02-09-15 Field Note

02-09-15 Field Note

February 8, 2015

Jeff Clarke's field note shows a coyote, a pair of pine grosbeaks, and ponderosa pines.

Logging, coyote, ponderosa pine bark, prairie smoke

Mike Henning and his crew continue to thin the dense conifer forest near the head of North Draw. They leave ponderosa pines and large Douglasfirs. The understory will benefit from added sunlight and the trees left behind will have more room to grow. A thinned stand is also less susceptible to a crown fire.

The jig-saw puzzle bark of a ponderosa pine protects the tree from fire; as each piece catches fire, it flakes off.

Few ponderosa pine seedlings exist in the Northern Floodplain. This summer the field crew will search out the tiny trees and place a metal exclosure around them.