Environmental Study of Lechtenberg Park

InfiniteNow · 04-20-2007

You might consider bringing a sound recorder of some sort. You can use this to capture your thoughts w/o need for a pen (like an investigator).

Also, what would be my preference, the audio recording can be used to imprint the sounds of the nature you experience whilst questing through nature, allowing you to re-experience the setting more easily at your liesure from other locales... The sound of the birds, and the wind, and the streams... That's what we should all have in our living rooms.

Cedars · 04-20-2007

Oh, just a thought...

You may be able to spot the old homestead area. From there, you might be able to get an idea of how long ago the place was used via tree growth. For example:

A state park near my moms is several old farms that were added to the park in the 70s. Some of the places were bought out, some were long abandoned, some burned down. When traveling over the parkland, you can spot the old farmsteads by the tendancy for box elders and elms (in this area) to grow in a straight line along the old foundation walls. The straight lines of similar aged trees look out of place in the rest of the landscape. You can sometimes find old property/fence lines the same way, especially the corners. It is the trees growing within the former borders, say within 15-20 feet of the old property lines that give you an approximation on how long a land has been idle. Lots of trees around here will shoot up runners within a couple of years of being left alone. I know there are ways to measure the trunk and calculate age, but I dont know the exact formula.

Turtle · 04-20-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

You might consider bringing a sound recorder of some sort. You can use this to capture your thoughts w/o need for a pen (like an investigator).

Also, what would be my preference, the audio recording can be used to imprint the sounds of the nature you experience whilst questing through nature, allowing you to re-experience the setting more easily at your liesure from other locales... The sound of the birds, and the wind, and the streams... That's what we should all have in our living rooms.

Roger Wilco...adding microcassette recorder to kit. Also there's a microphone in the camera and I thought I might narrate a few shots.

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Cedars

Cedars
Oh, just a thought...

You may be able to spot the old homestead area. From there, you might be able to get an idea of how long ago the place was used via tree growth.

Roger Wilco... Will keep an eye out for ruins and try not to fall into an old shitter.

I also plan to add a folding saw so I can't collect some wood samples for dendrochronological analysis. I have found that by setting the scanner to 1200 ppi I can get outstanding detail for ring counting as well as leaf ID.

Rain forecast for tomorrow, Sunday is iffy, but I'm hot to trot rain or shine.

PS More map scrutiny and I see folks call this part of the stream system Lacamas Creek.

Mon dieu!

Turtle · 04-20-2007

Can I go off on a tangent or what!

My small backpack is full-up and weighing in at a bouncing 20 pounds. This doesn't include the books, video camera, uhhh...it doesn't include another 10 pounds or so.

I think I'll consult the books on the return to the lab. No worries. I will sling the small pack on my packframe and use a few stuff sacks to hold the rest of the gear and any samples collected. The packframe has a good hip-belt so it will take a lot off my back.

That you are smiling to yourself at the imagined sight of it

, is enough to disencourage me from making it a part of the unclassified archive.

Turtle · 04-23-2007

Just returned from 3 hours of exploring Lechtenberg Park...in short it is both beautiful and brutal. No trails, just forest and marsh. I have video of forest and birds, a few plant samples, a branch cutting for dendrochronology, tree measurtements (this place hasn't been disturbed in a hundred years as near I can tell), ...oh, and blisters the size of 1/2 dollars.

Give me a few hours to decompress and start organizing materials and then I'll start uploading data. What a place! Is that why they call it climax forest?

Turtle · 04-23-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle

Give me a few hours to decompress and start organizing materials and then I'll start uploading data. What a place! Is that why they call it climax forest?

Man...it's gonna take me a couple days to put this all together.

Here's a short video of a momma duck & her duckettes, and a tree felled by beaver

YouTube - Duck and ducklings

Turtle · 04-23-2007

Okaly dokaly

. Lechtenberg Park is 40 acres of some of the wildest terrain I have hiked in a good while.

At this time of year, it is predominately swampy with some ponds near the Northern boundary. I went in at the SW corner, and walked the Western boundary to the NW corner. As I was just outside the fence, the terrain was predominately grasses and the ground very wet.

I retraced my route back to a fenceline and headed East to find the creek. This land has not been disturbed to any great degree in perhaps a hundred years. Large Oak, Oregon Ash, and Doug Fir predominate, and I measured one Oak in the interior at 32" diameter and 100" circumference at chest height.

I recorded tracks in the mud of Elk, what I think is Racoon, and an unidentified set. I sawed a slab from a fallen 4" branch to scan for counting the rings. I did get a water sample from the creek, but no water flow measure other than a short video clip. (By the time I reached the creek the blisters had set in on my heels

)

I have some plant samples to scan and lots o' photos to prepare. Here's another short video of a duck as yet unidentified. >>>

YouTube - Duck

I didn't take my tripod because of the weight and it's a clumsy fit in the pack (I left the pack-frame & went with just the rucksack); I won't leave it behind the next trip and sorry for jiggly vids.

Turtle · 04-23-2007

Here's a flower I saw in abundance. Ruler in inset upperright corner Unidentified.

Another abundant plant & flower. >>>

Here's some video of a group of birds in the grasses. I have no idea yet what they are either.

YouTube - Birds

Turtle · 04-23-2007

While I wait for another bird video to upload, I have some plants to add to the list I can identify.

There was Vine Maple, Oregon Grape, Alder, Snowberry, Blackberry, Oregon Bigleaf Maple, & Hawthorne. I think there's some Live Oak as well.

Ohh...here's the video. This a medium size bird with a long beak which made a rather deep call that led me to spot it. It is on its nest. Again, next time will take tripod!