Chattermarks

The sheer power of water was apparent in the North Cascades this last weekend after a recent Pineapple Express hit the Northwest. Warming temperatures combined with a significant amount of rainfall fell onto several weeks worth of snow in the Cascades. Consequently, mountain creeks filled to the brim and several landslides covered Highway 20, closing a stretch of this road between the towns of Diablo and Newhalem. Several M.Ed. graduate students and our graduate coordinator were staying at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center and in the town of Diablo, and got to see this dynamic shift in nature first-hand.

At the Learning Center, the recent weather demonstrated how quickly land is shaped by water as we watched Sourdough Creek quadruple in size Sunday afternoon. This was an amazing shift to see as Sourdough typically runs as a trickle in late summer to a swiftly-flowing mountain creek in late spring. Sourdough Creek runs next to the Learning Center’s parking lot under a “Texas dip,” a removable piece of roadway designed to prevent washout. But this road feature was barely recognizable as the creek filled with brown, fast-running water that undercut the bank, causing large chunks of earth to collapse and wash away into Diablo Lake.

» Continue reading Natural Shifts in the North Cascades

This week has brought the first significant snowfall to the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. Sitting at a relatively low ~1,200 feet in the range, the Learning Center is generally snow-free through the year, though the La Nina weather pattern this winter promises to bring us more of the white stuff than usual.

With last weekend’s sold-out Thanksgiving Family Getaway passed, our year of programs at the Learning Center has come to a close. While we still have a small crew of staff working up there every day, wrapping things up for 2010 while simultaneously planning 2011, campus is quiet and still. The snow brings a magical hush to the woods and lake, and the closure of the North Cascades Highway means there aren’t many people passing through the area anymore. The wildlife pretty much has the entire neighborhood to themselves.

Here are some photos from Tuesday, November 30, taken by M.Ed. graduate student Nick Mikula. Enjoy, and hope to see you again at the Learning Center next year!

» Continue reading Snow at the Learning Center

When I awoke the other morning to see a forest of snow-covered trees, I felt just as excited when I made the same discovery as a child in the winter season. A fresh layer of snow had fallen overnight, changing the already beautiful landscape of the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center into a wintery scene. It appeared to have only snowed an inch or two at the lower elevation, but I was just as happy as if it had snowed more.

The snow always lifts my spirits and I am compelled to get outside and play in the white stuff. Coincidentally, my fellow graduate students and I had previously arranged to spend the morning searching for animal signs and exploring our backyard near the Learning Center together before we departed for Thanksgiving break. With newly fallen snow, we were not sure if we would find many obvious signs of activity from our wildlife neighbors. We were fortunately proven wrong, and surprised at what we found.

» Continue reading Exploring Winter’s Arrival

North Cascades Highway is nearly open. The snowmobiles are put away, the traps are closed for the season and the wolverine crew has moved on to other endeavors. A few camera stations wait to be collected—hopefully holding a few late-season wolverine pictures on the memory cards. Yet there is one last aspect of the 2010 season that we all wait on.

Somewhere on a shelf in the office are vials with dates and GPS coordinates carefully recorded. Inside is blue desiccant and wolverine hair. In a drying box outside the office door is a collection of wolverine scat. This is the culmination of yet another aspect of the wolverine study in the North Cascades—following wolverine tracks to collect hair and scat.

To this end, members of the crew took several trips into the backcountry in search of the elusive wolverine. Multi-night trips. Backcountry skis and sunblock. Other people do this sort of thing for fun, but this was for science. Someone had to do it, right? In our defense, it is a bit of work. Heavy packs and cold nights. And a lot of GPS work. Everything had to be recorded—the exact route followed, any tracks encountered, and a plethora of details of weather and snow conditions. Not your usual backcountry trip in search of slopes of deep powder. A scientific expedition in search of wolverine tracks. But hopefully a few good turns in the process.

(Title) In search of wolverine tracks on the east side of the Pasayten Wilderness (Above) Brandon and Adam begin their search on the way to Sawtooth Crest

» Continue reading The magic of wolverine tracking

You would think it wouldn’t work.

First of all, the wolverine is an elusive creature. It inhabits the untrammeled heights of mountain ranges and is rarely seen or documented. So far this season, with ten traps open every day, we’ve captured just one wolverine. We’ve seen few tracks. But still, this winter we’re trying something new—getting photographs of the chests of wolverines. It is an idea only recently pioneered by Audrey Magoun, a wolverine researcher in southeast Alaska. And it is a brilliant idea.

Wolverines, it seems, have variable markings of light fur on their throats and chests. So variable, in fact, that each wolverine, if looked at closely, has a unique chest pattern. And therefore, with the right picture, we could tell them apart. A brilliant idea, truly, but in practice… It would seem that getting any picture of a wolverine would be a lucky convergence of circumstance, but to get a specific picture—a wolverine in a specific pose, well, it seems like wishful thinking. But then again, most great accomplishments start as silly dreams. The credit for the accomplishment of this silly dream lies to the north, with Magoun and her team of field people, who took an idea—getting pictures of wolverine chests—and made it happen. We’ve just followed their lead. But it is still exciting.

» Continue reading Capturing the Cascades wolverine

As anyone in the Skagit Valley may recall, this past Saturday wasn’t as bright and dry as some of the days previous. However, as stories like these usually begin, the weather was unsuccessful in deterring a group of enthusiastic kids from the Kulshan Creek Neighborhood Project and some equally enthusiastic adults from the US Forest Service and North Cascades Institute from partaking in a day outside learning about and observing the birds of the Samish Flats.

Our adventure began on Saturday, February 27th in the morning at the Kulshan Creek Community Center in Mount Vernon. As the students trickled in, they were met with hot chocolate—provided by a generous parent—and snacks. Lee Whitford, outreach naturalist for the Forest Service, and Orlando Garcia, of the US Forest Service, and I helped get the students situated and the day rolling.

Before we headed out onto our field trip, Don Gay, a wildlife biologist with the US Forest Service, gave a great presentation about the life history and migrational patterns of the Trumpeter Swans that temporarily inhabit the coastal farmlands of the Skagit River Valley. “Ooohs and ahhhs” were murmured throughout the room when Don explained that if a Trumpeter Swan was turned on its side with its wings out, it would have a wingspan that could reach from the floor past the ceiling of the room we were sitting in.

» Continue reading Winter’s swan song

It is nearing the end of February, and yet, while spring is shouting out with buds blossoming and fair weather, I find myself craving the cold of snow, yearning for the sting of winter.

With a snow-free Environmental Learning Center on the western slopes of the Cascades, the eastern flanks seemed the most likely venture in search of more local wintry conditions. The Icicle River Valley in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest called me. This valley, located near the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth, is one I am all too familiar with visiting in other seasons for rock climbing and backpacking. This trip, instead, was different, a hopeful plea to winter to let me experience a season that is all too quickly melting away.

Even to the east the snow was minimal, but just enough was present so that, for the first time this year, I could slip on my cross country skis and head up the Icicle Creek Road in search of other signs of winter.

» Continue reading Crossing a bobcat’s path

A flit of gold. A flicker of green. Soft song notes from within a tangle of blackberry vines. A surprising whoosh of hovering wing-sweeps, mere inches above ground.

Birds. They are some of the Skagit Valley’s most compelling and charismatic creatures. In winter, the Skagit farmlands teem with all kinds – song birds, raptors, shorebirds, local and migratory waterfowl. You need not have fancy equipment nor years of experience to be a birder here. What it takes is the curiosity to know more and the patience to practice deep observation.

(Title) Graduate students of Cohort 9 extend their birding eye on the Skagit flats (Above) The Hayton Reserve is one Skagit Valley location to go bird watching

» Continue reading Becoming bird observers

Tuesday morning found Cohort 9 at the Bagelry in Bellingham getting provisions for an all-day snowshoeing adventure to Artists Point from the Heather Meadows lot of Mount Baker Ski Area.

Blue skies and copious sunshine beckoned overhead as we headed up Koma Kulshan Highway. On our way to the ski resort, we stopped to stretch our legs and investigate some remnant old-growth Douglas-fir trees. Even as we crossed the North Fork Nooksack River, snow was scarce, leaving us concerned about possibly being over-equipped. All of our fears, however, were laid to rest several miles further up the slope as we met head-high snowdrifts along the road. Megan was able to successfully drive in the snow for the first time, quite a milestone for this native Floridian.

(Title) The group snowshoeing toward Artists Point, Photo by Kelsi Franzen (Above) Cohort 9 “C9″ rocks the old growth, Photo by Kelsi Franzen

» Continue reading A snowshoeing we will go

At the Environmental Learning Center, the weather this week hints almost of spring. It is tempting to get swept away from the season at hand into those of the future. But winter is not a season to be wished away, it is a season to be savored.

With snow’s presence lacking on the surrounding landscape, I find myself looking for other, less obvious signs of winter’s presence. I want to dig deeper into the often remarked “dreary” landscape of winter to bring out, instead, the vibrant shades and shapes that exist as my knowledge of this place’s natural history grows. Through twig tracking – the identification of deciduous shrubs and trees based on bud placement, plant shape, and twig color and texture – I am able to expand my engagement, understanding, and appreciation for the wintry North Cascades.

You need not travel far from your home to decipher the first of many twig mysteries that, for other seasons, hide beneath layers of leaves, flowers and fruits. On a late afternoon walk to Diablo Dam, I identified over 10 species of deciduous trees and shrubs that flourished alongside the roadway. Who knows what additional wonders await when venturing further into the woods!

» Continue reading Trying out twig tracking