may 27 Carnation WA

This day consisted once again of being outside in carnation pulling himalayan blackberry on my parents forested plot of land. The forest is a residential subdivision sold off by weyerhaueser after a clearcut in 1985, and was replanted along with the neighboring plots as dense douglas-fir stands, fragmented by old logging roads that are now used residentially, and allow for shrubby pioneering species because the road upkeep insists upon pruning the edges of the road much too far back in my opinion. In these open spaces in the forest caused by the roads is where the blackberry are, and where I spent the first part of the day pulling them. I saw all three types of blackberry: Himalayan, trailing, and evergreen, in order of abundance. The trailing blackberry was much easier to identify today because it was in bloom, and the white 5 pointed flowers are easy to recognize because the individual petals are widely spaced, and skinny, and so do not touch each other. The trailing is also much more likely to be a ground cover rather than a tall shrubby plant. The best thing about it is that it's native, because it would be almost impossible to pull it up by the roots if it were included in the campaign to pull up our invasive species. Another native thorny shrub worth mentioning is the wild black raspberry, which is distinguished from the himalayan blackberry because of its powdery white stems, which can also appear blueish. The evergreen blackberry is less common, and is distinguished by its deeply lobed leaves, that are also typicaly a darker green. Everything else is himalayan blackberry. Interestingly, even though the blackberry is an invasive species, it provides a reliable food source for much of the wildlife, and humans. While pulling it up you have lots of time to ponder why on earth you would be pulling it up. My answer: it smothers everything, including the more preferable native trees, and out-competes native food sources and causes a reduction in biodiversity because of its prevalence.

In these cleared areas for the old logging roads however are most of the shrubby biodiversity and wildflowers. The openness allows for Broad-leaved starflower, false solomans zeal, and a wide range of other rarer species that I haven't yet seen in an area of closed canopy, or any non interrupted forest stand. It is worth noting that many shrubby species like salal, indian plum, thimbleberry, sword fern, etc can be found in the understory of the forest without a road.

Species list:
American goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
steller jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
winter wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
American crow (crovus brachyrhynchos)
rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)
Broad-leaved Starflower
common hawthorne
mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia)
ragwort
dandelion
furry cats ear
buttercup
foxglove
false soloman's zeal
trillium
himalayan blackberry
Trailing blackberry (flowering)
evergreen blackberry
thimbleberry(flowering)
salmonberry(fruiting)
salal
western redcedar (Thuja plicata)
douglas-fir
western hemlock
black cotton wood
Big-leaf maple
bitter cherry (Prunus emarginatus)
garry oak
Grasses
raspberry
Snowberry
Red alder
Elderberry
Indian plum
japanese knotweed
butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii)
vine maple
sword fern
bracken fern
spiny wood fern
huckleberry
hazlenut

Posted on May 28, 2012 11:04 PM by robertmarsh