08-18-15 Field Note

08-18-15 Field Note

August 19, 2015

Jeff Clark's field note details aquatic plant transplants, buck and rail fence construction, pollinators on wild rice, and a moose sighting.

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Moose, aquatic transplants, buck and rail fences, wild rice August 17th, 2015

Last week we built fences around native shrubs in Tongue Creek. Protection from ungulate browse will help the shrubs grow larger and provide better wildlife habitat. Over the next month, the field crew will erect two miles of buck and rail fences like these

We protected these shrubs five years ago. Back then, they looked similar to the shrubs in the previous slide.

I watched this moose traverse the Clubhouse floodplain, gallop over Indian Ridge, drop down into the belly of Tongue Creek and then charge up Mount Baldy.

Over the past few weeks we transplanted several hundred rushes and sedges from the old pond to the new pond. When we finish this project, transplanted aquatic plants will occupy the entire perimeter of the new pond.

We moved bull rush transplants into muddy coves in the southern end of the pond.

The bull rush we transplanted last year has expanded and boasts more than twice the number of shoots.

A turtle balanced on the highest point of its basking log.

The eastern wild rice grass that we planted this spring grew thick and tall along the water’s edge! We will plant more next year.

The thick wild rice grass patch hummed with pollinators; the reed canary grass patch did not.

I almost stepped on a few ponderosa pine seedlings while gazing at the wild rice. It’s doubtful that the ungulates will miss them. We will protect these vulnerable trees soon.

From my observations, spurge hawk moth caterpillar populations were down this year. I found this individual on the lawn. It had a tough time getting airborne.

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