September 2019 Field Notes and Field Crew Restoration Efforts

Hollyhocks, biomass collection, hypo-hatchet, scat, tussock moth, land slide

The crew ventured up the Blackfoot Valley to collect hollyhock seeds

We collected seeds for the day and returned with this beautiful bounty.

The old burn was teeming with wildlife. We crossed bear, elk, deer, and fox tracks

Back on the ranch, there was a massive landslide along the riverside cliffs.

The crew collected vegetation, counted ungulate pellets, and recorded vegetation height

I sat next to this ground squirrel burrow for lunch one day.

Last week, every draw I ventured through was littered with broken berry bush limbs and bear scat.

Earlier this year, every coyote scat was filled with grasshoppers.

Plentiful September rains encouraged mushroom growth everywhere.

A yellow spotted tiger tussock moth caterpillar devoured the last choke cherry leaves before they fell.

Annual sunflowers added color to a drab landscape.

Wild rice continued to feed wood ducks and mallards in the Clubhouse Pond.

We’ve had a wonderful crew of landscapers on the ranch all summer