One of the absolute best weekends ever! I went to Montana to play in a tournament with some awesome people (the Flycoons). There is way to much awesomeness to write about here (my computer may crash, your computer may crash, this website may crash, or some strange combination of the three if I put it all into words). Let's just say I was shown an excellent time and feel like I have twenty new friends.
Word of the weekend: Awkweird
Product of the weekend: George Dickel Whiskey
Resultant quote of the weekend: "A little Dickel do her."
People of the weekend: Lampshade, Hugh, A-Lo, and JR
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
5.20.09
In the morning we ate breakfast, drank black coffee (so naturally I felt like a badass), continued sampling for a couple of hours and picked up the copious amounts of trash around the lake (unfortunatley most was fishing related). Ian caught one steelhead, while the rest of us were left wanting.
What did we find? Basically, bass are on the rise and steelhead are falling. Boo. Options? Possiblity of getting more fishermen to fish out the bass and/or gill net for bass, and restock the steelhead. There are, however, downsides to stocking wilderness lakes with fish that were never naturally there. It adds more visitor pressure to the area and changes things from "pristine" to disturbed. There are also ecosystem shifts that result that are still poorly understood.
I do not remember what went on after we packed up and hiked out. The rest of the day paled in comparison to the trip to the lake!
What did we find? Basically, bass are on the rise and steelhead are falling. Boo. Options? Possiblity of getting more fishermen to fish out the bass and/or gill net for bass, and restock the steelhead. There are, however, downsides to stocking wilderness lakes with fish that were never naturally there. It adds more visitor pressure to the area and changes things from "pristine" to disturbed. There are also ecosystem shifts that result that are still poorly understood.
I do not remember what went on after we packed up and hiked out. The rest of the day paled in comparison to the trip to the lake!
5.19.09
Time to play catch up...
Today was the beginning of the two best days of "work" ever.
First, we did some Port Orford Cedar surveying. Port Orford Cedars have recently (in the lsat couple of decades) been deccimated by a root disease caused by a fungal pathogen. Recently, a resistant strain of POC was found and an experiment was set up to see just how resistant they are. So we surveyed a couple of hundred trees on several treatment plots to see which trees have survived or perished since they were planted by volunteers a year ago.
Then, four of us from the Forest Service and one guy from ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) hiked into Babyfoot Lake to do some fish "monitoring." An explanation of the quotes to come... Babyfoot is a mountain lake located in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, west of Cave Junction. The Kalmiopsis was engulfed by the Biscuit Fire back in 2002, so it is just starting to rebound from that disturbance and there are thousands of standing dead pine (pictured below) that eerily hung over us for the easyish mile and a half hike in. Babyfoot is (I believe) the only stocked lake in the Kalmiopsis. It was stocked with steelhead several years ago by the local chapter of the Steelheaders Club. These members (the youngest of which is something like 48 years old, but most being in their sixties) carried one year old smolts in five gallon buckets full of water and ice strapped to their chests all the way to the lake. Ian told me that one stocking year there was a foot of snow on the trail and another was swelteringly hot. Impressive. Anyway, sometime recently someone took it upon themselves to bring largemouth bass into the lake the same way and do a little stocking of their own. Unfortunately, the bass can outcompete the steelhead and also predate upon them, so dramatically decrease the steelhead population.
We came to the lake to deduce some things about the status of the two fish populations, to see if the bass population is increasing or decreasing and if it may need to be eradicated, and to see if it would be wise to further stock the lake with steelhead. Luckily, our sampling method consisted of fishing with rod and reel. We arrived at the lake around 5:00 pm, set up camp, and began sampling for the next three hours. Much to the two girls' chagrin, Ian and I were the only ones who caught anything. Ian caught one steelhead while I caught one steelhead and seven bass. The steelhead were recorded and, of course, released. The bass were kept, filleted, cooked in flour and butter, and eaten. Steve (the ODFW guy) brought all manner of goodness to eat as well. He brought a fillet of salmon, a hunk of elk, and some cheap corned beef hash (all of which was cooked over the fire). The bass may have actually been the best of all, but it was all awesomely delicious and an excellent way to finish an excellent day.
Today was the beginning of the two best days of "work" ever.
First, we did some Port Orford Cedar surveying. Port Orford Cedars have recently (in the lsat couple of decades) been deccimated by a root disease caused by a fungal pathogen. Recently, a resistant strain of POC was found and an experiment was set up to see just how resistant they are. So we surveyed a couple of hundred trees on several treatment plots to see which trees have survived or perished since they were planted by volunteers a year ago.
Then, four of us from the Forest Service and one guy from ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) hiked into Babyfoot Lake to do some fish "monitoring." An explanation of the quotes to come... Babyfoot is a mountain lake located in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, west of Cave Junction. The Kalmiopsis was engulfed by the Biscuit Fire back in 2002, so it is just starting to rebound from that disturbance and there are thousands of standing dead pine (pictured below) that eerily hung over us for the easyish mile and a half hike in. Babyfoot is (I believe) the only stocked lake in the Kalmiopsis. It was stocked with steelhead several years ago by the local chapter of the Steelheaders Club. These members (the youngest of which is something like 48 years old, but most being in their sixties) carried one year old smolts in five gallon buckets full of water and ice strapped to their chests all the way to the lake. Ian told me that one stocking year there was a foot of snow on the trail and another was swelteringly hot. Impressive. Anyway, sometime recently someone took it upon themselves to bring largemouth bass into the lake the same way and do a little stocking of their own. Unfortunately, the bass can outcompete the steelhead and also predate upon them, so dramatically decrease the steelhead population.
We came to the lake to deduce some things about the status of the two fish populations, to see if the bass population is increasing or decreasing and if it may need to be eradicated, and to see if it would be wise to further stock the lake with steelhead. Luckily, our sampling method consisted of fishing with rod and reel. We arrived at the lake around 5:00 pm, set up camp, and began sampling for the next three hours. Much to the two girls' chagrin, Ian and I were the only ones who caught anything. Ian caught one steelhead while I caught one steelhead and seven bass. The steelhead were recorded and, of course, released. The bass were kept, filleted, cooked in flour and butter, and eaten. Steve (the ODFW guy) brought all manner of goodness to eat as well. He brought a fillet of salmon, a hunk of elk, and some cheap corned beef hash (all of which was cooked over the fire). The bass may have actually been the best of all, but it was all awesomely delicious and an excellent way to finish an excellent day.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
5.14.09
It was a long day.
8:00 am: Arrive at work full of zest, wit, and my general good nature. Computer work (GIS) ensues.
11:30 am: Go home for a delicious lunch. I am a culinary god.
12:15 pm: Leave for Central Point (near Medford) for another gravel mining meeting.
12:55 pm: Arrive in Central Point too late. No chance to get pre-meeting coffee. I play tiny violin.
1:00 pm: Meeting begins. Boredom skyrockets.
4:00 pm: Meeting ends. Time seems to have flown by... backwards. Ian dilly-dallies.
4:30 pm: Four of us cram into Ian's Toyota Tacoma and drive an hour and a half north to Roseburg for the Jefferson Society Fish Meeting.
6:00 pm: We arrive at the Chinese restaurant where the meeting is being held. The only Asian in the building is with us.
6:01 pm: I order a beer.
6:30 pm: Meeting begins. An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fish biologist gives a good talk about salmonids in the Umpqua River system while we eat "Chinese" food and drink beer.
8:30 pm: Meeting ends and a group of us head to McMenamins (a cool pub chain).
9:30 pm: We head south.
9:45 pm: I fall asleep in the car.
11:15 pm: We arrive in Central Point.
12:00 am (5.15.09): We arrive back at the ranger station.
8:00 am: Arrive at work full of zest, wit, and my general good nature.
8:00 am: Arrive at work full of zest, wit, and my general good nature. Computer work (GIS) ensues.
11:30 am: Go home for a delicious lunch. I am a culinary god.
12:15 pm: Leave for Central Point (near Medford) for another gravel mining meeting.
12:55 pm: Arrive in Central Point too late. No chance to get pre-meeting coffee. I play tiny violin.
1:00 pm: Meeting begins. Boredom skyrockets.
4:00 pm: Meeting ends. Time seems to have flown by... backwards. Ian dilly-dallies.
4:30 pm: Four of us cram into Ian's Toyota Tacoma and drive an hour and a half north to Roseburg for the Jefferson Society Fish Meeting.
6:00 pm: We arrive at the Chinese restaurant where the meeting is being held. The only Asian in the building is with us.
6:01 pm: I order a beer.
6:30 pm: Meeting begins. An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fish biologist gives a good talk about salmonids in the Umpqua River system while we eat "Chinese" food and drink beer.
8:30 pm: Meeting ends and a group of us head to McMenamins (a cool pub chain).
9:30 pm: We head south.
9:45 pm: I fall asleep in the car.
11:15 pm: We arrive in Central Point.
12:00 am (5.15.09): We arrive back at the ranger station.
8:00 am: Arrive at work full of zest, wit, and my general good nature.
Friday, May 15, 2009
5.13.09
Today, we got to go post fishing regulation signs around Applegate Lake, so I got a chance to see parts that I hadn't yet seen. I also got to go up to the smaller Squaw Lakes to post some signs and check out the area. These little lakes were pretty cool and seemed like they had some neat campsites (walk-in and, I think, free). We then went to look for snags (dead trees) again. I have been really enjoying the chance to see the area and driving the network of forest roads. Today was no exception. I got to drive some really bad roads and have been practicing my 4-wheel-drive skills in this big Forest Service truck. I actually really like the technical aspect of driving over ruts, cobbles, and large rocks and getting to feel like I am somewhere nobody has been in a long time. The country is beautiful, but you can really see that this area was flattened for timber in the recent past. The result of this is the Forest Service feeling like they need to thin the understory for their "fuels reduction" program or, as I like to refer to it, "the great fire scare." Unfortunately, I've noticed that this has caused the following effect: a monoculture. Okay, not really a monoculture, but close. What they are keeping is the overstory; the second-growth trees that have grown since the timber industry left or that have survived the timber industry. This translates to mostly Pine and Fir species. What's removed are the hardwoods (Madrone and oaks) and shrubs that are trying to establish themselves. I understand the need to reduce the risk of fire and that this understory is the main way fire spreads, but in doing so, the Forest Service seems to be reducing the chance for forest diversity which seems pretty important to me. Hopefully I will learn more about this along the way and maybe be able to form a more concrete opinion.
Pretty good day.
Pretty good day.
5.12.09
Boring day today. More office work, organization, and reading. The highlight of the day was going to Medford to pick up our "rig" at the Forest Service mechanic. I got to go by myself and it was nice to get away from the office (and the other intern for awhile).
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