Journal Entry 13

5/05/12

Location: Backyard of my house which back along a nature preserve which is very forest and filled with conifers and deciduous trees.

Weather: It was cool, probably low 50s (in Fahrenheit). It was about mid afternoon and cloudy and moist, but not raining. The whole forest was damp though.

I was originally hoping to find bugs, so I turned over many logs and old dead plants. The area has a lot of ground cover consisting of mostly ferns and salal. Also covering the ground are lots of fallen branches and leaves from the winter and old stumps of trees and logs on the ground. Growing on the edge of m backyard, however I found right away. There are many vine maples, however, most of the ones I have seen in the area grow on the side of streets and developed neighborhoods. They were clearly planted. A city council member a few years ago stated (and is very adamant about it still) that plants planted around the city, town center, neighborhoods, and road medians be native plants. I find this interesting because some of the area looks slightly unkempt compared to other places, but perhaps that is better for ecosystems and healthier as well. My whole community is concerned with the well being of the environment.

I also found some dull Oregon grape and braken fern. All common and can be found in many places. I have seen them around for years, but until this class never actually knew about the different species. Among some of the more interesting species I found were some mushrooms and some lichen. I found Forking Bone lichen and Ragbag lichen. At least, that is what I had identified them to be. There is a lot of lichen around the trees here. There was a lot of Licorice fern growing on what seemed like a Douglas fir covered in moss. All of which I have seen around for years. I wonder whether or not this nature preserve is original growth or has been replanted and is now being preserved. My though is that they were replanted, however, when I moved they had to cut the edge in order to build the house. I can imagine the trees must be at least 50 years old, given their height and width. If I had the tools, it would be fun to a tree core sample to see just how old the area is.

I also found some trailing blackberry and stinging nettle, which I had to look up in order to identify. There were many slugs, all of which I believe are the same species, but just different sizes. My most fun and interesting find after turning over and old moist log, was a salamander! I identified it to be a type of lungless salamander. It was about 3 inches long and a light orange-dark red. Given the atmosphere of the day, it was perfect conditions for the little guy and fairly close to a stream. While there is a picture here on iNaturalist, I also tried to draw a picture. See physical journal for picture.

Posted on June 5, 2012 07:06 AM by lmiyamoto