The art of stocking

The last couple of weeks have been busy.  Stocking surveys have largely consumed my life at work.  These surveys are mandated by law for the forest to complete to check on recovery rates.  The Chippewa has always done well in both stocking surveys as well as assisting in the restoration of forests.  Over a million and a half trees are planted each year here!  1.5 million.  1,500,000 baby trees in the ground a year.  We’ve got a pretty darn good survival rate and the Blackduck Ranger District is the proud owner of the tree cooler that houses the trees before transplanting.

Beaver Dam found during a survey

Based on the fun scale with type 1 being fun in the moment, type 2 being fun after the fact, and type 3 never fun- it seems safe to say that stocking surveys are most definitely a type 3 fun.  We keep hoping for a hot and dry streak to kill off some mosquitoes but it’s rained every weekend without fail. Rain often makes an appearance weekday evenings while we sleep.  If nothing else the ticks have slowed down in activity.  The mosquitoes overall have decreased and in turn have been replaced by a spike in the number of deer flies.  It’s the worst when you’re doing a survey where there’s an abundance of both.  Your mosquito net hardly stands a chance against the forces of nature.

Butterfly atop raspberry plants

I was mistaken when I previously stated that we only survey naturally regenerated units.  We do survey planted units but they are few and far between (and a lot easier to survey than natural units).  Fire’s been generous enough to lend their three seasonals to us for a day and were going to help us with more days but the rest of them just received a call today to go West.  One of the fire crew members is already in Washington while the other two and a recreational seasonal will fly out to my home state.  The fires are furious and the land is dry.

Karl (fire crew) heads to the next point

Zack, Jarrod, and I have been trucking along with stocking surveys as they have an August deadline of when all the data needs to be collected and then entered onto the computer.  We’re more than halfway through but it seems like an eternity before we finish the last few dozen units.  The ground we trek through has oftentimes been marshy and unpleasant, resulting in many days with soaked boots.  Luckily timber supervisor Corey ordered several boot dryers for the bunkhouse which have been lifesavers.

Typical sight

During all of this I’ve been lucky enough to utilize a smidgen of GIS technology to create the maps for the points as well as to locate the units.  Turns out the predetermined points within a unit actually follow a formula based on acres to determine how many points are within a unit.  Also as map maker I place the points in as random a fashion as possible.  None of the GIS is complicated but I’m extremely excited to have been on ArcMap this summer.

An example map of a sale. More detailed maps of each unit were made in addition to the overall map.

Raspberries for days

A well deserved snack

Although the going is tough, the wild berries almost make the task worth it.  Like many northern states, Minnesota is home to an abundance of raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries.  Wild berries tend to be on the smaller side than their farmed counterparts and that’s especially true of strawberries.  I’ve seen some decent blueberries that could almost rival farmed varieties though.  I’ve even been introduced to berries I’ve never heard of before like June berries.  A quick hand grabs a berry or two as we hike and slips it under the mosquito net, hoping that mosquitoes didn’t follow that hand.  There’s not a lot that can panic me more on a survey than a mosquito buzzing in the space between the net and my face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through the course of stocking surveys we’ve encountered all sorts of terrain.  True most of it is swampy but occasionally we get dry land or strange marshes.  Once in awhile Zack and I have even encountered a hill.  Elevation’s a rare beast here and it’s always exciting for us two folks from the West.  We joke that we’ve Minnesota based jumped when I accidentally dropped two feet into a dip.

Zack leads on during a rainy day

Aspens are overwhelmingly the majority of saplings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick recap of how stocking surveys are done-
1) drive as close to site as highways and forest roads allow
2) hike in, try to stay dry (never works)
3)usually start at furthest point and work our way back towards the truck
4)one person runs a 11.8 feet circle plot while the other records
5)note saplings’ height and DBH (diameter at breast height)
6)shoot large trees with a 10-basal area factor prism
7)measure DBH of ‘in’ trees and height (using a clinometer)
8)move on to next point and repeat

11.8 feet out

Measuring DBH

 

Timber’s aiming to slam the rest of the surveys and finish in about a week, two at the maximum.  After that a significant amount of data entry awaits us.  Zack’s been entering the data we compile from the field into a program called examsPC but I’ll be left with the FACTS data entry that results from that.  It’s far from exciting work but necessary in resource management within a forest.

 

 

 

 

Wild strawberry!

 

Fire snippet

It’s strange hearing about home from an outsider’s perspective.  On Thursdays the Blackduck Ranger District has a morning meeting that includes all the staff working out of our office.  During the meeting our fire coordinator announced that a crew from Minnesota was being sent out and that one of his boys would most likely be activated.  Partway through he left to answer a call and informed us that there are two hand crews from Minnesota being sent West to Oregon/Washington for assistance in fighting wildfires.  One of our seasonals will be going.  He’ll probably fly into Central Washington since the major fire is just north of Leavensworth. 

We have two other seasonals in our district as well as a crew boss who are all anxiously awaiting a national call.  The likelihood of a wildfire starting in Minnesota, especially this summer, is extremely slim since the state stays fairly wet all season.  Add out of place storms every other week and Minnesota can breathe easily.  For many folks who fight fire, a significant part of of their income for the season comes from responding to fires.  Those who can travel are placed on a national list and there’s a system involving factors like experience and pertinent skills that decides who gets sent out when the call is made.  I’ve got a few friends working fire in Washington and would be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious.  With over 800 firefighters already on scene I don’t doubt that they’re part of the action.  Central and Eastern Washington is on high alert now that summer is in full swing.

Dirt Don’t Hurt

Conservation is a huge part of my life- it’s both my passion and how I got to where I am today.  It would be an understatement to say that the conservation life is a large part of who I’ve become as well. 

It’s hard to say when it all began.  There isn’t a date or event where I could tell you when my obsession for the outdoors began.  Born to parents who are city folks, it’s a mystery to some that I would rather spend the summer outdoors and under the stars rather staying in Seattle.  An unknown force pulls at my heartstrings when I see evergreen trees and snow capped mountains, knowing that the most wonderful of days await me.  It goes without saying that those wild and free days are typically accompanied by the best people I’ll ever meet. 

Winter retreat YESC

Yellowstone with YESC 2009

In high school I was part of a club called Earthcorps.  We recycled cans and bottles within the school and had a partnership with the YMCA Earth Service Corps (YESC) who held monthly service projects around King County.  YESC was my gateway to the conservation world and exposed teenage me to all sorts of adventures that I never would’ve had otherwise.  With seasonal retreats, service projects, and summer trips I fell deeper in love with nature and the bounties it promised. 

 

 

 

Outward Bound 2007

Through YESC I was able to go on a multi-week Outward Bound white water rafting trip with a crew of other teens in the majestic brilliant Southwest.  We lost track of time, rising when the sun did and sleeping when night fell.  The desert sky held the most stars I have ever seen to this day.  Days were spent paddling and the meals we cooked each evening were out of this world.  Outward Bound might’ve been my first experience in meeting folks that I might never see again but would be happy to share a meal with any time. 

YESC introduced me to one of my favourite activities: trail work.  It’s the building and maintaining of trails and one summer they teamed up with the Washington Trails Association (WTA, check them out at www.wta.org !) for a youth volunteer vacation.  A crew of capable young women, YESC/YMCA staff, and a couple of WTA leaders equated to a fantastic week in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  We worked just North of Mount St. Helens, brushing and restoring tread on a trail that hadn’t received much love in years.  Although I’ve used various hand tools before I met the Pulaski for the first time as well was the McLeod (the value of which I would learn years later).  The work we got done was incredibly empowering.  And again the meals were always solid- there’s something about dinners after a day of doing work outside, knowing that you had a cozy tent waiting.  I’ve yet to had a terrible meal when camping. 

WTA camp 2009

WTA with YESC 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Canyon, SCA ASB 2010

Satellite Nursery, SCA ASB 2010

 Time passed and I was on my way to wrapping up my associates degree fall 2010 without much direction.  The only thing for certain was that I didn’t want to transfer to a university right away.  It was summer of 2010 and previously in March I had gone on an alternative spring break trip with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) to the Grand Canyon where 30 college students from around the United States did service projects instead of partying in the tropics.  There’s nothing like sleeping below the sky, frozen by the yipping howl of coyotes and the knowledge that cougars circled the campgrounds at night.  Fact because you went to a presentation by a ranger who had solid data from a tracking collar.  This was yet another instance in which friends that you might only ever see once came about. 

 

SCA NH: Learning what it means to actually snow

Murder mystery in the lodge; photo credit to Emily Lord

My friend Lauren gave me the obvious answer to my question of what to do post community college.  “Why don’t you get an internship with SCA?” and so I ended up in New Hampshire for 10 months in the middle of a state park with 30 or so other folks in their 20s (two of us were 19 at the start).  SCA New Hampshire Corps has been an a major player in the decisions I’ve made the last few years.  About four months of environmental education in local elementary schools with six months of down and dirty conservation work and I was as happy as could be.  

 

SCA NH: Jeremy Burns taking inventory of tools

 I’ve been lucky enough to see some of the folks I befriended in New Hampshire again, some several times.  Others I’ve yet to meet up in the three years since we split but I’m positive we’ll meet up one day.  SCA NH has also introduced me to many other people in the conservation world and likewise I’ve met people who have been impacted by the corps life.  Corps life is one that can never be fully explained because it is happiness, madness, and so much more. This year two of my fellow corps members from NH Corps have started their own corps in Tennessee.  The Great Smoky Mountains to be precise!  Sean and Heather are living the dream and continuing SCA’s legacy on youth and could really use some help in making their first season a success.  Check out Smoky Mountain Corps to support what is already a great endeavour.  You can also learn more about them on their Facebook page and read about how they’ll be impacting crews of young folks and the communities that they are connected to.

 

 

 

SCA NH: Sill bridge built in the White Mountains NF; photo credit to Emily Cook

Four 10s

10 hour days, four days a week.  A typical day in the Chippewa National Forest goes from 0600 to 1630 with a 30-minute lunch break somewhere around noon.  Mornings are generally a little rough as I’ve yet to get my 2130 bedtime down but the three-day weekends more than make up for it.  With Friday-Sunday of every week off I have the potential to explore Minnesota and honestly get a lot of sleeping in.  As with past internships I’m without a car so anything further than walking or biking distance is reliant on the other seasonals who are all generous fellas. 

Office days are messy days

I’m mostly working with the timber division this summer but I’ll have the opportunity to learn about other crews within the Blackduck Ranger District (RD).  Our office, which is shared with Minnesota’s DNR, is located on the west side of town right off Highway 71.  A little over two dozen folks work out of the Blackduck RD while less than 800 people inhabit the town.

Washed out culvert delays timber cruising

Timber cruising is the act of collecting field data on the volume and values of trees within a sale unit.  I’ll try not to go into too much detail but there are multiple ways to mark a sale.  One major plan is to mark trees to be cut and another is to mark trees to leave.  Our crew marks sample trees that qualify to be cut within a plot.  From plot center we use a cruising prism with a 10 basal area factor (10 square feet/acre) that determines whether or not a tree is “in”.  You look through the prism with one eye closed to check each individual tree.  Trees are “in” when the offset segment is still connected to the tree as shown below.   “In” trees are marked with a dot of spray paint so we don’t have to commit each tree to memory. 

Some tools of the trade.  The bottle measures 4.3″ in diameter

Marked trees are measured with a diameter tape at breast height (DBH) which is standardized at 4.5 feet above the ground.  The diameter tape has two sides- one is regular measurements of inches and feet while the other is in elongated inches(increments are 1/10th of an inch) that allows the tape to be wrapped around the tree at DBH to get its diameter. 

Jarrod uses a clinometer

We then measure height by standing 33 feet from the tree and using a clinometer which is a nifty sighting tool.  The number we get needs to be divided in half since our clinometer is meant for a distance of 66  feet (66 feet=1 chain) away but in these woods underbrush keeps the sight distance from getting far.  Clinometers are used with both eyes open- one eye with the clinometer right up to it and the other to see tree base and top.  Once finished recording tree species, height, DBH, and any deformities we move on to the next plot and repeat.

Zack in cruising gear

However due to various factors like the insane amount of mosquitoes (heightened because of the unseasonal storms) and frustrating underbrush like hazel, most of the cruising in the Blackduck RD is done either in the spring or fall/winter.  Our supervisor Corey is said to be a machine in the winter and gets through plots like none other.  He’s of the belief that cruising in the summer has a lower quality of records since workers tend to rush through measurements in an attempt to escape the bugs, which I whole heartedly support. 

Since there’s not a lot cruising going on most of our summer will be focused on stocking surveys.  In the forest folks return to sites that have been harvested at one, three, and five-year intervals to record how recovery is going.  There are predetermined points within a plot and the number of points is determined by the size of the plot.  From plot center someone runs out 11’8″ of tape (=1/100th of an acre) and records all the saplings within that span.  Saplings are corded at 0 inch diameter, 0.5 inch diameter, and so on up to 4 inches.  Anything beyond 4 inches in diameter is no longer considered a sapling.  When finished recording saplings, a prism is used to determine “in” trees and those are noted as well. It’s of utmost importance to record latitude and longitude for future reference in addition to using GPS units.  These are plots that have NOT been planted and have regenerated naturally.  The amount of greenery in these plots have been astonishing to me. 

Carhartts dry faster than you think

On the side we’ve also done a few stake rows which take place in planted sites.  With a GPS you head out to a plot looking for specific species and flag 10 of each.  Save the location on the GPS for each species about the middle of the 10 flags.  Species we’re typically looking for are white pine, jack pine, red pine, white spruce, black spruce, tamarack, among several others.  Crews in the future will use the GPS to refer back to the points and check on the conditions of the planted trees. 

Stake rows

My uniform consists of boots, Carhartts, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, timber cruising vest, hard hat, and most importantly a mosquito net.  We’ve been fortunate enough to have windy days that kept the bugs at bay but the mosquito nets might be the only thing saving my sanity at times.  I recently received forest service approved pants and a polo but they feel a lot more office-y than field apparel.  The next upcoming weeks we’ll be cranking out stocking surveys as they’re due late August and most of the seasonals depart around mid-August for college.  Here’s to good weather, less mosquitoes, and tick free days. 

 

Nice try ya little blood sucker

Where’s Home?

The question is asked of me more often than not.  Living in areas where the population tends to be a homogenous group usually prompts people to wonder about origin.  My automatic answer is Washington.  However I’m of the belief that home can be more than one place.

Home is without a doubt the mountain rich lands of the Northwest with its evergreen forests and enchanting rivers.  It’s also the idyllic woods of New Hampshire in a restored CCC camp, a house right by a Rhode Island pond, and currently the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota.  My work leads me to new places and so I am uprooted, only to leave part of myself when the time comes to leave yet again.  In the fall it’ll be Bellingham for the third time.   

Memories ranging in emotions and feelings are created in all these places.  They are forever etched into my heart.  At times I’ve both lost myself and found who I am, forever building on my identity.  I meet amazing folks and our paths go separate ways but it’s when I least expect it that they might just cross again.  Life is a constant adventure filled with surprises. 

Flying into Minneapolis

With every bagged packed, flight flown, and road trip taken the phrase ‘home is where the heart is’ becomes even more true.  Although I automatically think of the bunkhouse when I hear the word ‘home’ while living in Minnesota I know that one day when the seasonal/nomadic life becomes tiresome (a possibility I have a hard time considering), in the end Washington is where I belong.  I can’t fathom not being surrounded by the Cascades and the Olympics with the Salish Sea always within walking or biking distance.  Western red cedars rise majestically while Douglas fir makes up much of our forests.  The steppes, deserts, and grasslands East of the Cascades are gorgeous in their own rights.  The weather is temperate and the summers are beyond spectacular.  These are a few of the many reasons why my heart belongs in Washington. 

Three and a half weeks in the Land of 10,000 Lakes and I’m feeling fairly settled in.  My pal E. Cook even hooked me up with a sweet birthday gift to help with the transition. 

Care package makes my (birth)day

Minnesota nice is an accurate term as the people here are good and kind.  Everyone in the office and bunkhouse has been grand to work or live with. 

Spectacular sunsets

The Bunkhouse!

While I call Minnesota home I’ll be sporadically blogging about working for the US Forest Service as a pathways intern (timber).  Writing’s never been my strong suit so expect more pictures than words once I figure that out.  I also really enjoy snail mail shoot me a message if you would like my address.  Additionally this is my first summer not with the SCA in three years.  If you’re looking for a road trip take note- 4 out of 6 folks will be leaving the bunkhouse mid-August and I’ll be here until mid-September so it’ll be pretty quiet.  Feel free to visit!