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 The mosquitoes overall have decreased and in turn have been replaced by a spike in the number of deer flies.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!
Pacific Northwest meets Minnesota 