This past week we've had three days above 80 F and a good half inch of thunderstorm rain Friday morning. The Woods is really responding. All the understory ground cover has burst out. The Symphoricarpos deer brush has leafed out. The poison ivy is just beginning to extend new reddish green miniature leaves. Elms have produced new flowers and bur oaks have new small green leaves thirty percent full size with catkins.
The understory is now largely Lonicera honeysuckle. I wonder what the understory of the forest was 75 years ago. How has Lonicera changed the soil, pH, invertebrates, mites, site productivity, carbon storage etc?
Today I went to clear the mid Ravine Trail. A big hackberry top had broken out in a recent storm and blocked the trail. There were other recent broken trees: a largish diameter green ash down by the southern big hollow cottonwood.. snapped about 15-20 feet up, dead elm blown down by the Main SW trail. Strong (65mph gusts) thunderstorm winds Friday morning were likely the cause. The Woods seems to have much more down woody debris than I would normally expect in such a forest. I wonder what is the cause.
If climate change is producing more atmospheric energy will we see more strong wind gusts per month in the data -- either higher average highest daily wind gust, or more frequent days with strong gusts over 45 mph? Can we then see a greater degree of tree breakage and windfall or blow down?
After clearing the Ravine Trail I drove to the NE gate and returned to the Pipeline Trail. I cleared the last half of the trail all the way to the stream crossover at the island.. and flagged with blue tape. It will be a good trail connecting to the Northern Loop.
The warmth has brought on an abundant hatch of crane flies. There silver wings glint and flash in the sun patches in the forest.
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