Journal Entry #3 - April 12, 2012
Union Bay Natural Area – UW Campus Seattle
Weather: cloud cover, light drizzles of rain, windy, cold.
Soil conditions: wetland area.
This area is managed bv the UW Botanic Gardens and serves as an outdoor research laboratory with the goals of “maintaining and enhancing plants, wildlife, and landscape values.” A public wildlife area and natural restoration area that is home for many bird species, this site is off Lake Washington and offers important habitat in this urban area of Seattle. The presence of plants noted: Queen Anne’s lace, Common cattails, crabapple trees, and willows; presence of animals noted: mergansers, ducks, geese, and several unidentified songbird species.
April 22, 2012
Wallace Falls State Park – Gold Bar, WA
Weather: Minimal cloud cover, extremely sunny weather, hot and slightly humid.
Soil conditions: wet and dry soil, presence of rocks noted along all trail areas and within forest.
Upon arriving to Wallace Falls State Park, we took the trail leading to Wallace Lake. We arrived in the early afternoon and the sun was set high in the sky, which made for very hot hikers. The trail was dominated by the presence of very large secondary growth trees comprised mostly of Douglas Firs and Red Cedars. In the understory, the presence of salal, huckleberry, salmonberry, and sword ferns was noted. Sword ferns dominated the slopes of the mountain and along riparian zones. Although it was extremely hot, there wasn’t much sunlight and mostly filtered sunlight passed through the canopy and made ideal conditions for lichen, moss, and fungi to colonize. As we ascended in elevation, the presence of dull Oregon grape was noted and I made an interesting observation in patches of skunk cabbage just off the trail. The presence of moss over much of the tree limbs, branches, and stumps was noted and small, yellow, unidentified flowers were noted in shaded areas – usually at the base of trees. As we began to take more frequent breaks along out 10-12 mile hike, I noted the presence of fungi – some mushrooms in decomposing logs, and yellow brain fungus on downed branches. When we reached Wallace Lake, the presence of skunk cabbage was observed in abundance in patches along the lake in inundates areas along the water’s edge. Although I heard many birds, I sadly did not see any – except in fleeting moments. On the hike back, as it was getting dark and we wanted to hurry, we blasted some music from our iPod and some of the birds seemed to enjoy and sing along. Pretty cool! Also, something interesting to note was the geological formations along riparian zones and river’s edge. The soil conditions were extremely rocky in some places, and I noticed rocks grown into the roots of downed/dead trees. The forest appeared to be very productive and home to many species, although clearly dominated by – Alders, Firs, salal, salmonberry, huckleberry, dull Oregon grape, and sword ferns.
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