This months' project

Background: the "Austin's Woods Conservation Plan" led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a mandate to preserve the bottomland hardwood forests south of Houston known as the Columbia Bottomlands which spans the Colorado, San Bernard, and Brazos River floodplains. It is a critical stopover and staging habitat for Nearctic-Neotropical migratory landbirds.

Despite temperatures at or above 100 degrees the field work is better than rotting away in an air conditioned office. I was asked to continue a project by the United States Geological Service which entailed correlating habitat change with an increase or decrease of migrating neotropical birds. Originally accomplished by crews I was left on my own to conduct this monitoring of 41 sites in the bottomland hardwood forests of my Complex. Each site has 30 variables to measure to include tree diameter, woody species height, snag diameter, canopy gap, plant species inventory, presence of an oxbow or bayou, canopy cover, size of woody debris, herbaceous cover and wet or dry litter. All within 3 meters along a 50m measuring tape. Laying out the tape is no walk in the park with more often than not a lot of bushwhacking, crawling, neck raked or head gouged by braches and briar. I learned my lesson after the first day to spray my feet and calves with bug repellent less I continue to scratch from chigger infestation. A yellow jacket stung the back of my arm but rarely swell up from the sting of this species of wasp.

American Elm (Ulmus americana)
50 ft+ tall















Buttresses help stabilize swallow-rooting trees











Box elder maple (Acer negundo), left, is similar in appearance to poison ivy (Toxicodendra radicans).

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is in the grape family but the fruit is inedible for humans.

Grape vines (Vitis spp.) can live beyond 100 years.

Old growth grape vine with pencil for scale.

Green Brier (Smilax rotundifolia)

Carolina Moonseed (Cocculus carolinus) is a common understory vine. In this picture the vine is entwining so hard that the tree is starting to grow around it. Moonseed berries are red and eaten by birds but are toxic to humans.












Turks' Cap Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans) is (Malvaviscus arboreus) maximizes blooming during the southern migration of hummingbirds









Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans) is also a favorite plant of hummingbirds

Sabal Palm (Sabal minor) is the most common plant encountered thus far.

Summer road trip 2011

Technically I can call it a vacation. Nearly 4 days of driving to see my buddies in Lubbock and Grand Junction and by the end of it I can say “Mission Accomplished”

No rest for the weary? I prefer no rest for the wicked. My timing was perfect for Lubbock with my services available to help Andrea et al tear down a porch and bust a concrete slab. Without the humidity my work capacity doubled and the use of a jackhammer was a first. I feel for Josh, having to live in this boring town but as least he's busy as a landscape laborer. Maybe next time we can get away to the mountains.

Two days of work followed by a 12 hour drive to Grand Junction CO. My dog Kahn stayed with Andrea and that was fine with him. If I wasn’t on such a tight schedule I would take time to enjoy the scenic drive on SH 50, up and over Monarch Pass to Montrose and then north to GJ. My specific destination was the residence of old college friends – Rob and Sue Graham. The agenda was hiking and everywhere is up. Rob was fresh off a 50 mile hiking weekend and was more than up to the task of hiking with me the next two days. He and a friend are on a quest to finish a route of several hundred miles one weekend at a time into the fall. I was fortunate to only hike 4 miles the first day and 7 miles the next in and around the Colorado National Monument. Monsoon rains raised the humidity to the annoyance level for Rob but this was nothing compared to the Gulf Coast. It must have been 40% - maybe. Nevertheless the hiking gave me Carte blanche to pig out at the local eateries. Rob and Sue are fitness trainers at Mesa State University. For me, Rob took the days off to play. In the next page of my life I’ll be free of the grip of Dungpileton and days like these will be the rule.

Upon my return to Lubbock I join the crew - Matt, Ron (Andrea's bother-in-law and technical adviser, and Josh - to continue work on the porch. By this time the broken slab was removed and next was the roof framework. All day and a break to see Captain America at the movies. Another day of help then on the road home.

Free Food!

I was dumpster diving for boxes when I came upon a few shopping carts of food thrown away by the Kroger Grocer. Being in a hurry I grabbed what I could but will be back soon.

What does this say about our society?
http://divethefilm.com/

Still here...

Waiting and waiting....

I was not too keen on a fire assignment in East Texas because I would be a dozer swamper. Nothing glamorous about it; walk alongside a bulldozer as it plows a line around a wildfire to prevent it from spreading. Ideally, I would prefer the tortuous firefighting of the mountain west, even west Texas but a job is a job. Because of recent rains the fire prospects are low but give it time because temperatures are hot and getting hotter. Today was a heat index of 105 degrees. I am working out of Kirbyville, TX at a Texas Forest Service office. Nestled among long leaf pines (Pinus palustris), the understory is maintained by prescribe burning as is evident by burnt and stunted yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) and wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera) as well as oaks (Quercus viginiana, Q. nigra, Q. falcata) and sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua). As a result the ground layer is dominated by royal fern (Osmunda regalis var. spectabilis )or a mix of forbs and grasses; the dominants of which are sharp blazing star (Liatris acidota) and big bluestem (Andropogon geradii).

Where the ground is not maintained the habitat returns to its pre-disturbance floral climax on the forested perimeters. I see a zebra swallowtail alighting on a blazingstar for nectar and attempt to move in further for a better photo op. It is a skittish beauty; moving away from my advances until I stop to wait for it to circle back to me. It gets no closer than ten feet. The black swallowtail is more accommodating.

Moving further down slope I encounter a wetland nearly void of water. Here the floral community changes to represent freshwater emergent and submergents. Some of which are familiar to those back home – spike rushes (Eleocharis spp.), centella (centella erecta), and my favorites, umbrella sedge (fuirena spp.), meadow beauty (Rhexia virginica), blue waterleaf (Hydrolea ovata) and water willow (Justicia lanceolata). I notice a significant present of Japanese climbing fern (Lygodium japonicum) on the ground. It has the capacity to creep up trees and when dry can act as a "ladder fuel" to draw fire up in the canopy. Moving along I encounter the water and seeing as how it is still present in this drought the flora changes also to reflect plants that can withstand permanent inundation. Here I notice the yellow surface flowers of bladderwort (Utricularia gibba) and pick it up to reveal the tiny submerged "trap door" nodules which capture microscopic invertebrates. I was hoping to see other carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants and butterworts but the soils here are not acidic enough. Water tolerant tupelo (Nyssa spp.) towered over mid-story buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) and titi (Cyrilla racemiflora). I may not have sighted the other carnivores but almost as special at my feet was a plant I’ve only seen after it senescence – yellow eye-grass. More than likely Xyris louisianica. My photo did not do it justice as only a few flowers were emerging. Xyris is the only genera of the family Xyridaceae represented in North America.