01-07-16 Field Note

01-07-16 Field Note

January 8, 2016

Jeff Clarke's field note shows swans, winter logging, watercress, and a Great-horned owl.

Swans, watercress, logging, beaver activity, great horned owl January 7th, 2016

We recycled 2,200 pounds of metal rubbish gathered in 2015. Barbed wire and mangled metal exclosures filled most of the trailer.

We aren’t sure if wind or animals knocked over this buck and rail fence. We repaired it.

I’ve seen more swans in the Bitterroot this year than ever before.

Loggers started a new thinning project in December. They will remove most smaller conifers that are competing with one another and remove or girdle conifers infected with dwarf mistletoe

The thinned timber will be deposited into the base of draws to help prevent erosion and add new habitat for all kinds of critters.

Last week we watched horses (not the assumed elk and deer) strip the needles from several planted ponderosa pines. They left most terminal buds intact. New buck and rail fences should prevent this from happening in the future.