Yesterday (Thursday), I went into the forest BY MYSELF! I collected data at a subset of the Pulse points (because it was postponed until next week). Since I am not certified to drive Forest Service vehicles (I will be by Monday!), I had to walk to the first point, but then Jay and Ari were nice enough to give me a ride to the rest of the points, but I still had to do quite a bit of walking.
At all the sites, I identified the phases of the vegetation and reproduction of each study plant. I also counted insects by the leaf-counting protocol. I found lots of good insects! Some caterpillars, spiders, beetles, aphids, flies, etc.
I also found that some of the plants had been identified incorrectly: CONU labeled as an ACCI and a TABR labeled as a TSHE! You probably have no idea what that means...Just know that it is really cool that I noticed the mistake :)
The most annoying part about being independent in these woods is that you have to carry a radio. I appreciate the safety it provides, but I just can't seem to remember it anywhere! Yesterday, I got to bird point 206, almost breaking my ankle on the way up the slope, only to realize I did not have my radio--I had left it in the computer lab. Then, after I got my radio from the lab, I had to put my rain coat on because it had started raining. When I left the office I also left behind my radio. So I had to go get it again. BUT I am really good at radio talk/lingo!!
Jay and I were coming down from the last point of the day, PC5, and we looked to see if the recent snow was still on the opposite slope, and instead we saw a RAINBOW!! And I didn't have my camera! I'm just going to start bringing it in the truck, because I am missing too many good photos. BUT Jay had his camera:
We were actually above the rainbow! It was magical!
I considered going to Corvallis today for the last LTER meeting of the season, but my ride home fell through. Instead, I think I will go grocery shopping in Eugene...which is an hour and a half away.
It's sunny this morning!
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