May 12, 2012

Location: Riparian Zone, NFD 6021 Rd, Sultan, Washington.

Coordinates: 47.835338, -121.658149

Weather: It was a very sunny day with little wind and no cloud cover. It was morning when we got to this area, so it was only about 52 degrees Fahrenheit. The lighting was great and it was an excellent day to be out looking around.

Habitat: Riparian means that it's an area by a river, so the ground was fairly sandy in the area near the river itself. The forest was thick, but the area receives less rainfall than areas up the road, so there wasn't much moss growing on the trees. The forest was mostly deciduous and it was a great place for birds with all the fish that must have been in the nearby river, the verdant plant life, and all of the insects. The forest contained both native and invasive species and there were plenty of insects out that day including various bees, beetles, and others.

Vegetation: The dominant tree species in the forest seemed to be black cottonwoods and bigleaf maples. These were evenly distributed in the area around the river in a thick forest on either side of the path. There were also a few hazelnut trees here and there, particularly beaked hazelnut, which had its catkins, and other species I could not identify, but these were less common than the cottonwoods and maples. Of the lower growing plants, trailing blackberry and salmonberry, both of which are native, were common along the path in the grassy areas between the trees. Herb Robert, or stinkybob, was one of the more common smaller plants and was growing alongside the blackberry, salmonberry, and grasses in the areas we walked through. There were a few notable invasive species present in the areas right next to the river and in certain other spots as well. Japanese knotweed was growing all over path next to the riverbank and appeared to be the only middling size plant in the area. Sweet vernal grass was another invasive species common on the trail sides. It was flowering and throwing up its white stigmas to catch pollen. That species is native to California but appeared to be growing quite well in the wet riparian zone. Sheep sorrel was the final invasive species of note that I saw. It caught my eye with its bright red flowers. This plant was growing in a large patch in a grassy area in the center of the parking lot at the riparian zone forest. I got to taste its leaves, as it is edible, and they were lemony. That plant is in the spinach family and has arrow shaped leaves. It was one of the most interesting plant species I saw that day even though it wasn't one of the more widely distributed ones like the knotweed was.

General Comments: I learned that the roots growing out of the trunks of the cottonwood trees in the forest indicated that the area would flood and soil levels would rise during certain times of the year. I thought it was interesting how adaptive the trees can be and how we can use them to predict conditions in the area. I also found it interesting how many invasive species of plant were in the area and were thriving. They weren't exactly making it so natives couldn't grow, but they were certainly more dominant than the natives in some spots. I also thought it was odd that the only bees we saw were the non-native European bumblebees. We never saw any native species of bumblebee in the area and I wonder why that is. Is it possible they just weren't out that day or were elsewhere or are they not present in that forest at all? I was also disappointed I didn't get to see any birds in that area. We saw a few cool beetles that day, my favorite was one we thought was a darkling beetle. It had orange spots on either side of its head that made it interesting to look at. We heard a hermit warbler, but it wouldn't come anywhere near us, so we had to give up on getting pictures. My very favorite find from this area was the white-lipped snail I found sitting in the dead leaves near where I found the sheep's sorrel. I love snails of all kinds and I actually think they're sort of cute and I particularly love their eyestalks. This one in particular had a yellow shell with a black stripe running its length. It was shy at first, but eventually poked its head out after I let it sit still on my hand for a few minutes.

Location: Index Forest

Coordinates: 47.8229927179, -121.518533528

Weather: It was still sunny when we moved on to this next forest. There was still almost no wind or cloud cover and the lighting was about the same as it had been earlier. At that time, it was about 55 degrees Fahrenheit since it was still fairly early in the morning.

Habitat: This area gets much more rainfall than the riparian zone, which caused plenty of moss growth on the trees, plants like licorice ferns on the trees, and a thick growth of plants on the forest floor. This area has an even mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees and plenty of ferns of all kinds growing on the forest floor. It is an excellent habitat for fungi, insects, and smaller mammals like mice and voles, though we never actually saw any of those. Butterflies in particular seemed to enjoy the area as we saw a lot of those and we even saw a huge black beetle in the dead leaves on the forest floor as well as a giant yellow-spotted millipede, which I had never seen before. This forest had a lot of plants that grow on other plants because of the heavy rainfall and the trees were all covered in other smaller species of plant and fungi. There was an even distribution of trees and low growing plants. There were no clearings of any kind in the forest and the growth was dense everywhere we went. Understory growth was fostered by tree gaps allowing in light and rainfall. The ground was covered in dead leaves and other low growing plants, the perfect place for small insects and animals to hide.

Vegetation: The trees in the forest were mainly bigleaf maples and western red cedars. These were evenly distributed on either side of the road at the Index area. I could not identify any other species of tree in that place. There were plenty of fringe cup, thimbleberry, salmonberry, Pacific Bleeding Heart and blackberry plants on the sides of the path. Those were more common outside the actual forest. The forest floor was dominated by various fern species including Dyopteris expansa, a type of wood fern, lady ferns, and sword ferns. False lily of the valley and stinging nettle were some other common species on the ground. There were lots of dead trees covered in moss species, fungi, licorice ferns, and other plants like the Hooker's fairy bells. The live trees were also covered in these species and this was a common sight throughout the forest. The fungi we saw in that area were Polyporus badius (the Polyporus refers to this fungus' many pores all over its surface) and artist's conch, both of which I had never seen before. I particularly enjoyed the artist's conch because of the fact that one can etch things into the white side by simply touching it and that it will last forever. That fungus makes a new pore layer every year and produces rings like a tree, so one can tell how old it is. They thyme-leaved speedwell was the most interesting flowering plant I saw that day. It caught my eye because it had beautiful tiny flowers and was only growing in one spot near the road. The most diversity of species was present in the growth on the forest floor and in the many mosses growing on the trees themselves. Many of the species I saw that day were native and none of them were planted there.

General Comments: My very favorite observations from this area were the little critters we found in the dead leaves on the forest floor. The yellow-spotted millipede was extremely odd looking with its pure black and yellow spots just over its many legs. It was one of the largest millipedes I have ever seen and I was fascinated by the way it moved. I wanted to pick it up, but I was pretty sure it would bite me, so I left it alone. There were at least two of them in the same area, both crawling over dead logs. I also saw a slimy black slug, which I didn't get a picture of, and an empty black snail shell, both of which were also curious finds. I wonder why the snail shell was empty. What happened to the snail? Did it just get old and die or did it get eaten by something?

Location: Money Creek Campground

Coordinates: 47.729146, -121.409709

Weather: The sky was still clear with no clouds. There was little wind and the temperature had risen to 61 degrees Fahrenheit by that time.

Habitat: Money Creek was another forested area with similar tree and understory species distribution to the Index forest previously described. There was a river running by one part of the area with a sandy bank that contained some interesting insect species, but other than that it was almost exactly the same as the Index forest as it wasn't that far up the road from it.

Vegetation: The dominant tree species were, like the Index forest, bigleaf maples and western red cedars. It had an even distribution of deciduous and coniferous trees and a similar understory to the Index forest in that it was covered in ferns and other plants like Pacific trillium and false lily of the valley. The Pacific trillium was the most interesting flowering plant we saw because of its large leaves and striking purple flower with slim petals. The only thing unique to this area was that there were Doug fir and and cedar seedlings growing in some areas, which were not common in any of the areas we had visited before that. The fungi we found in the area were the most unusual things I saw. There were a bunch of white rot species growing on a fallen log alongside the path. The Mycena haematopus was my favorite fungus on that log because it was so interesting that it leaked red "blood" when the cap was pulled off. The Poison Hemlock was the only other cool plant I got to see in that area because I had never seen it before. It's interesting to think of how many people and animals have probably died from eating it thinking it was just a wild carrot.

General Comments: I really enjoyed seeing the huge, dead stonefly by the river. It was sitting on a rock and it was probably the largest insect I have ever seen. I wish it had been alive so I could have watched it for awhile. We also saw a mayfly larvae, which was also sitting on a rock near the river. It is interesting to think that these insects spend a lot of their lives in the water when one generally thinks of insects as living on land. The only real difference between this area and the Index forest was in the types of species of plant on the forest floor. We didn't see trillium at Index and a few others that I could not identify. It is interesting that those areas are so similar to each other in terms of diversity of species and distribution of species.

Location: Picnic area on the side of the road

Coordinates: 47.676228, -120.732789

Weather: The sky was still clear and there was still no wind. The temperature had risen to about 66 degrees Fahrenheit by that time.

Habitat: We only stopped here for a little while to eat lunch, so I didn't get to thoroughly explore the area. It was a small picnic area next to a large river with some forest nearby. The forest was largely made up of coniferous trees, though there were some deciduous. This was an area excellent for the growth of lichens, so that will be the focus of this part of my journal.

Vegetation: The dominant tree species was western red cedar with a few other types of coniferous trees. There were plenty of lichens growing all over the trees in this area. They came in all sorts of types and colors from neon green foliose lichens to white crustose lichens. The two in particular I got were Candelaria concolor and wolf lichen, both of which were neon green. The wolf lichen had a special chemical in it called vulpinic acid that gave it the unique color. That chemical is somewhat poisonous to animals, so they avoid eating the lichen. The wolf lichen was more foliose while the Candelaria was more crustose. They were both present on the same trees, often growing side by side. The only other bit of interesting vegetation was the yarrow, which had not flowered yet. I was interested in its shape and was curious what the flowers would look like when they bloomed. I didn't get to look at any other plant species in the area, unfortunately, so I don't know much more about the dominant vegetation.

General Comments: I wish I had had a chance to look around this area more. I was curious about the species living near the river itself, as I did see some ants down on the bank. Where was their nest? Were they just looking for food by the river? I tried to follow them but I didn't get far before I lost their trail. I also wonder why the lichens were growing so well in that area. Was it because the area gets a lot of rain? Was it because it was relatively free of pollution out there in the country?

Location: Leavenworth

Coordinates: 47.589393016, -120.6752387994

Weather: It was extremely hot and humid out in Leavenworth. The temperature had risen to about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, but it felt hotter because the sun was beating down on us and there was little shade to cover us.

Habitat: This area was considerably more barren with smaller plants rather than large trees. The trees that were there were predominantly conifers and they were very sparse and not at all evenly distributed over the landscape. This was an excellent habitat for lizards and insects as they prefer hotter areas with less rain. The area was only partly forested as one got higher up the hill. It was a different sort of habitat than we had visited before with species unlike the ones in Seattle where it rains a lot. These species were much hardier and scrubby. They needed to be able to survive in the hot sun with less shade and water to protect them.

Vegetation: The tree species were predominantly ponderosa pines at the bottom of the hill where we started out. Up at the top of the hill, the trees were a mix of Douglas firs and some deciduous species like ocean spray and maples. The area at the bottom of the hill was largely covered in smaller shrubs and other flowering plants. Common sights were the common peony, saskatoon, mock orange, and others I could not identify. There were also plenty of different kinds of grass species covering the ground. These were all evenly distributed over the landscape but started to disappear as one went higher up the hill. At the top of the hill, there were rose bushes, chocolate lilies, Indian paintbrushes, and other flowering species. This was not an area to go looking for ferns as there were none present as far as I could tell. The plants I saw were all either low growing flowering species or taller coniferous and deciduous trees (conifers were more common). This area had a great example of trees that self prune in order to avoid the ground fires that are common in a dry area like that one. Doug firs cannot self prune, and so they are much more likely to catch on fire and fall down. Fires maintain ponderosa pine forests because they can handle the heat when Douglas firs cannot. Douglas firs will flourish in areas that do not experience forest fires often.

General Comments: The most interesting creature we saw in this area was the western fence lizard. There were a few them hiding out in the shade the large rocks provided and we were able to catch them to look at them. They were gray except for a striking blue on their bellies. This serves the purpose of attracting mates without letting predators find them easily. We even found a young fence lizard and observed that it also had the blue even though it wasn't yet an adult. I learned that lizards like that one can deal with Lyme disease from the ticks that bite them and are not bothered by them at all. The ones we found all had ticks in their necks and they seemed to be doing just fine all the same. Another interesting find was the snakefly, a couple of which were hanging out on the mock orange plants. I wonder why they liked the mock orange so much? In general, this area was a great place for seeing new species that I would not encounter in Seattle. It was a good learning experience and I saw a lot of things I had only ever read about or seen online.

Species List:
Beaked Hazelnut
Herb robert (Geranium robertianum)
Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica)
sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum)
Sheep Sorrel
White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
Maianthemum dilatatum
Dryopteris expansa
Hooker's fairybells (Disporum hookeri)
Yellow-spotted Millipede (Harpaphe haydeniana)
Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa)
Polyporus badius
Trillium ovatum
Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)
Common Ink Cap (Coprinopsis atramentaria)
Mycena haematopus
Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum)
Candelaria concolor
Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia)
Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Wolf Lichen (Letharia vulpina)
common peony (Paeonia officinalis)
Ponderosa Pine
Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia)
Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)
sara orangetip (Anthocharis sara)
Lewis's mock-orange (Philadelphus lewisii)
Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea)
checker lily (Fritillaria affinis)

Posted on June 1, 2012 09:14 AM by tessaf