Pack Forest 3/31/12

Coordinates: Lat. 46.8389367746
Lon. -122.2951426191

Weather: 40 degrees F. Despite completely overcast skies, it is not raining. The threat looms, but we stay dry for the entirety of our time outside. In the forest there is no wind.

First walk: approx. 11am-12pm--
Pack forest is easily distinguishable as a second growth forest dominated by tall and skinny Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). The trees are mostly uniform, indicating that they all probably were planted or began growing around the same time. Thanks to the trees' incredible height and the concentration of their branches at the very tops of the trunks, there is quite a bit of light that streams onto the forest floor. The forest, especially the area closest to the cabins feels split--the canopy is very high and the forest floor is springing into life with new green buds, while the middle (eye-level) is comparatively empty. Is this characteristic of a young forest? Many of the eye-level deciduous shrubs have yet to leaf out, except for the Indian Plum (Oemleria) which is the main contributor to the soft/bright green color of the forest. Little leaves are really exploding out of the Indian Plum branches and many white drooping flowers accompany these leaves, though not on all the plants.
As we continue slightly deeper into the forest ,the floor becomes very damp, actually run over with tiny streams of water that turn the earth to mud. In this section the trees are predominately Red Alders (Alnus rubra). There are many fallen trees, perhaps left from the winter's harsh winds and snow. It could be that the ground is too soggy here to support the roots. Why is it that alders grow in marshy areas like this as opposed to conifers? Does it have to do with the nutrient-content of the soil?
Some of the downed trees (especially conifers) display 3m tall root balls that are covered in plants growing up and around them. We learn that winter wrens often build nests in such root balls, and indeed after I stare at one for a few minutes and tiny brown bird emerges from a whole at the bottom, bouncing off into the ferns surrounding the root ball. Winter wrens have a very impressive song, consisting of over 200 notes!
The tiny streams are lined by Fringe Cups (Tellima grandiflora).

Second Walk: approx. 1-2:30pm--
I should note that the lichen here is impossible to ignore. It truly takes over the forest, I have many photographs displaying the many-colored shag the trees are wearing. In other forests, perhaps at lower altitudes, I have noticed huge quantities of moss, but here it is particularly lichen that grabs the attention. During this walk, we follow an old logging road that starts next to a field and continues back to meet up with the forest path from our previous walk. The road is lined with an alder stand, but once again many of the trees and their long branches have been downed, creating a jungle of low, lichen-covered branches. The ground is thickly covered in decomposing leaves with small shoots of delicate green emerging every few centimeters. Rustling among the leaves, we find a Long-Tailed vole with tiny black beads for eyes. It hardly notices our presence even as we lean in with our cameras to photograph it. It appears to be chewing on a few leaves, including Fringe Cup, and doesn't run away until he comes in contact with my knee and shuffles away into the underbrush.

Species List:

Trees--
Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
Red Alder (Alnus rubra)
Big-leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)

Shrubs--
Indian Plum/Osa Berry (Oemleria cerasiformis)
Scot's Broom (Cytisus scoparius)
Red Currant (Ribes sanguineum)
Snow Berry (Symphoricarpos albus)
Himalayan Blackberry (Rubus discolor)
Salmon Berry (Rubus spectabilils)
Trailing Blackberry (Rubus ursinus)
Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum)
Oregon Grape (Mahonia nervosa and Berberis aquifolium)
Salal (Gaultheria shallon)

Ground covering plants--
Fringe Cups (Tellima grandiflora)
Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria vesca)
Licorice Fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza)
Horse Tail (Equisetum hyemale)
Herb Robert/Stinky Bob (Geranium robertianum)
Sweet Colt's Foot (Petasites frigidus)

Fungi--
Early Morel (Verpa bohemica)

Vertebrates--
Long-tailed Vole (Microtus longicaudus
American Robin (Turdus Migratorius)

Publicado el abril 30, 2012 12:30 MAÑANA por jesscubb jesscubb

Observaciones

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Tellima de Flor Grande (Tellima grandiflora)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Marzo 31, 2012

Descripción

For more on Pack Forest and context of walk, see daily account for 3/31. These fringe cups were dispersed in the densest and wettest parts of the under-story, but also in lighter more open areas along an over-grown mining road. The plants in the more open areas were consistently lighter green, unfortunately I don't have a a photo for comparison, but they were without the purple veins visible in this photo. Perhaps they were younger plants? How does the amount of direct sunlight effect the coloration of fringe cups?

Fotos / Sonidos

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Marzo 31, 2012

Descripción

For more on Pack Forest and context of walk, see daily account for 3/31. On an exposed hillside above the grassy field at Pack Forest, a stand of dried, dead looking shrubs were covered in these strange growths. There were no distinguishable leaves or buds on the plants- they were approximately four feet tall, but many had fallen. I was attracted to the small growths (approx 1 inch in diameter) because I first thought it was a seed pod or something that would help me distinguish the plant. They were soaking wet, perhaps it is a disease that wiped out this stand of shrubs?

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Zarza del Salmon (Rubus spectabilis)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Marzo 31, 2012

Descripción

For more on Pack Forest and context of walk, see daily account for 3/31. Many salmon berry plants provided some of the only bright color in Pack Forest on Saturday. Leaves are very small yet, bright green bursts accompanied only by a few flowers per bush. The shrubs are generally 4-5ft tall, but somewhat sprawling, and certainly not uniform. Growing both under dense canopy, but also in wide-open areas.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Metoritos (Género Microtus)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Marzo 31, 2012

Descripción

For more on Pack Forest and context of walk, see daily account for 3/31. This little one was sniffing around in a pile of fallen branches and leaves along the old mining road. I couldn't get a photo of his/her face, which had a short stout nose and very tiny black eyes surrounded by a fan of whiskers. It was unclear whether the vole could see or sense us at all, even with 5 cameras within inches of his/her body he didn't run away! He seemed to be nibbling on the green leaves at the top of this picture. Herb Robert? I was surprised at his bravery, I wonder if he's ever encountered humans before. Upon coming within centimeters of my knee, the vole finally ran away into the brush.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Helecho de Regaliz (Polypodium glycyrrhiza)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Marzo 31, 2012

Descripción

For more on Pack Forest and context of walk, see daily account for 3/31. Growing high and low on the varied trees of pack forest, licorice fern is distinct from some other ferns for the way each leaflet originates separately- not from a center the way sword or deer fern does. Roots are supposed to taste sweet like licorice, though I didn't venture to taste any.

Fotos / Sonidos

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Marzo 31, 2012

Descripción

For more on Pack Forest and context of walk, see daily account for 3/31. On the over-grown mining road a couple of these early morels were growing in the open right out of the very wet grass and decaying leaves. Photographed is the largest of the bunch at 3 inches tall, all 3 of them growing within a 10 ft radius

Fotos / Sonidos

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Marzo 31, 2012

Descripción

For more on Pack Forest and context of walk, see daily account for 3/31. There was a whole stand of these flowers growing in a mushy grassy area along the old road. Long triangle shaped leaves were growing out of the same stems as the flowers, but surrounding the flowers were 5-segmented deeply toothed leaves. I couldn't tell if the leaves were of the same plant, they were growing in the same dense area, and around the same height, but didn't actually appear connected to the flower stems.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Carpintero Pecho Rojo (Sphyrapicus ruber)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Marzo 31, 2012

Descripción

For more on Pack Forest and context of walk, see daily account for 3/31. These sap-sucker holes were in a budding big leaf maple in quite direct sunlight.

Fotos / Sonidos

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Marzo 31, 2012

Descripción

For more on Pack Forest and context of walk, see daily account for 3/31. Many of these were hanging from the alders in an open section of pack forest. Competing for space against the other lichens that completely cover the trunks and branches of the deciduous trees, these spread downward instead of outward along the branch.

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