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.