I posted a message regarding the Thunder trip (sept 21 & 22) to the people
who had responded to my other posts. If you are interested and didn't get
a separate post, let me know and I'll add your name to the list. Below is
a brief description of the trip. Each day will visit different habitats
and explore different aspects of the fire. George
Wooten (botantist/ecologist) will be doing this with me.
Saturday-we'll meet between 9 and 9:30 at 30 mile meadows. There
is a large pull off here and ample evidence of logging trucks so it is
hard to miss. We'll spend a little time in the meadow and then hike down
the trail along 30 mile creek to its junction with Dill Cr. This is a
burned riparian site and has revegetated beautifully this year. I ususally
find three-toed Woodpeckers in this area. From there we will follow the
aspen meadows above 30 mile Cr to the north.These are particularly good
birding sites and also unique because of their influence on the fire. The
upper boundary of the meadows are fringed with old growth Douglas fir.
Towards the top of the ridge is good for both black backs and raptors (we
found a goshawk back there a few weeks ago.We'll swing back to the east
and visit a beautiful wetland in the middle of the high intensity burn
that was only partially burned. Usually a great place to bird and this has
been a western toad site. It's also a marvelous place to look at
revegetation. We'll either stay in the uplands or head back towards 30mile
meadow depending on time at this point.
On Sunday, we'll meet at 30 mile again, but after a bit of birding
and meadow observation proceed north along #39 to the crossing with Dog
Cr. The Dog Cr drainage is the site of the highest burn intensity but, as
you will see, the vegetation response is not uniform. The numerous bogs
and wetland are all coming in very differently and we will try to visit
several of these spots. The trip will follow the riparian area to the
west, branch north along the north fork of Dog Cr, swing up through some
uplands on the north side of the creek, cross the riparian area again and
investigate the uplands on the south side.
I'm intentionaly starting these trips a bit later in the morning
so that people driving from Winthrop (or other points) can have time to
get there. I'd also like to be finishing up close to dark so that we can
do some owling. I've heard great horned, barred and boreal back in the
area.
If you are interested, but can't make this trip let me know. We're
planning on doing this annually and will also be conducting workshops to
explore the natural history in more detail.
Mary Poss
mposs at u.washington.edu