Five days ago the Woods had a good 0.7
inch of rain followed by a storm three days ago with strong 80 mph wind gusts
and another 0.9 inch. Yesterday, Saturday afternoon I went for a walk in
the Woods from the NW entrance.
I was impressed with the amount of fresh blow
down - very interesting. The cottonwoods seem to have lost the most - small
branches with clusters of green leaves and larger diameter limbs. One of the
largest cottonwoods (#123) by Carpenter's post now looks like it will
fall. The roots on the west side are lifted and the massive tree looks more
tilted. (Thoughts of the 'Home Tree' from the film 'Avatar'.) Box elder, green ash and
catalpa also lost lots of green canopy. I was surprised how light catalpa
branches are. Interesting time to walk around and examine leaf clusters fresh
on the ground. Some interesting galling and other herbivory.
The trail loop I walked (NW
entrance to East Pond, Northern Loop to Island Crossing up to the Tree Loop,
around that clockwise down to the Elm Bridge Crossing, then back west via the
East West Trail) - is blocked in several places by blow down, but you can get
around easily enough.
An interesting time to go see and
think about disturbance giving new forest structure. There are a lot of broken
trees and new rich resources on the ground.
The rain produced a crop of small
bronze-colored agarics through the Woods. Caps the size of half dollars.
Nice blog, Ken. Is this area available for the "regular" person to hike? Hugs, Georjana Mauldin
ReplyDeleteHi Georjana..just saw your comment. Answer yes and no. Woods are mostly for research and class use. Public come in and walk around but trail are not maintained for this. Full of hazards, uneven ground, trails that disappear in weedy summer growth, trees that fall across the trails, flooded soggy trails (mostly on south side). You get the picture. It is a natural area rather than an area maintained for the public. Joggers and dog walkers don't fit in with research and class use.. but folks interested in closely observing natural history do fit in. Thanks for your comment.
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