For the final two hours of daylight from the old year I headed out to the Woods. I finished a three day binge of sorting out student insect collections and put away all the bugs and boxes. I needed a break from the detailed work.
I drove to the SW gate and set out. I got to near the big hollow log before encountering new inundation.. the southwestern Woods slowing filling with water.
I was able to detour to the South Boundary Trail via the path through the Woods past the Two Friends.. the big bur oak and cottonwood that stand side by side. The cottonwood (tree #99), for a year or more, had one massive branch down. Now the main stem is broken thirty feet up. I think this will doom the tree. After a 100-130 years, the blizzard of 09 has done for it.
I followed the trail southeast to the south end of the Dune trail and then headed north to the Beaver Dam. The inundation had not reached the dam, in fact the water had spread eastward only as far as the old grandfather cottonwood.
I saw two white tail deer go bounding away in the central Woods flashing the white flags of their tails. I crossed the Wash on the Elm Bridge and then recrossed on the Bur Oak Bridge.. interesting to see the tracks of the dogs on the Bur Oak bridge crossing over.
I must clear small branches and some new down fall along the South Boundary Trail.
Interesting to think how the Woods could be used by Ecology in winter.
Decomposition studies with.. litter bags (request berlese or winklers for class)?
Stand dynamics..have the current trees arrived randomly over the past century, or in waves of species with recruitment of particular species when conditions were favorable?
Find the biggest tree.. find the oldest.
Each pair of students randomly assigned a 10 by 10 m or 5 by 5 m section of forest to follow through the spring, recording everything that changes.
Where are the snails? Why?
I thought twice I felt the touch of gossamer across my face..but that does not seem possible after the snow with max temp in the mid 30's.
The snow, now one week old, still covered 85% of the ground, except for the south-facing slope of the ridge, where it had melted. The shallow snow revealed the regular trails of deer and other wildlife.
The Woods are a remnant forest, a surviving block of trees from a forest that once stretched hundreds of miles along the North Canadian River. Not unchanged or virginal .. cows have grazed there and part of the Woods have been cleared for pasture; but the essential community of this highest floodplain forest survived and is holding on here.
The falling light of the sun dipping below the horizon hurried me along, heading back to the SW gate, I emerged at 5:25 in time to watch the last of the disk of the sun disappear in the trees to the west. The last of the daylight of 2009.
The forest is so clear in winter light.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Snowy Woods
December 24 2009 Christmas Eve brought a blizzard to central OK and the Woods. Fourteen inches of snow with strong north winds gusting to 55 mph. Drifts were 3 feet deep and more. Strongest winter storm for this area of OK since 1949. Deepest December snowfall in the history of OK records (since 1891). This morning after two days of sunshine I ventured out to see what the Woods looked like with a blanket of snow. I parked along Chautauqua and entered via the west central break in the fence line. I came to the main SW trail and followed it to the South Boundary Trail walking eastward.
Everywhere there were trails and tracks of wildlife.. white tail deer, mice, possums?, coons? skunks? I could not read all the tracks. But there in the snow was revealed the story of what animals lived in the Woods, where they made their homes, what old paths they normally followed; what interesting features of the Woods they passed by. I wondered who had made all the tracks. Were predator and prey walking together in the storm?
I came to the big hollow burr oak(?) log and saw lots of tracks at the dark mouth, wondered for a second who might have sheltered there in the storm, then heard growling and out burst three dogs; two black labs and one golden lab. I saw no collars. The dogs looked well fed and healthy. I wonder if they were abandoned, wild dogs or lived in homes in the area. They ran to the northeast, further into the Woods.
Dashing through the snow I saw a cottontail rabbit and two white tail deer. The snow revealed the deer beds used over the past three days, sets of three or four ellipses of bare leaves where the body heat of the deer had melted the snow.
Deer tracks were the principal tracks along the game trails. They followed pronounced trails leaving large areas of smooth unbroken, untracked snow.
Tracks were abundant up along the toe of the ridge and the Northern Loop trail, along the S. Dune Trail, the Barney Junction Trail, the Two Pecan Trail.
There were few tracks or none along the E-W Fence Trail, its west extension, Hackberry Alley, the Hollow Stump Cut-off; or the N Dune Trail.
The deer tracks often appeared to follow the long orange flagging someone had placed in the central and eastern woods. I wondered if the deer had learned to follow the flags or if the flags had been placed along routes marked by deer sign; of if both the deer and the flagger were following natural open trails.
There were fresh trees blown down: a large pecan blocking the E-W fence trail, a medium small dead elm across the Hollow Stump Cut-Off; a dead cedar blocking the west extension of the E-W fence line trail. All trees had been blown to the south by the north storm wind.
I saw mostly chickadees in the Woods, a wren in the cattails, a hawk over the South boundary and heard woodpeckers drumming.
On the west edge of the marsh about 80 feet east of the Chautauqua road bank in line with the power pole north of Andrea Drive I found a new(?) old orange painted survey post. I started to walk east from it searching for the next post but overtopped my snow boots in water and retreated.
There was open water around the edges of the ponds with the oily film from diatom growth and there was a reasonable flow of water out the south exit of the Woods by post G0.
Everywhere there were trails and tracks of wildlife.. white tail deer, mice, possums?, coons? skunks? I could not read all the tracks. But there in the snow was revealed the story of what animals lived in the Woods, where they made their homes, what old paths they normally followed; what interesting features of the Woods they passed by. I wondered who had made all the tracks. Were predator and prey walking together in the storm?
I came to the big hollow burr oak(?) log and saw lots of tracks at the dark mouth, wondered for a second who might have sheltered there in the storm, then heard growling and out burst three dogs; two black labs and one golden lab. I saw no collars. The dogs looked well fed and healthy. I wonder if they were abandoned, wild dogs or lived in homes in the area. They ran to the northeast, further into the Woods.
Dashing through the snow I saw a cottontail rabbit and two white tail deer. The snow revealed the deer beds used over the past three days, sets of three or four ellipses of bare leaves where the body heat of the deer had melted the snow.
Deer tracks were the principal tracks along the game trails. They followed pronounced trails leaving large areas of smooth unbroken, untracked snow.
Tracks were abundant up along the toe of the ridge and the Northern Loop trail, along the S. Dune Trail, the Barney Junction Trail, the Two Pecan Trail.
There were few tracks or none along the E-W Fence Trail, its west extension, Hackberry Alley, the Hollow Stump Cut-off; or the N Dune Trail.
The deer tracks often appeared to follow the long orange flagging someone had placed in the central and eastern woods. I wondered if the deer had learned to follow the flags or if the flags had been placed along routes marked by deer sign; of if both the deer and the flagger were following natural open trails.
There were fresh trees blown down: a large pecan blocking the E-W fence trail, a medium small dead elm across the Hollow Stump Cut-Off; a dead cedar blocking the west extension of the E-W fence line trail. All trees had been blown to the south by the north storm wind.
I saw mostly chickadees in the Woods, a wren in the cattails, a hawk over the South boundary and heard woodpeckers drumming.
On the west edge of the marsh about 80 feet east of the Chautauqua road bank in line with the power pole north of Andrea Drive I found a new(?) old orange painted survey post. I started to walk east from it searching for the next post but overtopped my snow boots in water and retreated.
There was open water around the edges of the ponds with the oily film from diatom growth and there was a reasonable flow of water out the south exit of the Woods by post G0.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Before the storm
Storm coming tonight. It may snow for Christmas Eve. Perfect.
Nice long afternoon, walking all over the Woods today. I entered via the SW gate and took the chain saw to clear a double trunked elm across the path running north from the D0 survey stake on the South Boundary Trail. East on the S. Boundary Trail I was surprised to come upon an area with numerous shells from fingernail clams. I guess water does stand there long enough.
Walking north between E0 and F0 I found a well used game trail crossing over the dune and clipped briers out of the way to see if it could be a good new path. It emerged on the north end near just west of the old grandfather hollow cottonwood.. but I don't think it is a trail worth clearing. Too thorny and congested.
Afterwards I wandered freely off trail through the Woods. If I am there with loppers clearing trail, I miss seeing new things. It is better to observe, with no set path to follow.. and it is nice now to have the marked paths so I can know approximately where I am as I wander.
I slogged NW up through the bottlebrush sedge west of the dense young ash stands. They are still quite wet even with no rain for weeks. Pools of standing water are mostly all gone; but the ground is wet enough so you can't walk far without getting wet feet. Not an area I think that is very attractive for a board walk. Too close to the traffic noise off Chautauqua.
The deer and game trails are particularly well developed now in the soft wet soil. Following a deer trail skirting the southern edge of the dense young ash I discovered another small steel survey rod (near the other flagged one - 200 ft east maybe). I painted it blue. These rods date from the early tree studies?
Further east I watched a pileated woodpecker inspecting one of the big dead snags.. first time I have seen one of those in Woods for a while. Further east still I came to the long, wandering ragged edge of the inundation zone.. marked by the end of honeysuckle ground cover. Further north and east I come to the massive ruin of the giant cottonwood blown down.. maybe the largest in the Woods. Came down in the ice storm of December 2007. North of there and east..just SW of the East Pond there is the big tree cluster. The largest standing cottonwood in the Woods.. and a big pecan, big double trunk green ash..etc. I should have a contest for students to find and measure the largest diameter tree of each of the several species: burr oak, ash, hackberry, elm, pecan, juniper, cottonwood, bumelia, sycamore, mulberry, catalpa, willow, coffee tree, shumard oak, post oak, blackjack oak, walnut, soapberry, cypress(?!), persimmon, boxelder, etc.
East of there I found 5 small ellipses of flattened boxelder leaves where deer had bedded down for their winter night. With the long nights of the winter solstice the Eleagnus through the woods is beginning to drop its leaves.. silver ellipses standout on the bed of the earlier fallen leaves.
In the southeast corner of the Woods 2-3 of the largest new generation of cottonwoods along the southern boundary have recently come down. How can I use them for study of decomposition.. and when beetles emerge.
Who makes the "potholes" through the Woods.. big mystery. I need to consult Carpenter's turtle papers and see if he mentions this. (Probably left over from uprooted rotten snags.)
Green ephemerals in the south in the weeds include Stellaria chickweed, Viola, Lamium, (not amplexicaule), Avens? Euonymus?, others. I need to start a leaf herbarium for ID's. Note exotic shrub in Woods = Nandina.
Nice long afternoon, walking all over the Woods today. I entered via the SW gate and took the chain saw to clear a double trunked elm across the path running north from the D0 survey stake on the South Boundary Trail. East on the S. Boundary Trail I was surprised to come upon an area with numerous shells from fingernail clams. I guess water does stand there long enough.
Walking north between E0 and F0 I found a well used game trail crossing over the dune and clipped briers out of the way to see if it could be a good new path. It emerged on the north end near just west of the old grandfather hollow cottonwood.. but I don't think it is a trail worth clearing. Too thorny and congested.
Afterwards I wandered freely off trail through the Woods. If I am there with loppers clearing trail, I miss seeing new things. It is better to observe, with no set path to follow.. and it is nice now to have the marked paths so I can know approximately where I am as I wander.
I slogged NW up through the bottlebrush sedge west of the dense young ash stands. They are still quite wet even with no rain for weeks. Pools of standing water are mostly all gone; but the ground is wet enough so you can't walk far without getting wet feet. Not an area I think that is very attractive for a board walk. Too close to the traffic noise off Chautauqua.
The deer and game trails are particularly well developed now in the soft wet soil. Following a deer trail skirting the southern edge of the dense young ash I discovered another small steel survey rod (near the other flagged one - 200 ft east maybe). I painted it blue. These rods date from the early tree studies?
Further east I watched a pileated woodpecker inspecting one of the big dead snags.. first time I have seen one of those in Woods for a while. Further east still I came to the long, wandering ragged edge of the inundation zone.. marked by the end of honeysuckle ground cover. Further north and east I come to the massive ruin of the giant cottonwood blown down.. maybe the largest in the Woods. Came down in the ice storm of December 2007. North of there and east..just SW of the East Pond there is the big tree cluster. The largest standing cottonwood in the Woods.. and a big pecan, big double trunk green ash..etc. I should have a contest for students to find and measure the largest diameter tree of each of the several species: burr oak, ash, hackberry, elm, pecan, juniper, cottonwood, bumelia, sycamore, mulberry, catalpa, willow, coffee tree, shumard oak, post oak, blackjack oak, walnut, soapberry, cypress(?!), persimmon, boxelder, etc.
East of there I found 5 small ellipses of flattened boxelder leaves where deer had bedded down for their winter night. With the long nights of the winter solstice the Eleagnus through the woods is beginning to drop its leaves.. silver ellipses standout on the bed of the earlier fallen leaves.
In the southeast corner of the Woods 2-3 of the largest new generation of cottonwoods along the southern boundary have recently come down. How can I use them for study of decomposition.. and when beetles emerge.
Who makes the "potholes" through the Woods.. big mystery. I need to consult Carpenter's turtle papers and see if he mentions this. (Probably left over from uprooted rotten snags.)
Green ephemerals in the south in the weeds include Stellaria chickweed, Viola, Lamium, (not amplexicaule), Avens? Euonymus?, others. I need to start a leaf herbarium for ID's. Note exotic shrub in Woods = Nandina.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
New South Boundary Trail Connected
This late afternoon I returned to the SW gate and paint blazed the Southern Boundary Trail. It runs from the SW entrance to the southern end of the Dunes Trail at survey post G0, and the exit from the Woods there. Along the way the trail passes two or three wildlife highways that funnel animals through breaks in the southern fence.. good places for wildlife cameras.
The trail passes through open sunny, drier habitat. There are several patches of young boxelder or honeysuckle that need additional clearing along the way; but the trail is clear enough to follow now. The trail also passes survey posts E0,F0 and D0 (where a short trail is cut going north towards an area of larger diameter trees).
On the west central portion of the trail there are curious bare zones around the bases of many trees..where all the leaf litter has been blown away to the hard soil beneath. It might be good for ecology class to investigate the species of trees with these bare zones and see if any particular species (maybe hackberry,or juniper for instance) is more likely to have a basal bare zone than say elm, oak, ash or pecan might be. Relate to Elroy Rice allelopathy studies.
The trail passes through open sunny, drier habitat. There are several patches of young boxelder or honeysuckle that need additional clearing along the way; but the trail is clear enough to follow now. The trail also passes survey posts E0,F0 and D0 (where a short trail is cut going north towards an area of larger diameter trees).
On the west central portion of the trail there are curious bare zones around the bases of many trees..where all the leaf litter has been blown away to the hard soil beneath. It might be good for ecology class to investigate the species of trees with these bare zones and see if any particular species (maybe hackberry,or juniper for instance) is more likely to have a basal bare zone than say elm, oak, ash or pecan might be. Relate to Elroy Rice allelopathy studies.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Warm winter afternoon - storm coming.
Lovely, warm (55-60 F) afternoon in the Woods; but storm is coming. Along the East Wash there were flocks of robins and sparrows and other mixed species flocks moving in to shelter in the privet and under the eleagnus growing there. The Weather Service this morning issued a "Special Weather Statement" a significant winter storm is heading our way Christmas Eve Day possible rain and snow and colder.
Out in the Woods I heard (but did not see) a deer snort and looked again for the soapberry on the upper escarpment.. this time with GPS coordinates. I found the location but only smaller trees and dead. I'll look again in the spring with leaf out.
Why do I never see squirrels in Olivers Woods when they are abundant on campus? There are plenty of pecans and other hardwoods.
Russell and I cleared trail with loppers. I waded into the (cold!) East Wash to settle and firm the Elm Bridge logs. Better now.
I also painted more trees along the Northern Loop to replace the dark blue tape.. some is already falling. That loop trail is now well marked but needs additional clearing of small coral berry/ buckbrush/ Symphoriocarpos. Also marked more trees along the connector from the Fence Corner to the fallen pecan junction.
Friday last week Delong and I walked the loops from the NE. He would like to run the labs for Xiangming's spring Geospatial class there. Plots of trees, georeferenced, diameter, height with new instruments. We walked west from the Hackberry Alley trail to the sharp break in the honeysuckle cover at the edge of the inundation zone. With ecology class it would be good to run multiple transects across that break looking for snails to the east, under the honeysuckle there should be many of the terrestrial, flatter spiral snails and to the west in the litter that is sometimes inundated we should find the aquatic snails.. or their old shells.. other differences? .. ground spider species, ground beetle species, millipedes and centipedes? opilone daddy long legs, basidiocarps on the ground, green forbs Viola, Stellaria etc..
Going through old OWP correspondence, found letter from Gary Schnell to state about problems with beaver dam blocking drainage from Woods in 1994. Today the dam (all clay) is still there. I will reopen the drainage. Fifteen years of extra flooding from the dam.
A week prior I walked with Jason Julian around the same loop trails. He will bring his Physical Geography and his Soils classes down for lab exercises.. prepare a land cover analysis of photos from 1938 onward... prepare a high resolution Digital Elevation Map of the Woods. Delong is going to inquire if spectral analysis might give the location and dates of flooding.
Friday afternoon 18 December late I walked in via the SW entrance up to junction with SE running yellow wire flagged Hollow Log Trail. I walked SE to the old red OWP sign on the south fence line and then west past survey post F0 and on to post G0 by the south end of the Dune Trail. I should clear this trail for access to southern Woods.
Out in the Woods I heard (but did not see) a deer snort and looked again for the soapberry on the upper escarpment.. this time with GPS coordinates. I found the location but only smaller trees and dead. I'll look again in the spring with leaf out.
Why do I never see squirrels in Olivers Woods when they are abundant on campus? There are plenty of pecans and other hardwoods.
Russell and I cleared trail with loppers. I waded into the (cold!) East Wash to settle and firm the Elm Bridge logs. Better now.
I also painted more trees along the Northern Loop to replace the dark blue tape.. some is already falling. That loop trail is now well marked but needs additional clearing of small coral berry/ buckbrush/ Symphoriocarpos. Also marked more trees along the connector from the Fence Corner to the fallen pecan junction.
Friday last week Delong and I walked the loops from the NE. He would like to run the labs for Xiangming's spring Geospatial class there. Plots of trees, georeferenced, diameter, height with new instruments. We walked west from the Hackberry Alley trail to the sharp break in the honeysuckle cover at the edge of the inundation zone. With ecology class it would be good to run multiple transects across that break looking for snails to the east, under the honeysuckle there should be many of the terrestrial, flatter spiral snails and to the west in the litter that is sometimes inundated we should find the aquatic snails.. or their old shells.. other differences? .. ground spider species, ground beetle species, millipedes and centipedes? opilone daddy long legs, basidiocarps on the ground, green forbs Viola, Stellaria etc..
Going through old OWP correspondence, found letter from Gary Schnell to state about problems with beaver dam blocking drainage from Woods in 1994. Today the dam (all clay) is still there. I will reopen the drainage. Fifteen years of extra flooding from the dam.
A week prior I walked with Jason Julian around the same loop trails. He will bring his Physical Geography and his Soils classes down for lab exercises.. prepare a land cover analysis of photos from 1938 onward... prepare a high resolution Digital Elevation Map of the Woods. Delong is going to inquire if spectral analysis might give the location and dates of flooding.
Friday afternoon 18 December late I walked in via the SW entrance up to junction with SE running yellow wire flagged Hollow Log Trail. I walked SE to the old red OWP sign on the south fence line and then west past survey post F0 and on to post G0 by the south end of the Dune Trail. I should clear this trail for access to southern Woods.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Circles in the Woods
Nice December day in the Woods, after three of the coldest nights of the winter thus far. Down to 11 F and not above 24 F for 2-3 days. Cold enough to put ice on the East Wash and the East Pond. But this afternoon was overcast and pleasant low 50's.
I actually found a tick on my glove (amazing), one deer in the SW quarter and a male cardinal. There were also fresh strands of spider web gossamer on the trail west of the Burr Oak bridge..although I didn't see any webs.
I entered the Woods via the NE Jenkins Gate and crossed on the new Elm Bridge; then headed west along the EW Fence Line Trail to the Fence Corner and the Big Pecan. From there I defined and cleared the flagged trail north to the Trans OWP at the junction with the pecan blow down. That trail is largely clear now but will need substantial more lopper work to shape it up and keep it clear.
I headed back to the Tall Stump and south on the north end of the Dunes Trail to the beaver dam. The main SW Wash trail no longer had puddles of standing water but the soil and leaf litter was still moist..not muddy.
My moderate easy pace stroll with occasional momentary stops from the SW Gate, along the SW Wash trail to the Tall Stump Cutoff, north along Hackberry Alley to the Trans OWP and west on the Trans OWP to the East Pond; then north and east along the Northern Loop back down to the Burr Oak bridge; and back to the Escarpment Trail took 30 minutes. A nice traverse of the Woods.
I actually found a tick on my glove (amazing), one deer in the SW quarter and a male cardinal. There were also fresh strands of spider web gossamer on the trail west of the Burr Oak bridge..although I didn't see any webs.
I entered the Woods via the NE Jenkins Gate and crossed on the new Elm Bridge; then headed west along the EW Fence Line Trail to the Fence Corner and the Big Pecan. From there I defined and cleared the flagged trail north to the Trans OWP at the junction with the pecan blow down. That trail is largely clear now but will need substantial more lopper work to shape it up and keep it clear.
I headed back to the Tall Stump and south on the north end of the Dunes Trail to the beaver dam. The main SW Wash trail no longer had puddles of standing water but the soil and leaf litter was still moist..not muddy.
My moderate easy pace stroll with occasional momentary stops from the SW Gate, along the SW Wash trail to the Tall Stump Cutoff, north along Hackberry Alley to the Trans OWP and west on the Trans OWP to the East Pond; then north and east along the Northern Loop back down to the Burr Oak bridge; and back to the Escarpment Trail took 30 minutes. A nice traverse of the Woods.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Early winter day in the Woods
Cool gray early December day in the Woods. I went out at noon to clear the cobwebs from my head and do some trail work. Entering from the NE gate I came to the big cedar and looked west down the inviting slope into the East Wash.
With the green of summer gone it looked as if there might be a nice new route from the big cedar down to the low water crossing of the East Wash I had seen last year. The route was fairly open and easy down to the pipeline, across the East Wash and then on to the east bank of the West Wash by the big cottonwoods where I needed to clear a tangle of large diameter vines. A good new route.. maybe develop later; but that section is near the highway and the sound of traffic is loud.
I worked on clearing the southeastern end of the new North Loop and it is now reasonably good all the way to the junction with the Trans OWP trail at the big pecan blowdown (from 2007). North and west on the North Loop (from the Cottonwoods on) there remains some work for loppers but no large diameter stuff.
Walking the Trans OWP, I found 3 white tail deer; they stood 70 feet away and alertly watched me. The Woods is a shelter for them now with hunting season; and there is enough cover to provide some protection when the cold north wind blows strongly.
From the big pecan blowdown, the Northern Loop takes 12 minutes now to walk without pause at a modest pace. From the same starting point at the pecan log, a second loop west on the Trans OWP to Hackberry Alley; south to the tall stump; southwest to Barney Jct; north on the fence line trail and then north again back to the pecan log.. the loop is 10 minutes. From the pecan log south to the fence corner the trail is flagged with orange but is not clear. This should be a good goal after finishing the western end of the Northern Loop.
One more big area where a trail is needed for access is heading southwest from the elm bridge across the washout channels down to the south central entrance. Somewhere in there I am almost certain I found one lone bald cypress last year; but I have not been able to relocate it.
The floor of the Woods is greening up with winter annuals.. avens, grasses, violets, chickweed, various other species. I need to have a botanist walk there with me and help me identify the most common twenty green species. I also need to figure out the fairly common two meter tall exotic shrub with small single red berries and elliptical oblong leaves (still green) with rich scented white flowers in the summer. (Eleagnus sp.?)
Along both banks of the East Wash it is noticeable that the several largest diameter pecans and old burr oaks that came down in the winter of 2007-2008 are all oriented in one direction to the west southwest. I think the same is true of the blowdown cedars on the dune. It might be interesting to map the direction of fall of many of the blowdowns at OWP and record the age of the blowdown (from surrounding scarred survivors).. develop a picture of which winds typically produce blowdowns at OWP.
A new OWP first today, I encountered an opossum 30 meters south of the tall stump. It climbed a near elm and looked down at me as I passed by.
The wood borer community should be fairly abundant this spring and summer 2010. There is lots of evidence of thorough colonization of the broken and blowdown material from 2007-2008.
With the green of summer gone it looked as if there might be a nice new route from the big cedar down to the low water crossing of the East Wash I had seen last year. The route was fairly open and easy down to the pipeline, across the East Wash and then on to the east bank of the West Wash by the big cottonwoods where I needed to clear a tangle of large diameter vines. A good new route.. maybe develop later; but that section is near the highway and the sound of traffic is loud.
I worked on clearing the southeastern end of the new North Loop and it is now reasonably good all the way to the junction with the Trans OWP trail at the big pecan blowdown (from 2007). North and west on the North Loop (from the Cottonwoods on) there remains some work for loppers but no large diameter stuff.
Walking the Trans OWP, I found 3 white tail deer; they stood 70 feet away and alertly watched me. The Woods is a shelter for them now with hunting season; and there is enough cover to provide some protection when the cold north wind blows strongly.
From the big pecan blowdown, the Northern Loop takes 12 minutes now to walk without pause at a modest pace. From the same starting point at the pecan log, a second loop west on the Trans OWP to Hackberry Alley; south to the tall stump; southwest to Barney Jct; north on the fence line trail and then north again back to the pecan log.. the loop is 10 minutes. From the pecan log south to the fence corner the trail is flagged with orange but is not clear. This should be a good goal after finishing the western end of the Northern Loop.
One more big area where a trail is needed for access is heading southwest from the elm bridge across the washout channels down to the south central entrance. Somewhere in there I am almost certain I found one lone bald cypress last year; but I have not been able to relocate it.
The floor of the Woods is greening up with winter annuals.. avens, grasses, violets, chickweed, various other species. I need to have a botanist walk there with me and help me identify the most common twenty green species. I also need to figure out the fairly common two meter tall exotic shrub with small single red berries and elliptical oblong leaves (still green) with rich scented white flowers in the summer. (Eleagnus sp.?)
Along both banks of the East Wash it is noticeable that the several largest diameter pecans and old burr oaks that came down in the winter of 2007-2008 are all oriented in one direction to the west southwest. I think the same is true of the blowdown cedars on the dune. It might be interesting to map the direction of fall of many of the blowdowns at OWP and record the age of the blowdown (from surrounding scarred survivors).. develop a picture of which winds typically produce blowdowns at OWP.
A new OWP first today, I encountered an opossum 30 meters south of the tall stump. It climbed a near elm and looked down at me as I passed by.
The wood borer community should be fairly abundant this spring and summer 2010. There is lots of evidence of thorough colonization of the broken and blowdown material from 2007-2008.
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