2017 March 21--The UCC Cover Board Project

After scouting the area yesterday, I brought all my materials and a couple helpers--my sons Daniel and Stephen--to put out the cover boards. I had also informed the groundskeeping staff that I was putting this material out so that they would not think it was trash and remove it! Each piece was also labeled with my name, UCC Science, and my phone number, on aluminum tape.

I utilized leftover/used materials from my own property as cover material. These included plywood and corrugated sheet metal of different sizes. Nine cover pieces of different materials and sizes were placed in each of 4 habitats in approximately equal proportions, for a total of 36 cover pieces. The 4 habitats were: open oak, chaparral, wet woods (closed-canopy oak with some wet areas), and north slope (mostly closed canopy dominated by Douglas-fir on a north-facing slope).

Data on the cover boards and habitats, and findings from the occasional checks so far can be found in the following "google sheet" called UCC Coverboards. If you would like to check the cover boards and contribute data to this project, contact me at matt.hunter@umpqua.edu, or 541-670-1984.

Posted on May 6, 2017 06:53 AM by umpquamatt