most of the snows had melted and it was spring time on the mountain sides, with wildflowers in full bloom. This national park is a very interesting place; the mountain range is old, and still growing, but it receives so much rainfall that it erodes almost at the same rate the mountains rise -- keeping the elevation constant over time. These mountains stopped the advance of the continental glaciers during the last ice age, protecting a peninsula from being buried under massive amounts of ice. However, the glaciers completely isolated the Olympics from the rest of the mainland populations further south. Therefore, the Olympics are home to many endemic and rare species, such as the Olympic Marmot and Olympic Chipmunk, both of which we were lucky enough to see.

We did a short hike to Hurricane Hill, which became shrouded in clouds rolling in from the Juan de Fuca straight. The following day, we hiked along the ridgeline all day long, basking in views of both mountains, ocean, and in the far distance, Vancouver Island. We added two more birds to our lifelist, the Blue Grouse, whose booming voice could be heard faintly in the cirques below the ridge, and the cheerful Hermit Warbler. The snowshoe hares and black-tailed deer have learned to find protection from predators by staying close to humans, who are not allowed to hunt in National Parks, so we were able to observe them closely.

I was very exciting to get views of the glaciers surrounding Mount Olympus. We are already planning a trip along the Hoh river valley to approach Olympus from the west. The range closest to us had the Mount Carrie glacier, which feeds into the Elwah river. Crevasses and bershrunds could be clearly seen in our binoculars, giving clear indication how dangerous climbing glaciers can be. Another interesting thing to learn was that the Elwah river is the site of one of the most aggressive watershed reconstruction projects in the USA, which begins this year! It might be tempting to return in 2014 to witness the deconstruction of the Port Angeles dam.

A new feature on this week's blog is "Safety First with Mangrove Tom": always keep in mind the 10 Hiking Essentials and be well informed of potentially major weather changes. By far, the biggest danger in nature is not wild animals or trolls or starvation or other dramatic 'as seen on TV' troubles -- it's exposure to heat or cold, with cold being the most dangerous -- and beware of snowboards!

Bats, Bunkers, & Beaches

2008-07-17T15:17:00.013-04:00

Sulfur Cinquefoil is a member of the wild rose family, but fortunately without the thorns. Since it's an insidious invasive, we spent a good portion of last week sweeping through tall grasses and treating any we found with Garlon. Spot treatments like this are time consuming, but effective to wipe out a mild infestation. There is a native version called Silver Cinquefoil that grows in many of the same habitat, so we have to keep a sharp eye to distinguish the good from the bad.

Last Wednesday evening, my coworker Brian and I met with Greg along the banks of Muck Creek to set up mist nets. We had to race the setting sun to get the nets up, which required being very careful not to snag the fragile nets into the blackberry bushes, fir trees, or other hazards. One net was 20' tall and designed much like a pair of sailboat masts, with halyards and sheets. The extra height of that net is designed to catch different species of bats, and it worked as intended, catching us a Big Brown Bat. Greg was hoping for a Hoary or Silver-furred bat, but we had no such luck. Handling the bats requires a very skilled hand to both untangle them from the nets and avoid hurting the delicate wings -- even while being bitten! Since being bitten is difficult to avoid, having rabies shots is also a prerequisite for bat handling, so Greg did this difficult work while Brian and I manned the "sails".

Our plan was to set up the one tall net and two short nets across the creek, with Greg hoping to catch about 15 bats in 3 hours. We had some troubles setting up the 2nd net, so daylight began fading fast. We had just started unpacking the 3rd net when we realized there were 3 bats already caught! As Greg worked to release the bats, more would get caught around us, so we had to close the net down after catching 15 bats in the first 30 minutes, so we could process these bats and get them flying as soon as possible, since these little bug-eating machines have fast metabolisms and need to eat each night to keep their energy level high.

Most of the bats we caught were Little Brown Yuma Bats, which are very feisty animals given their size -- an average weight of just 7 grams! We did catch one other small species of bat in the short net, the California Myotis. Myotis is a common genus that are commonly known as the Mouse-eared bats. Processing the bats is a series of measurements and observations to report their weight, fore-arm length, gender, breeding status, color, and overall health. Bats are not usually banded since there is concern that it mat impact their fitness, but some Myotis bats with bands have been known to live over 15 years since banding. I found it very surprising such a small, intense little animal lives so long. One last observation Greg makes is a sound recording of the "Search Phase Calls", which are the ultrasonic chirps bats make to locate objects in the dark. The sounds we hear from bats are usually alarm calls, which are often a series of rapid-fire squeaks. The ultrasound is too high frequency to hear, but recording the sound and lowering it's frequency to the human range for playback was very interesting to hear. It is also a very important clue to identify the species, since many Myotis species are almost impossible to distinguish, even for an expert like Greg.

Our weekend adventure was going south to the Oregon coast to see the famous Haystack Rock. Lisa had read that the Tufted Puffins are only visiting the Rock for a few more weeks before heading further offshore for their late summer feeding grounds. We had never seen one, so it was one of our goals for the summer. Nearly all photos I'd seen of Haystack was standing alone against the rugged coastline, so we were really surprised to see it surrounded by the coastal village of Cannon Beach. The beach was very crowded on a nice, warm summer day, but the birds were protected on their rocky outpost, so it was a perfect place to view so much wildlife amidst a busy crowd of folks. We saw many birds flying and diving and nesting on the cliffs (our lifelist birds are in bold): Western, California, and Heerman Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Caspian Terns, Pelagic Cormorants, Harlequin Ducks, Tufted Puffins, Common Murres, and Pigeon Guillemots. We hiked trails up and around many of the rocky headlands, through old growth forests. Near one footbridge, we saw a pair of Rough Skinned Newts, my first salamanders to ever see in the wild. Nearby, we saw a large Gartersnake, one of the very few animals immune to their deadly poison.

One the return trip home, we stopped by infamous Cape Disappointment. It was classic Pacific Northwest coast, with craggy, rocky cliffs with a cold fog being blown over a dark forest. We visited the North Head lighthouse, haunted by the wife of the first lightkeeper who, unable to stand the howling wind, jumped off the cliff after 25 winters in the foggiest spot in America (165 foggy days per year), and the windiest lighthouse on the west coast. We huddled next to the heaters inside the lighthouse trying to remind ourselves it was mid-July, and we explored the small museum and stairs to see the fog above. Some of the trails approximate routes that were taken by the Lewis and Clark Discovery Corps, with the coast below called The Graveyard of the Pacific, and the ruins of Fort Canby make this area steeped in history as well as an interesting fog-fed rain forest. Lewis and Clark had found whales, grizzly bears, and even condors on this coast when they visited 200 years ago, but those species are no longer to be seen here - so we approximate their footsteps not just in geography, but also in biology. We found a dead Harbour seal pup on the beach, and another dead elk fawn in the forest above, so this is a harsh climate for animals as well as people. Some trails meandered through the dripping ferny forest to some massive bunkers built to protect the coast in WWII. It was a great end to a short weekend.

Free Fireworks

2008-07-10T21:54:00.003-04:00

Just a quick update for this week, since time is running short:

We went to Explosive Ordinance Training last week, which was excellent timing since artillery began practicing over our heads as we hunted down mouse-eared hawkweed. I'd never heard the sounds of shells whizzing over head before, and it was a little nerve-wracking at first, especially when the *boom* of impacts begin echoing with the *booms* of firing - stereo pyrotechniques.

For the holiday weekend, we decided it would be a busy camping weekend, so we explored nearby parks as daytrips from Tumwater. We saw Rainbow Falls, Millersvanya, and Tolmie state parks. Lot's of folks were out enjoying the weekend, and we saw Winter Wrens, Western Tanagers, Bullock's Orioles, and other pretty birds. Lots of sanddollars were hiding in the mud awaiting the return of high tide at Tolmie, so that was interesting to see.

Tonight, I'm off to chase bats around on Fort Lewis!

Sometimes the Plants Fight Back

2008-07-02T22:06:00.011-04:00

Twas another exciting week here in Thurston county, Washington. Our mission was to eradicate Diffuse Knapweed in an nice prairie also known by Fort Lewis personnel as Mortar Position 13. It may seem strange, but military bases often provide excellent wildlife habitat for two reasons: the land isn't converted to economic uses (such as farming) and it is also benefits from occasional fires from bomb training. Performing controlled burns on nature preserves is often difficult to implement for a whole variety of reasons, but the military needs to practice, and their practice often creates disturbances that can help restore ecosystems. In the South Puget Sound area, these burns help keep the forest trees from encroaching on the prairies, and some weeds such as Scotch Broom are not tolerant of fire.

Military disturbances in natural areas do have drawbacks, such as the lack of large grazing animals on most areas, probably because the sound of gunfire is a deterrent. Other drawbacks include tripping up yours truly with rusted razor-wire underneath the Reed-Canary grass, or falling into a hidden impact crater with a full backpack sprayer. Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question ... skip it.

My coworkers even fared worse, since the grasses were in full bloom and wading through a dense, six foot stand would leave clouds of pollen and seeds drifting all around. Sneezes, watery eyes, red skin, and even welts made for a tough afternoon for them. I spent the hot afternoon battling against Sulfur Cinquefoil. I was wishing I could call in reinforcements, when a Chinook helicopter came rushing around the oak trees and passed right over my head. Even though I felt like it was a tough day, I know the soldiers training around me, and especially those deployed, have much, much tougher days. Squaring my shoulders against the weight of the backpack, I resumed my silent war against the weeds.

The weekend was off to a rough start, with a flat tire in the Capitol Forest near home. The clear skies did provide excellent view of Mt. Rainier. We decided to beat the record-breaking heat (92 F) by running to the hills. At Snoqualimie Pass, we met some friends and hiked along an abandoned railroad track that led into the mountain for 2 miles. Then we hiked another 4 miles along a sometimes snowy canyon trail to Annette Lake, still covered in ice but with several waterfalls right at the shoreline. Lots of other folks were out enjoying the nice weather and escaping the city, which meant finding an open campground was not easy. We camped near a big lake and spent Sunday hiking a nice nature trail and then a short hike to spectacular Franklin Falls, one of the most scenic spots I'd ever hope to see alongside an interstate highway! Debris from last winter's avalanches were still evident all along the roaring riverside, but the snow was melting fast.

I returned back to civilization to hear a message of a friend back home recovering in the hospital, so best wishes for a fast recovery, Del Mar!

Have a happy 4th of July Weekend!

Rainforest Solstice

2008-06-24T22:28:00.005-04:00

It was a great week. We hunted Diffuse Knapweed while armored personnel carriers zoomed past. It is considered a high-priority target on the natural areas because we have a decent chance to eradicate it, compared to management strategies of other pests such as Scotch Broom which must be controlled from taking over prairies, but is just too prevalent to remove completely. The last two days of the week, we attended a S-130/S-190 refresher course, where we reviewed the 10 Standard Orders and 18 Watch Out Situations. We also played with "sandbox" scenarios where we designed controlled-burn scenarios and then put together teams and equipment to implement them. These exercises were specific to some of the prairies we plan to burn to control Scotch Broom.

Part of the prep work to burn them is to first burn the brush piles that are near the edge of the planned fire lines. So this was our Summer Solstice bonfire celebration! My designated role was to patrol areas on an ATV modified with water tanks and a pump. I searched far downwind of the fire and search for spotfires being set by errant sparks, but fortunately nothing bad happened. Unfortunately, northern California did not fare so well the following day, with an incredible 840 wild fires igniting from a lightning storm. If you know how to do a rain dance, please send them some nice, cool, steady rain!

After this hot, dry work, we needed to cool off. For the weekend, we went on a hike through the Quinault Rainforest. One of our plans was to climb up Colonel Bob, but the storms from last December had toppled many trees and washed out bridges, so many trails were still closed. Snow still lingers as low as 2500 feet, so we might try back again later this summer. We did have a great time hiking, seeing the world's largest Sitka Spruce Tree, many waterfalls, a big lake, a mama merganser giving her baby chicks a ride on her back, banana slugs, and a Ghost Squirrel!

Myths & Mima Mounds

2008-06-16T23:18:00.009-04:00

I've recently been working on helping to maintain the Mima Mound prairies. These prairies are about 15 miles south of Olympia, near Millersvania State Park, and they contain many small hummocks about 2 to 3 meters tall, scattered evenly across the plains. Nobody is certain how Mima Mounds are formed, but the prevailing theories all like to employ glaciers that deposited the unstratified sediments as the terminal moraine retreated. However, similar prairie mounds occur in other parts of the world where glaciers are not thought to have existed, so one theory that tickles my fancy are that the mounds were formed by an extinct Pleistocene Giant Gopher colony! What is more certain is that mankind has been maintaining these prairies for a long time -- the native Americans routinely burned these lands to keep the forests in check so that they could harvest rich camas lily roots and other edible plants. Now, it's my turn. I worked along some dedicated volunteers in keeping the notoriously pesky Scotch Broom in check by brush cutting it down, to make room for the native plants like the Lupine and Oregon Sunshine in my photo to the left.

Speaking of glaciers, we went on a short road trip to see the world's youngest glacier: Tulutson Glacier inside the crater of the active stratovolcano Mount Saint Helens. The newly built lava dome rising from the floor of the crater had split the glacier into two lobes, but as of this past month, enough snow had fallen to make the glacier whole once again. It now has as much mass as the glacier on Mount Rainier, and still growing!

We stopped at several waterfalls along the way, and each of the visitor centers too. Weyerhauser has sponsored a really nice visitor center called the Forest Learning Center. They do a good job of showing how logging isn't always at odds with ecological interests, and nowhere is that more apparent than at the edges of the Monument where tree planting did not occur. Granted, an even-aged stand of single species trees isn't exactly diverse, but it's a heck of a lot better than stinking sulfurous ash.

It was terrific witnessing the view from Johnston Ridge Observatory, which houses the webcam we've been watching for years at our home in Plano, TX and from Big Pine, FL. We could see steam rising from three different vents inside the crater, and areas along the rim that looked like very recent avalanches and rock slides. Even from binoculars, it was scary to witness geologic forces on a mountain-size scale at work. We could see a herd of elk munching on grass far below. Inside the Observatory, there was a seismic station recording small tremors in real time, so Saint Helens is still stewing. Unfortunately, the snows has been so heavy that the trails were still closed. So we drove back down to Coldwater Lake, a brand new natural lake formed by the massive landslide from the 1980 eruption that dammed Coldwater Creek. Castle lake across the desolate Toutle valley is another new landslide lake. While we were eating or cheese & oysters, an osprey hovered over the greenish waters, hoping for a meal.

Sunday, we spent at Priest Point Park here in Olympia. The low tide was rushing in, so we were able to see a small tidal bore come rushing in, and the clams squirt in joy for the return of water. Nearby is the Farmer's Market, full of yummy food, fresh cheese, live music, and a giant Fushia that now lurks over our patio with its purple blooms. We strolled around the Capitol building and stumbled into a tour that was just beginning, and learned a little about the building (such as why there is a can of beer in the timecapsule) and Washington politics. One interesting fact; the world's largest tiffany lamp that hangs from the dome was reinforced with a kevlar tether after the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.

It's sometimes a little disconcerting to realize that underneath the entire Cascade range, an ancient continent is meeting its doom! But it's bedtime now, and I need some sleep... maybe I'll dream of Cheese Days.

Log -- along it scampers

2008-06-10T20:42:00.005-04:00

Perhaps those of you who are fluent in Hupa translated this week's title into native Indian, "ista:ngq'eh-k'itiqowh", which is also the Hupa name for the Fisher, aka Martes pennanti. Personally, I prefer the Hupa name for it, even though I can't pronounce it. That's because Fishers don't eat fish, or clams, or crabs, or anything else aquatic. Instead, these large weasels like to scamper among dense forests and hunt squirrels, mountain beavers, snowshoe hares, voles, grouse, and the occassional porcupine. What is exciting news about Fishers is that they have returned to Washington after a long absence. About 100 years ago, Fishers were extirpated by a greedy bunch of Elmer J. Fudds, but now a 3 year reintroduction program has just begun. 25 Fishers were released early this year, so it was possible that we were being watched by a pair of curious, jet-black eyes from a tree branch high above the trail.

This past week was spent chasing after Mouse-ear Hawkweed, which is considered a high-priority target on the coastal prairies because it has yet to become a widespread invasive and also due to its allelopathic roots. Another invasive is the Hairy Cat's Ear. But some of the native plants have funny names here too, such as Deerfoot Vanillaleaf, which is the photo to the right. I spent all this cool, rainy week working of invasives, and then had to catch an amazingly early flight back to Dallas to attend a wedding. The afternoon we returned, we spent the day with some friends touring the Seattle Aquarium. They had lots of excellent exhibits, including two giant octopus, their own salmon tower with fish ladder, a giant tropical clam (very striking colors), invertebrate petting zoos, sea otters, a huge "walk-through" aquarium, seals, and my favorite: a pair of playful river otters.

As you may recall, 2008 is Year of the Frog. Consider signing their petition! I bring this up again because they are having a very unique auction to raise conservation funds: get your name immortalized by bidding on an auction: naming rights to a new species of frog!

I hope to see some Giant Salamanders soon; seems like we've been at the right places, but amphibians tend to lurk in the mud and don't come out in the open very often. We'll have to see what adventures await us next week.

Beavers in the Mist

2008-06-04T01:14:00.009-04:00

Another week has zoomed by here in the South Sound area. This week, we worked with a biologist to survey wildflower plant plots. These plots were planted in coastal prairies to determine how successful different techniques were for seeding and transplanting certain wildflowers. These wildflowers are important as host plants for the endangered Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly, so the hope is by restoring prairies quickly with these key plants, the butterfly population will quickly recover. Ideally, the end goal is to establish a mosaic of quality habitats occupied by the butterfly (and more importantly, the caterpillars), which would make the population more resilient to disturbances such as wildfires.

We also spent 2 days running a tractor, backpack sprayers, and an ATV with a powered hand sprayer to go after Tall Oats Grass. It was my first time driving a tractor in several years, and this one had some differences to get used to, including a very touchy clutch that made driving with a full tank mounted on the back a little exciting at times! Almost like being in a tractor pull -- yee haw!

For the weekend, we loaded up the truck with camp gear and went for a loop drive around the Olympic Peninsula. There was still snow on the mountains, and the streams were all running full bore. We saw many waterfalls, such as Rocky Brook Falls (left photo), Marymere Falls, Madison Falls, and the spectacular Sul Duc falls.

We saw the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, which has a really, really long spit that reaches out to a lighthouse. It was so cold and windy, that we didn't dare walk very far out away from the mainland, but we did see some impressive scenery, such as the huge logs stranded upon the sandbars, the mainland cliff, the Juan de Fuca straight with the mountains of British Columbia off to the north, and the snow-covered peaks of Hurricane Ridge to our south, near where we'd camp for the night. There were 2 really brave and very athletic adventurers out kite-surfing in the protected lee side of the spit. The winds must've been gusting to 15-20 mph, so they were really flying across the water... the cold, cold water. bbrrrr!

We spent the evening in the pleasant campground of Altair. It's along the roaring Elwah river, which was grayish-white from the silt at floodstage. We saw a huge beaver come swimming out of the mist and forage along the banks, deftly missing the dangerous currents swirling all around. People were very nice, and our neighbors even loaned us some kindling and starter log for our fire. Maybe they felt bad for us, since we were getting a very late start on dinner... but hotdogs fortunately don't take long on the grill. I was hoping to get a view of the sky to see the ISS and space shuttle Discovery fly past, but there was no chance of that with a dreary drizzle falling down.

Sunday, we saw Crescent Lake, a 650 ft deep lake formed from an ancient retreated glacier that left behind a moraine dam. Then was our hike to the roaring Sul Duc falls, which was perhaps the highlight of the weekend. We saw several elk and black-tailed deer that morning, including a newborn fawn near Mill's Lake. The trailhead for Sul Duc falls is near the hot springs, and there were still melting piles of snow in the forest!

Finally, we were running out of daylight and only had time for one last stop -- Ruby Beach. This was a dramatic stretch of coastline facing west into the Pacific. A perfect place to end our trip. We explored among the rocky coastline, and got a nice view of a new lifelist bird: the Black Oystercatcher.

Toto, I don't think we're in the Keys anymore...

2008-05-27T00:14:00.009-04:00

This was my first week at my new job with the Nature Conservancy. I toured several of the prairies I'd be working on this summer, and learned many new plants; both the good (natives) and the bad (non-natives). There are over 80,000 acres of natural areas, mostly preserved on the military base Fort Lewis, named after (Lewis Meriwether of the Lewis & Clark expedition, which reached the end of the Columbia river not far from here). This ecosystem is unique, and home to many rare plants and animals; for instance, in this photo is the Paintbrush Castilleja and the nesting grounds for the endangered subspecies, the Streaked Horned Lark. These prairies are part of the glacial deposits of the Nisqually plain, whose drainage begins on the slopes of nearby Mt. Rainier.

While Poison Ivy is present here in the lower elevations of Washington, I'm pleased to report that it's nastier relatives such as Poisonwood are nowhere to be found. Instead of Nickerbean and Acacia, there's Himalayan Blackberries and Stinging Nettles, and in place of Manchineel there is Death Camas (the pretty white lily in this photo). At the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, I found myself constantly scanning the freshwater marshes for alligators.

The refuge was a really great place to get acquainted with the local flavor of plants and animals. We walked over 7 miles there, and saw many birds, bugs, plants, and a beaver-thing (a nutria, perhaps?). Often, there are sightings of seal lions and river otters, but we weren't so lucky. However, we did see a Rufus Hummingbird nest and I added several new birds to my lifelist: Tree Swallow, Band-tailed Pigeon and Wilson's Phalarope . There were many ducks in the water, with little fuzzy ducklings earnestly swimming after mama. Other notable birds for us were Bald Eagles, Townsend's Solitaire, Virginia Rail, Wood Duck, Yellow Warbler, and Blue-winged & Cinnamon Teal.

The Cascade range had a very good winter for snow, and some of the ski areas were open for Memorial Day weekend, which had never happened before. Since it had been WAY too long since the last time I went skiing, and the snowbase was still > 100", this was too tempting to pass up. We ended up in Alpental along Snoqualmie Pass. It was great to be playing out in the snow wearing light pants and a T-shirt! The snow was melting fast, and there were no less than 6 big waterfalls that could be seen along nearby cliffs (one can be seen far behind me in this photo).

After skiing, we drove onward towards Seattle to visit with an old friend of mine, but not before stopping at the touristy hotspot of Snoqualmie Falls, which was roaring at full intensity and splashing everyone way up on the rim with cold mist. We had a nice evening of tasty Indian food and fun games (I lost). Another very exciting historical event that occurred while we gazed over the falls; the Phoenix Lander successfully touched down upon the north pole of Mars... a day for snow, ice and water here and afar!

For Memorial Day, we toured several geocaches around town, such as nearby Tumwater Falls, Priest Point Park, and the state forest. It was fascinating to a fish ladder in person for the first time; a series of concrete pens that had small chutes to let water channel through them and let the salmon swim upstream past the dam.

Next week should be fun. We start tomorrow with a plant plot survey on Johnson Prairie.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!

The Journey to Tumwater Hill

2008-05-18T00:19:00.008-04:00

We left on a Monday morning, with not yet having a place to stay or having seen the Northwest. 2,300 miles later, we finally made it to Olympia! Originally, I had planned on taking 8 days to make this drive, with some time to camp and explore the country we'd be driving through. But having never traveled before with cats, we wanted to keep things simple. It was almost like self-imposed torture to be so close to many national parks, monuments, forests, and wildernesses and not be able to experience them. Even from the seat of the car, the scenery was exciting, such as Shiprock, the Way of the Ancients, and Valley of the Gods, and the thrilling drive up Moki Dugway.

We did make time on the drive to tour around Natural Bridges National Monument, and did a few short hikes while cats slept in the car. I was surprised by how much snow was still hanging on the mountains, even as low as 8,000 feet. The short hikes we did took us past inspiring landscapes of sandstone, which still showed the dune forms with petrified cross-bedding clearly visible in the weathered rocks. From one cliff, we could look down into the cave that sheltered Horse-collar ruins, an ancient and unique Anasazi home that was abandoned 700 years ago as the climate became too dry to support their farming practices.

We then drove through more beautiful canyon lands, and across the office space of my former crew boss's, Capitol Reef National Park. He lives in a quaint old farmhouse, so we hope to visit him again on our way back home and this time make plans to stay long enough to explore more of the area. After a huge dinner at Diablo's, we blazed tracks all the way to northern Utah. Our last day we made it to the Columbia Gorge just as the sun was setting, and had time to enjoy the cold spray from a few magnificent waterfalls, such as Horsetail and Multnomah Falls, which are the 2nd highest falls in the USA.

We arrived in Washington at nightfall, with the snow on distant mountains looking ghostly by the moonlight. We spent the next day viewing apartments and settled on a place in Tumwater, whose claim to fame is it is the gateway to the Inside Passage (with awesome looking totems that look out from the bridge to the Sound), as well as the site of the first pioneer settlement in Washington back in 1845. On our walk at nearby Tumwater Hill park, we can see the state capital, the sound, and most impressively, the peak of Mount Rainier. The forest is full of unfamiliar plants; huge maples, stinging nettles, lush ferns, and many others that I'll need to learn soon.

Today was our first full day in the apartment, which we spent hitting up garage sales across town, buying lots of used furniture and getting used to driving around town. Tomorrow should be a fun day of hiking around nearby parks and getting ready for my first day on the job as a Prairie Restoration Tech!

Wild Wild West

2008-05-11T19:52:00.006-04:00

We have over 2200 miles to drive across Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and finally Washington. There's so many sights I would love to see along the way... places that have been on my "to-do" list for a very long time, such as the Latir Peaks, Maroon Bells wilderness, Chaco & Frijole Canyon, Hovenweep, Canyonlands, and many more. With the cats in the car, it's just not possible, so we'll have to save those gems for another adventure.

It's been a whirlwind at home setting up a house-sitter and giving away plants, fish, and cheeses. Now we're on the road again. My Trusty Truck is now spruced up with a Brahma camper shell, which needed some TLC, but will be perfect for the long road trip ahead. We're taking our cats with us, so if the weather's nice, then the camper can serve as our sane-asylum.

We still haven't selected a place to stay in Olympia yet, but have a list of places to look at. We're only packing what can fit in our truck, so if anyone has a friend near Olympia willing to part with a couch, TV, bookshelf, toaster, beanbag chair, bed, blender, or matching salt & pepper shaker... please let me know! :-)

Hopefully, I'll have an internet connection soon and get time to update this next weekend, once we've moved into our new home for the next 6 months. Meanwhile, check here to see what's going on in some of the nearby Parks we hope to visit soon:

Mount Rainier Webcam

Mount St. Helen's Webcam

Happy Trails!

From Sea to Shining Sea

2008-05-02T15:54:00.009-04:00

In one age, called the Third Event by some, a wind rose among the Cascade foothills far to the west. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the wheel. But it was a beginning. (friends on my last job were always tossing around obscure references that went way over my head, so this is payback.)

As the title of this blog hints at, I'm off to Washington to begin my next job: working with The Nature Conservancy to restore coastal prairies in the foothills of the Cascades!! This photo (copyright by Keith Lazelle) is to be my new 'office' until this October! Yes, that's Mt. Rainier in the background!!! w00t!!

I miss the Florida Keys already. The director took us out on a research trip on the boat from Boca Chica to Woman Key, stopping at the historic wharf in Key West for some tasty sandwiches. Woman Key has large stretches of beach protected for sea turtle nesting -- even a Leatherback has been spotted nesting there, although it's mostly Hawksbills that use that beach. You can see survey stakes that mark some of the old nest sites. There were also lots of seashells, like stout seabiscuits and delicate scallops, hamburger beans, and sadly, a dead gannet and blue-winged teal washed ashore. My boss-boss even found a stash of pirate brew! *urp* Then, we sped over to an excellent little patch-reef for some snorkeling, which had a resident nurse shark and a little juvenile hawksbill sea turtle. That evening, we had a cozy campfire at my favorite hangout: spooky house on Big Pine. It was the best send off I could have!

When I returned home, the pace of things did not slow down: birthday party, then off to Austin for a "Snakes & Arrows" concert and camping at McKinney Falls, where I saw a western kingbird in the tree by this meadow. There were painted buntings, blue-winged teal, and a red-shouldered hawk too. Then I drove to Bullard to see nieces dance, and I've been catching up with local friends in the time inbetween. Whew!! Right now, I should be frantically packing and shoring up the ol' homestead, since I'll be leaving soon... but instead I'm off to Galveston for the weekend to visit my brother's families and help with a chili cookoff. Tonight, I'm providing entertainment: juggling torches for the first time in my life!

Endings and Beginnings

2008-04-16T22:53:00.007-04:00

This is to be my last blog entry from the Florida Keys for this season. It is never easy for me to leave behind new friends and new experiences, but I'm also always anxious to explore and enjoy find something different. Part of me wishes I could remain here to build on friendships and keep exploring the islands and life around me, as just today I had another first life-experience: my first sighting of the rare white-crowned pigeon.

Tonight, my boss had our farewell dinner for our group in Marathon at a nice pub overlooking the water. She was just finishing up with several conferences and we just had our last day sweeping public lands for invasive plants. An Americorps crew from Boston U. were there to, so we thanked them for their hard work on the lower keys and Crane Point, and wished them well on their next venture in Mississippi working on hurricane rehab projects. Alison shared some really bad jokes, and we told stories of coon bear, zombie-pythons, and other Keys-ish topics.

This past weekend was a blur, as my parents came in for a visit. We did 5 dives off Marathon on Saturday, visiting Flagler's Barge, Sombrero Gardens, and Sombrero Reef. We saw lots of lobsters, moray eels, and the bewildering variety of reef fishes. Some highlights were seeing tight clusters of basket stars napping in the daylight on purple gorgonians, a tiny baby filefish hiding on a rope sponge, and a rock beauty that would only swim upside down on the bottom of Flagler's Deck. The night dive is always fun, and we fed the coral by shining our light over the coral head to draw the plankton into the coral's tentacles. The next day, we woke up early for another 3 dives at Looe Key. We saw lots of midnight-blue parrotfish, a dolphin, sea turtles, and a reef shark.
Tomorrow is our last day at work: the morning I will present our year-in-review report, and in the afternoon, the director is taking us out on a boat trip! After that, it will be a night of packing and partying. It's hard to believe that this time last year, I had just made the decision to change careers.

I'll try to update this blog again next week, after I'm home and hopefully with some news about my next adventure. I have applied to many new job opportunities, so who knows where I'll end up next? I could be in Yellowstone chasing after river otters, or flying over the Oregon coastline observing terns and cormorants, or killing invasive plants in Washington, or studying fire ecology in Utah... among other dreams.

I look forward to being home again and catching up with old friends and family, and I wish all my friends from the Keys a farewell until we meet again!

Of Rabbitats & Red Cards

2008-04-11T19:30:00.007-04:00

The Nature Conservancy receives grant money to treat both public and private lands, and some owners of private lands are very appreciative of our work. We've met a few hospitable owners who have treated us to frosty sodas, but what was really amazing was when the owner of Sundance cruise invited the Strike Force and two Americorps crew aboard their huge catamaran for an exciting sail out from Key West to Sand Key. The wind was really blowing, and we reached 14 knots! Move, zig! There was some 2-4' swells, so a few folks began turning green while snorkeling at the reef. Visibility was also reduced, and the shallow reef did not have much living coral. There were large schools of yellowtail snapper, and lots of parrotfish.

This week began our basic wildland fire training. It is a week long course for the S-130/S-190 certification, which is called a "red card". A lot of the course is reviewing real scenarios that ended in tragedy and understanding how to avoid them. What I found interesting are two misconceptions I had about dangerous fire situations: huge burns are safer because the fire behavior is more predicable, and more wildland fire fighter fatalities occur from falling trees and aircraft crashes than from the fire directly.

The folks being trained were from the Key Deer National Wildlife refuge, local fire department, and the Nature Conservancy. Wildfires on the keys are very rare, so the training is more to build up a strong force to assist with the upcoming prescribed burns that the refuge biologists will conduct to restore habitat for the Lower Keys Marsh Rabbit... what they like to call "rabbitat".

After studying up on concepts, we prepared our tools and Fire Line Packs for a field day of practice, which was conducted at a real wildfire burn area on Big Pine Key called Thunderstruck 2. I was selected to be Squad Boss , which meant lugging around this radio harness in addition to the line pack and tool. We established a control line around a simulated burn, and even had our lunch of MRE's rudely interrupted by a radio call to chase after spotfires that had crossed our perimeter. Then we had to make way for a simulated tanker drop, and then roll out hose to mop up the burned areas.

Also during the week, my friends threw me a nice birthday party; excellent food and wonderful companionship made for a very fun and memorable evening. I can't believe my time here is running out! Just one more week and then I'm gone, so there's much to do until then. Tomorrow, I'm meeting my folks in marathon for a fun day of scuba diving.

I See a Manatee!

2008-04-05T12:40:00.012-04:00

Serendipity comes in many forms. Originally, we had been prepared to go on a snorkel trip with the marine team last Thursday to monitor Staghorn coral "plantings" off Key Largo, but high winds can stir up the sediments, reducing the visibility such that the trip was canceled. I was dissappointed. Not to be deterred by Nature, we tried again on Friday with a fun cruise on the Bahia Honda Park's boat. Right before boarding the boat, we saw this huge manatee poking her head up in the canal. This was my first time to see one, and I was excited. At first, it was a game of hide and seek, since mats of seagrass and the boat were hiding her. Then she came out in the open, and we gave her a drink of fresh water, which she greatly appreciated. It's always a great day when you can check off an endangered species of charismatic megafauna from your lifelist!

After that, luck changed once again. The boat was late leaving the dock because they replaced one of the propellers, but shortly after passing under the old bridge, the prop flew off. The boat took us back ashore, so I just went to the edge of the beach, put on my gear and swam out till I was content. Nearshore, there are little meadows of seagrass beds. On the edges are lots of juvenile fish trying to take shelter along them. About 200 yards offshore, the seagrass turns into an expansive gorgonian flat that makes the swim worth it. Lots of octocorals, with many common reef fish swimming about, such as a scrawled cowfish and a large balloonfish. Also notable were many Rock-boring urchins hiding in the nooks n' crannies.

Hungry from a long afternoon, we had a tasty beer and sandwich at Rob's, and then returned to the house to visit with some friends who just returned from a fishing trip. We shared stories, caught some more fish, and then Topher and I stayed up late into the wee hours, going back to Rob's for some Red-headed drinks, and then back home for fishing in the canal... just not ready to let the fun end.

Ugh... I was desperate to get on a boat ride to a reef, so I struggled out of bed and Toto and I went off to Looe Key for a dive/snorkel trip. The water was cold, but helped keep me alert! Some reef sharks were there, and the biggest highlights were another Hawksbill Turtle let me swim along side him for a spell, and I saw a large school of midnight-blue parrotfish, which are an uncommon fish to see, and even more uncommon to see 17 in a school around the large coral heads. That evening was a trip to Key West for some evening entertainment. No rest for the weary!!!

This past week, we hooked up with the hardworking Americorps team again for another tough week of chainsaws & chippers. Volleyball monday night was really hard, since I was sleepy, tired, achy, and hungry. Tuesday night, we hit up Boondocks, a local tiki bar, for their qualifying rounds of karaoke. I got things started with an amazing rendition of "Times Like These", my first ever public singing performance. I think their mic was broke, since it didnt sound right. ;-p

Toto really lit up the floor with some amazing Billy Jean moves, and Lucky Charms sang some beautiful songs. Our group cheered them on from the tables, and then things got even more fun with group singing of Bohemian Rhapsody, Love Me Do, and Summer Nights. We returned the next night for the finals. Steve qualified as a wildcard entry, and all three of them ended up sweeping the prizes! Lucky won a trip to Jamaica, Steve a $50 coupon, and Toto a salon treatment. Very fun! Unfortunately, Topher became ill from a round of heat-exhaustion, so he's been recovering slowly.

Thurs night, we stayed up late to watch a film I wanted to see, "Into the Wild", which was very good. I was soooooo tired, but couldn't sleep after watching the movie that I went to nearby Spooky House (an unoccupied house that has an excellent view of the bay) and watched the stars, storms, and a shooting star as I let my thoughts ratchet down.

Last night was our going away celebration. The theme was to dress as an invasive species, so I was Coco Nuts. Also present was a bottle of Technu, the Humpback of Notre Dame, a couple of Tourons, a zebra-muscle, and a very invasive W. Bush... among other costumes. We floated a keg, jumped in the canal, and partied till 4am. There was awesome guitar playing by Randy, Bob, and Toto, and fun singing. Most of us jumped in the canal, one of my favorite passtimes here. We also saw a film-show of Lauren and Alison's Bahamian boarding attempt on a sunken vessel. My Strike Force was presented with certificates and a personalized photo montage, which was a really nice thought. The certificate reads: "The above named has successfully: assessed and treated over 1700 acres of pine rocklands, hardwood hammocks, refuge and private lands; mercilessly slaughtered over 150,000 exotic plants; held side jobs as mechanics, plumbers, chemists, GIS techs, foresters, garbage men, fire fighters, and teachers; travelled "several hundred feet without touching the ground"; endured inhumane hot temperatures and humidity; obscene amounts of walking and crawling, incessant oozing of poisonwood rashes, chaotic project logistics, ridiculously cool coworkers; a paucity of adequate hygienics, daunting exposure to ultraviolet radiation, and an inordinate preponderance of latin terminology. -- and for this, we are truly grateful."

So now it's another weekend... just one more weekend after this and I'm gone... there's no time for sleep! Party on, d00des!

Kegs n' Eggs

2008-03-28T16:03:00.005-04:00

The cultural heritage of the Florida Keys is unique, and perhaps nothing underscores that quite as well as the Big Pine Key traditional Easter/Vernal Equinox celebration known as Kegs n' Eggs. The festivities begin on Saturday evening with egg decorating around a nice campfire. Many eggs picture neptunian images of turtles, fish, and dolphins, others have nautical themes of boats and pirates, and others convey important feelings, such as "Jesus loves ducks" and "Godzilla loves Jesus".

The eggs are carefully saved for the following day, which first begins with a wonderful potluck banquet served under the hot and obnoxiously bright sun. Fortunately, local medicinal lore includes a cure for such ailments; a beverage commonly known as the Mimosa. From there, boats (in various degrees of serviceability and seaworthiness, much like their passengers) are loaded up for an awesome cruise to the fabled Picnic Island.

Once at Picnic island, the main goal is to improve the buoyancy of the boats via unloading the cargo . To keep the weather nice, it is considered good luck to quaff Dark & Stormy's, a blend of dark rum and spicy ginger beer. Thence proceeds the celebrations of Dodge This, and the Airing of Joyfulness. Cute girls then begin lobbing decorated eggs into the ocean and the Games Meister calls for the hunt to begin! Snorkleing for eggs is as fun as it sounds, and certainly a time to remember.

Near Picnic island is small Bird island, which has a small colony of roosting juvenile Magnificent Frigate Birds. We also saw the remains of a dead sea turtle and some By-the-Wind Sailors floating past on the currents (which come in left and right handed forms). Festivities officially ended at sunset, but I needed to wait for our Zodiac and kayaker to come into dock, which took much longer than expected. We had our final celebration at Looe Key's Tiki bar, to close out Easter at Big Pine.

Carpe Schinus equestiofolia

2008-03-18T21:19:00.003-04:00

Q: what is a pirate's favorite herbicide?

A: Garrrr-lon!

Ok, maybe i haven't found anybody to laugh at that joke yet, but give it time. This past week was spent working alongside Americorps and Alternative Spring Breakers, and we put em to hard work. The first day was mostly a 1-day bootcamp, where we taught them to identify the top 5 most-wanted plants (Mahoe, Pepper, Australian Pine, Colubrina, and Lead Tree) and then how we treat them. That afternoon, we worked together to clear the fireline around a house in the pine rocklands; removing fuel material such as dead palm fronds and deadwood.

The Americorps crew were hard workers; our first day it rained constantly, but we still had 4 chainsaws going all day long, slicing up peppers and then dragging them over to a giant chipper. The next day, we continued the chainsaw blitzkrieg, but instead of rain, it was hot and sunny. We were soon as soaked as if it were pouring rain, and a few folks hit the first stage of heat exhaustion. It was a tough two days, but we finished the job (and thereby rewarded with ice cream). Yeah - the perks in this job are just sublime.

We finished the next two days working on chainsawing + chipping Australian Pine. The spring breakers were very impressed with the powerful diesel chipper, and even named the beast. They invited us over to their camp for a really nice dinner of grilled food, volleyball, and a campfire. We wore out the chipper, the chainsaws, and ourselves. We worked nearly 50 hours that week of intense, hard labor, so it really is nice to have it behind us. You'd think that after such a hard week, we'd take the chance to rest up, but not so. We had a great time exploring Key West and kayaking over the weekend. I was able to get some nice photos Sunday kayaking near Picnic Key of some Magnificent Frigate Birds.

See ya next week!

Playa Grande

2008-03-09T12:26:00.005-04:00

This week's title, "Playa Grande", translates to "The Great Beach" in spanish. I chose it because it's been a working metaphor for me lately; it's a powerfully emotional chapter in the book I'm reading (Voyage of the Sea Turtle), it's a beach in Costa Rica near my honeymoon, and by using a play on english words, I'm reminded of the grand play that Shakespeare equates with life. This photo is of my boss, Hau, working on Stirrup Key, where shortly afterwards we stumbled across the large bee-tree pictured below.

We spent several days in Tavernier Key, sweeping through state-managed land. Here we found large stands of Tamarind Trees, which have a dense wood and requires a chainsaw to girdle. The trunks are very straight, so in some ways it is a shame to treat them, but they were slowly spreading through the hammock and shading the understory with their broad canopy.

We also performed more chainsaw and chipping work on Big Pine Key, as a warm-up for this coming week when we host volunteers from Americorps and then Alternative Spring Breakers. This year is a record for how much volunteer help we have, so we want to make the best use of the people-power and take out some heavily infested stands of peppers. It's really excellent there's so much enthusiasm in students that choose to spend their precious free time on environmental projects!

Meanwhile, Topher's knee began giving him trouble this week. (Topher is the guy in the foreground, laughing with me at being totally surrounded by a toxic PencilTtree. Hopefully, it's nothing serious - the doctor just told him to take it easy to see if it'll heal up on it's own. We've been doing lots of crawling and stooping on the job, and all of us have had our shares of aches, cramps, cuts, bruises, and itches. It looks like I'm not immune to Poisonwood, after all, since after swamping up chainsaw debris, I began to have several small rashes appear.

Last week, I reported on how amphibians the world over are having trouble. Well, here's a happy tree frog that is doing quite well here in Florida - unfortunately at the expense of other native frogs he likes to eat. He's the Cuban Tree Frog, an is considered an alien invasive. I wonder if herons can be trained like falcons to hunt them down? They were likely introduced by escaping from irresponsible pet owners/traders, so please remember; Don't Let it Loose!

Time to Play - Name That Bird!

2008-03-02T12:06:00.016-05:00

Ya'll are likely exhausted from your Invasive Weed Awareness Week fun, but I hope you still have some partying left in ya, because this year is also dedicated to... Year of the Frog! Amphibians are very sensitive to habitat changes and are being hit hard with wetland destruction, disease, and water pollution. Populations are drastically falling all around the world. So consider signing AARK's petition and getting involved in caring for your local water quality.

Meanwhile, I've been hard at work conducting research from my comfy beach towel. Can anyone help me identify the bird in the above photo? His legs were yellow and he liked to pump his tail as he scampered to n' fro.

This beach was formed on the eroding side of the island, since it did not have a protective flank of mangroves to shield it from the powerful waves. At one time, large Buttonwood trees and a paved road went along the shore, but now the sea has eaten away at both trees and asphalt.

The rocky shore had tidal pools that were full of small Limpets, tons of shells from tiny Augers, and larger Checker Nerites. On a small tidal marsh, i saw a congregation of Hermit Crabs that had taken up residence in colorful Whelk and Tulip shells. I never see such pretty shells on the beach, so I wonder where the hermits find them?

This work week we spent wrapping up transects on Stirrup Key, although we left behind a large amount of lead tree to be chainsawed, chipped, and bagged. We also revisited TNC's Torchwood Hammock Preserve on Little Torch Key. This preserve came very close to being a suburb, when a botanist visited a friend living nearby and noticed a potted cactus on her porch. Realizing it was the Semaphore Cactus, which was thought extinct, the botanist questioned where she found it, and then involved TNC. John Pescatello worked very hard to protect the preserve, and now the cactus is safe... except for encroaching invasive plants and the newly arrived Cactoblastis moth. The preserve is named after the most prevalent plant, the Torchwood Tree. Torchwood is notable for the oily resins, which make branches burn well as torches, as well as for making field workers crawl entire transects on hands and knees since it is such a dense shrub.

Another exciting event this week was the Pine Rockland Conference organized by TNC. My team was invited to attend the local field trips to learn about ecological management issues for the Pine Rocklands. I was able to meet several interesting people, most in this photo. Chris Bergh, standing in the back with a visor, is leading the field trip on TNC's Terrestris Preserve. My boss's boss, Alison Higgins, is in the blue bandanna to his right. The lady dressed in all brown to Chris's left, is Paige Schmidt, an NWR biologist, who carries the fate of the endangered Keys Marsh Rabbit in her hands. Tall men to the far right background are Park Wardens and Foresters from the Bahamas, whom the Conservancy is donating a fire engine too, since fire is such an important tool in maintaining the pine habitats. The big guy with the Night Heron feather stuck in his cap is the botanist for the Turks & Caicos Parks, who had the best quote of the day... replying to an innocent plant-id inquiry with a condescending 'back off, man, I'm a scientist' glare, "I don't do common names." I need to start taking fashion tips from Fire Crews, they always have awesome pictures and slogans.

The Terrestris Preserve is jokingly referred to as the "most frequently burned habitat in Florida". Being privately held land, it's much easier to obtain permit for controlled burns, and the small 20 acre plot was bought by the Conservancy specifically to help the NWR learn exactly how the Pine Rocklands respond to burns. Burning the NWR land is hotly contested on Big Pine Key, since residents fear the flames. Fortunately, nearby military bases have been allowed to burn and show that it does greatly benefit herbivores such as the Marsh Rabbit. Other topics of discussion included rising sea levels, hurricane damage, and other disturbances that must require active management.

One other fun thing I did this week was touring a very quirky historical site, The Perky Bat Tower, which is amazing to me that its wooden structure has survived 80 years of hurricanes. I'll have to make a pilgrimage to one of the other surviving Hygiostatic Bat Roosts in Texas and try to promote modern ones being constructed near Dallas!

By the Dark of the Moon

2008-02-22T13:59:00.011-05:00

We had Monday off for President's Day! That made for a short work week, which was really nice. Unfortunately, that was also our last holiday until our job is over in mid April. Also, we need to attend an all-day first aid class this saturday on Stock Island, so this weekend is a bust.

It rained on us once again yesterday, but we persevered and nearly completed our sweeps through Stirrup Key, which is the sister tract to the Blue Heron refuge. One more transect, and a lot of lead-tree clearing, and we should be done with it. Lead tree is especially tedious to treat, as we must bag all the seed pods for each tree we cut down, and then spray the stump with double-strength Garlon (40%). To celebrate our victory, we spent the evening in Key West for the annual Walk on White Street, which is when the art galleries have an open-house with finger foods, and one gallery even had a string quartet playing.

Wednesday night, we stayed up late for the first Annual South-Florida Film Festival that was hosted at our house. We saw some local productions that I'm certain you've never heard about:
The first movie, "Wind Across the Everglades" had that canned Hollywood cast to the characters, but the plot could be considered way ahead of social issues, being filmed a decade before "Silent Spring" would be written, or for that fact, before most of the wildlife refuges in Florida had been created (Key Deer NWR was created the same year the film was released). It has some awesome quotable moments that are applicable to my new job, such as commenting on a dead man: "I'd say that boy had 'nough o' the glades."

The movie was fairly factual, however, including the deadly practice of tree-hugging the Manchineel, a tree the Spanish called "the little apple of death". It is so toxic that just the vapors from standing nearby can be deadly and scars from the sap may not heal, so it's a tree that likes to carve its initials in you. It is a member of the spurge Family, Euphorbia, and we often encounter its invasive relative, the Pencil Cactus Tree. Breaking off a branch or slicing the trunk of most spurges will cause white sap to squirt or ooze out, and this sap is toxic, and special care must be taken to never get it into your eyes. We have been trying to treat, unsuccessfully, a HUGE Pencil Tree with a trunk 3 feet in diameter with a veritable forest of branches. (photo of a Large Orange Sulphur on an endangered Semaphore Cactus blossum.)

The second movie we saw that night I nominate for the worst movie ever: "Nude on the Moon". Now, don't get me wrong, I'd call a movie with nice music and pretty women a form of art... but this movie attempts to write a plot and then make models act. The result is so stunningly stupid and then more stupid that it warps the fabric of space-time.

Meanwhile, back to reality. Our own job has it's comedic moments.
Some plants we find have a really funny names, like:

But getting back to matters of the moon, we were bummed the night of the film festival because it was cloudy and we missed the lunar eclipse. As if to recompense, Nature put on an amazing spectacle I was fortunate to witness: about 30 minutes after sunset yesterday, when the tide was high and the winds calm, the sheltered part of the bay began to glow. I counted about 50 individual, brightly lit, miniature whirling dervishes. Each were about an inch long and would swim furiously in tight circles for around 10 seconds, weaving a glowing web that would slowly fade back into the black water. It was the most amazing display I've seen of bioluminescent phenomenon. I went out again tonight, but only 9 worms were out dancing tonight. I tried taking a photo, but without proper equipment, it's kinda blurry. I think they are the art of Odontosyllis luminosa.

We finished up our RedCross First Aid & CPR training today too, so the weekend is going by fast. I'm ready for a day of rest, and daydreaming about nightly glowworms.

This coming week is National Invasive Weed Awareness Week! Go kill a bad plant to celebrate!

Sea Turtles

2008-02-18T22:35:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the delay in updating, but my PC's mobo is fried. I'll keep this update short n' sweet.

Some lame news: Americans, especially, kids arent getting out in nature as much anymore, according to this study.

Some great news: Christmas Mountains will become a park... hopefully a national park!!!!

Meanwhile, we had a rainy work week, getting rained out on two afternoons. All of us passed the fire-training pack test, which was carrying 45lbs in a backpack 3 miles in under 45 minutes. It's a tougher workout than I expected! We spotted a few saplings of Chinese Tallow that are likely the first documented case of them infesting the keys. Tallow is a big problem on mainland coastal states. Some birds like the oil-rich seeds and can spread them to other pristine areas, where the trees can displace coastal praries.

My wife and I toured beaches and gardens from Key West down to Bahia Honda. We also visited the Sea Turtle Hospital down in Marathon. We saw Sandwich terns fishing in the surf and an Ovenbird hopping around the shrubs.

One thing I found interesting at the Turtle Hospital is that sea turtles do not breath involuntarily; each breath is a conscious effort. This means they must be intubated when they are operated on, so that they don't sufficate when asleep. They can easily hold their breath for 30 minutes, and with preparation to dive, can hyperventilate to saturate their blood for much longer stays underwater. As an emergency to prevent drowning, their brains can even undergo anaerobic respiration for a short period of time! I suppose most air-breathing sea animals have this issue of breathing not being a reflex action - I remember reading that dolphins sleep half of their brain at a time, so one eye is closed while the other half of the brain stays awake - weird!

My roommate loaned me a great book called Voyage of the Sea Turtle, so I hope to learn more about their natural history.

Time for bed, as I'm already half asleep!

Life's a Beach

2008-02-10T20:05:00.001-05:00

Another week has zoomed past. We finished up our transects in Blue Heron Hammock on Marathon Key. Wahoo! Then we started on the next parcel just down the street... but it's only about 1/3 the size, so should go faster, right? We're also finishing up our sweeps on Tropical Key colony here on Big Pine Key, so it'll be interesting to see where we go next.

For entertainment, my wife and I went off exploring parts of Big Pine Key, like the salt marshes along Long Beach to the south of the island. We saw an osprey and lots of other shore birds. Areas of the mangrove woods were infested with Australian Pine and Periwinkles, so we pulled a few invasive plants and planted a few red mangrove propagules in their place. We also picked up lots of trash that had washed ashore, mostly plastic bottles. A scary 5 gal container of paint thinner was almost rusted through, so we brought that in before it contaminated the mudflats.

The next day, we went down to Crane Point Nature Center, which has an excellent museum, aquarium, nature trails, and the Wild Bird Rehab Center. It felt kinda funny to PAY money to walk through the hammocks, but it was great learning a few more plants. Their hammock also had infestations, including Brazilian Pepper and Seaside Mahoe. It seems I'm losing the ability to just look at a forest and enjoy it for the trees; now I tend to analyze and assess it - trying to determine what might be wrong or doesn't belong.

That led to a discussion that often plagues nature preserves, especially small ones like those on the Keys: What is the "right" ecosystem that belongs here and how should it be managed? Usually that question is answered by a form of crisis management: Key Deer Refuge was created to protect the nearly extinct deer (only 26 were left when the refuge was founded 50 years ago). Therefore, any habitat change good for the Key Deer is the correct management choice. But what about Crane Point, that does not exist as the last stand? How would that hammock transition "naturally" without human influence? Or, considering Indian middens are present there, should management recreate "pre-Columbian" human influence? Many of these topics are argued about, such as weather coconut palms or opossums should be considered aliens or naturalized components of the ecosystem. Another more timely management question could be: how should this ecosystem be managed with respect to long term climate changes?

Then again, I suppose I've always had trouble enjoying the "peace and serenity" of nature. For example, most folks find beaches very soothing places to visit. I can too, so long as I just look out to the sea and think Deep Thoughts ('I love the ocean... it's so damn... so damn wet'). But the beach is not a peaceful place. Each tide often strands gobs of living debris, from seaweed to seashells... in varying stages of dessication, dying, or decomposing. Here is an Upside-down Jellyfish, turned right-side up and drying in the hot sun, but still pulsing. There is a log of driftwood with mussels 'gasping' for water. Isopods hop among the sargassum eating what they can, as crabs chase them and sandpipers chase crabs. Over all lurk the seagulls, snatching what they can for a snack. Even from a geological perspective, beaches are where land is giving way to sea, with many barrier islands drifting over time like the treads of a tank - like on Mustang Island, Texas - inexorably leaving great oak trees to fall into the sea on one side, and smothering an oyster reef on the bay side.

But these grinding wheels exist in all of nature, and I suppose I celebrate them in my own funny ways. I like to build sandcastles at low tide and watch them wash away, or visit abandoned homesteads and see what has changed, like crossing this orphaned bridge to Wahoo key. (We had fun doing a few geocaches and created a few waymarks too).

Tomorrow is my Pack-Test for fire training. I hope I'm up to it! I keep telling myself, it's just like hiking with the Sierra Club, trying to make it back to the trailhead before the bus leaves!

Fun in the Sun

2008-02-03T19:23:00.001-05:00

This week went by fast, partly because it was just a 3-day workweek for us, but mostly because my wife flew down on Friday. We went straight from Miami International to the Royal Palm Visitor Center at Everglades National Park. There was a broad-shouldered hawk and yellow-rumped warblers right by the parking lot. I asked a ranger about the chance of seeing flamencos along the infamous Snake Bight Trail, but it is the wrong time of year for them.

From there, we went to the Anhinga trail, which is a really nice boardwalk through alligator infested marshes. Being cold-blooded, alligators do not need to eat nearly as often as warm-blooded predators. Therefore, large populations of them can be supported in the same space only a few Florida Panthers would be able to live. In a short half-mile hike, we must've seen around twenty 'gators, most over four feet in length.

True to the trail's name, we saw lots of Anhinga, some were total hams for the cam. We also saw several nests full of noisy chicks. Anhinga can be best differentiated from
Double-crested Cormorants by the silvery neck and shoulders, and also by the straight bill, compared to the gull-shaped hook at the end of cormorant bills.

Compare the photo of the friendly Double-crested Cormorant to this image of an Anhinga below, drying off his wings. The small bird in the foreground is a Little-blue heron, which I really enjoy watching because they are so very focused and methodical in their fishing tactics. They slowly canter their heads back and forth, always judging distance to strike. Near these two birds was a Purple Gallinule, which looks like a Coot that was dipped in psychedelic blue and green paint, with a bright red bill. We also saw his cute relative, the Moorhen, creeping carefully along the far bank.

There were many large Red-bellied and Softshell turtles swimming around. River otters are supposed to inhabit the area, but we didn't see any mammals about. One butteryfly that was locally common, but a rare sight outside of south Florida is this White Peackcock Butterfly. We also hiked the short half-mile Gumbo Limbo trail, which is named after a keystone species of the Keys hardwood hammocks.

After that, we pushed our truck hard to get over the rugged terrain of Rock Reef Pass, which the sign indicated had a peak elevation of 3 feet above sea level. There was another nice trail through the pine rocklands, and we saw this majestic Wood Stork haunting one of the boardwalk overlooks. Another awesome Florida rarity we saw was the Great White Heron. All this hiking had built up quite a thirst, so we pulled into Robert Is Here, kinda of a landmark fruitstand, and had an excellent Key Lime shake = yum. We managed to run a few geocaches just outside the park, but ran outta daylight.

The next day, we went to Key West. We toured the new NOAA Eco-Discovery Center, which is definitely worth the stop the next time you're in town. Mote's Marine Lab has several excellent aquariums there (including a mobile one!). It is also next door to Fort Zachary State Park, which is one of the nicest beaches on the island. We lounged in the sun and I snorkled amongst the rocky breakwaters that sheltered many pretty fish, inclusing a fairy wrasse and princess parrotfish. There's also an excellent geocache: Pirates of Fort Zachary. Towards the end of the day, we had to stop by the Southernmost Point of the USA (which has 3 geocaches nearby), and then back to the beach to watch the sunset.

Today, we hung out at Bahia Honda state park, which included more sun worshipping, snorkelling, and seeing a reef shark and huge sea turtle from the top of the bridge. We also saw palm warblers flying around, feeding on the bugs in the knicker beans, and a huge iguana guarding the visitor's center.

Time for bed; tomorrow comes bright & early!

International Year of the Reef

2008-01-27T10:02:00.001-05:00

2008 has been designated by ICRI as an International Year of the Reef, so today's blog is dedicated to IYOR!

Two weeks ago, I went out with the Looe Key Reef resort. They hosted the trash cleanup last December, so I felt like rewarding them for protecting our reefs. It was just a small group of 5 divers and 1 snorkeler, which gave me a chance to meet all the friendly folks. One of my dive buddies was Stefan, who has copyright on all these photos in today's blog.

Looe Key Marine Sanctuary was created in 1981 to protect what is considered to be one of the more spectacular reefs in Florida. It's a nice, shallow reef, with a max depth of only 30ft. It is named after the H.M.S Looe (the 3rd), which was a 42 cannon government-sponsored privateer frigate. On Feb 4 1744, the Looe spotted a small Spanish vessel that was identified as a former British merchant ship. They captured the ship and began towing it back, but in the dark of night they crashed into this reef; even after dumping all the cannons and ballast, the ships could not be freed and the 274 crewmen all crammed into longboats for the long haul back to Jamaica.

The reef is a Spur-and-Grove formation, which means the corals grow along ridges (spurs) and the groves are channels of sand. Spur-and-Grove is a characteristic pattern of shallow reefs, but I don't know why they form that way. My guess is that as corals grow higher, eventually a storm breaks loose some large fragments which begin banging around and destroying other corals. The healthy coral continue growing up, leaving the rubble in a trench that increasingly becomes the danger zone, eventually wearing it down into a sand channel. Considering most of the groves run parallel, it seems like wave action is more important than local topography, and makes this pattern appear on nearly all shallow reefs.

Coral reefs are formed through the slow, patient growth of Stony Corals. The importance of these reefs cannot be understated; they are some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems, but also over eons of time create land. The Florida Keys themselves are the top portions of the reefs from 7,000 years ago, when sea level was higher, and the current living reefs offshore are the breakwater that keeps large ocean waves from destroying the low-lying islands. In Texas, ancient Permian reefs are the backbone of our highest mountains in Guadalupe National Park. Stony corals create these massive landforms by one tiny animal at a time, each grabbing carbon dioxide from the water, combining it with Calcium to form their skeleton. The photo here is of Mountainous Star Coral, one of the more important reef builders in the Caribbean.

But the reef is also critical habitat for many species of fish. Most fish use the reef when they are young, since it provides lots of hiding places. However, some fish, such as this sneaky Spotted Scorpion Fish, live their entire lives on the reef. The Scorpion, along with Stone and Frog fish, use very cryptic coloration to lie in wait for something small to swim in front of them and literally GULP them up!

Every coral reef is visited by a very distinctive type of fish, called Parrotfish. These fish get their name from the fused row of teeth in their powerful jaws, which resembles a bill. Parrotfish have such a powerful CHOMP that they literally take bites out of rock and coral. This Blue Parrotfish is an uncommon fish to see, but he also has the large "bill" for the mouth. The juvenile Blue Parrot looks nothing like this; they are small, slender pale-white fish with a yellow head. The most common to see is the Stoplight Parrotfish, who get their name because they change color from red to green! Parrotfish are also one of the few fishes that are known to sleep, they literally lie down in a quiet place, pull up a mucous-blanket, and dream of algae salad.

I probably don't need to tell you the name of this fish..... that's right, it's a Neon Goby! Oh, you were staring at the Barracuda with the sharp, pointy teeth? Well look closer, near his "eyebrow" is a tiny, neon-blue fish. This barracuda is visiting the reef's equivalent of the dentist, which is known as a "cleaning station". Many large coral & sponge formations are inhabited by a type of Goby or Shrimp that specializes in cleaning gunk and parasites off other fish. The barricuda will sit patiently with his mouth open and let these tiny fish swim in and out to clean their teeth and gills. This strange behavior is a form of symbiotic mutualism; big fish keep healthy and the cleaners get a tasty snack.

Another strange animal found on the reef are Christmas Tree Worms. Somehow they find a way to burrow into coral and make their homes. They extend these modified gills above the surface to catch small particles of food. I really like 'em because they come in such a variety of colors and patterns; why do worms care how pretty they look? They're also very alert to motion or pressure changes, 'cause if you get too close - ZIP - they all yank their Christmas Trees back inside the house and become instantly invisible! Other free-swimming marine worms, like nudibranchs, are so vividly colorful they are like the butterflies of the oceans.

Sponges are another weird animal; really they are a loose colony of animals like a coral, yet they build often complex structures and come in a bewildering variety of shapes, colors, sizes, and textures. Sponges are filter-feeders; they take water in from the sides and slowly expel it from the large opening, catching microscopic bugs to eat. In the center an orange Giant Barrel Sponge, which can grow big enough for me to hide in! The vibrant green branching stuff in the foreground is also a sponge, the Green Finger Sponge. That's another thing I like about sponges, their names are also accurate descriptions -- compare that to stupid fish names, like the Spanish Hogfish above the Barrel Sponge; he doesn't resemble anything like a hog and I've never heard it speak a word of spanish. My favorite coral is behind the Barrel Sponge, it's the Symmetrical Brain Coral. I appreciate the intricate and alien mazes that brain corals make, and they are another important species in reef building. Growing at the right-base of the Barrel sponge is a Split-Rope Sea Rod, and the feathery-duster-looking thing behind it is a Sea Plume -- both being common types of Octocorals. Often these are called soft-corals, but that is incorrect: these guys are Gorgonians (their hair are made of 8 tiny snakes).

Here is another quiz: what fish is this? That's right, it's a remora! (look under the belly of the shark). Surely one of the highlights of the dive were seeing all the large fish, such as the Goliath Grouper, a couple of sleeping Nurse Sharks, and the stingray hiding in the sand (photo is above, flying away). We also saw a pair of Reef Sharks that were actively swimming about. They circled the three of us, but since we didn't act like food, they left us alone. Sharks don't have the best vision, but will often attack swimmers on the surface because they resemble wounded prey. It's probably not advisable to have stinky chum in your pocket either. I also saw 2 large moray eels and a spotted moray, which are always interesting fish to watch.

The absolute highlight of the dive was swimming alongside this very tranquil Hawksbill Sea Turtle! Sea Turtles are now very rare, since people have gone crazy eating adults, eggs, and then "developing" the nesting beaches. They are beautiful animals to watch swim, and are some of the most ancient survivors of evolutionary history -- their design is almost unchanged for over 150 million years. Another thing I like about these friendly beings -- they are the only known predator of stinging jellyfish!

Bye for now!
-- Mangrove Tom