July 16th, 2010
Flammulated Owl Survey, Ashley National Forest, UT
Flaming Gorge Reservoir
The first week of training ended and ZH and I would make our way to the Ashley National Forest north of Vernal, UT to begin the pilot project surveying for Flammulated owls (FLOW) in mixed conifer forest. JC would go back into the West Desert continuing to conduct Golden Eagle (GOEA) and Ferruginous Hawk (FEHA) nest surveys. Each tech will spend two-10 day shifts conducting FLOW surveys and one-10 period in the West Desert conducting GOEA and FEHA surveys. If ZH and I only new what the forest had in store for us we probably would have given serious thought about resigning.
When interviewed by our present supervisor for the tech position, I along with the 2 other technicians hired had a picture painted for us of what the FLOW work would consist of. It sounded extremely easy. The work would require 5 to 6 hours of relatively easy walking in mixed conifer forest while navigating to a predetermined transect that consisted of 16 points. Each point was 250 meters apart from one other. Each tech would have 8 call stations to visit, conduct a vegetation analysis (2 hours maximum) during the day, and then call for FLOW’s at night (3-4 hours maximum). Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong.
The transects consisted of blow downs from purgatory and ranging from 1 to 4 feet in height. Imagine Paul Bunyon uprooting acres of Lodgepole pine trees, throwing them up into the air, and having them land on the ground in a hap hazardous fashion. Then put in the variables of steep slopes, stream crossings, and rock outcroppings and you can get an idea of what the walking conditions were like. There were many instances when my feet did not touch the forest floor for many meters. It was frustrating to look down at the GPS and see that 0.1 km had been covered in the past 10-15 minutes. It did not matter if one was walking uphill or downhill, both directions had their own difficulties.
Then add insult to injury, when not walking or climbing over blow downs the forest produced dense sections of Lodgepole pine saplings 5 to 6 feet tall and obstructing my field of vision. This made walking difficult and slow because I had to slowly move through the saplings so not to bash my shins or trip over any down trees hiding. Regardless of how careful I was my shins bore the brunt of many encounters with fallen down trees. I have never cursed so much at a job in my life, and I have had some tough menial jobs.
So the workday/work night lasted from 12 to 14 hours. Quite a reality check from the expected 5-6 hours mentioned in the job interview. After the first couple of transects the thought of working 10 days straight did nothing for my moral or ZH’s. There were times ZH and I would look at each other and wonder out loud if we could continue this grueling schedule. We also wondered if there would be any skin left on our shins after ten days of hiking through this madness. The end of our 10-day stint could not come fast enough.
Calypso Orchid
There were two evenings were we could not conduct FLOW surveys due to high winds. Any wind over a 4 on the Beaufort wind scale (11-16 mph) and the survey is placed on hold. It was a nice and well-needed respite. During the day we continued the vegetation analysis, and I was impressed how flexible lodgepole pines are. The treetops would sway several feet in any given direction while making creaking sounds from the stress placed on them from the strong wind. Occasionally a dead tree would make a clanking sound while rubbing against another dead tree. At times a tree would fall 30-40 meters from where I was walking or sitting. I then realized it was dangerous working in the woods. However, commonsense did not prevail on those days. I continued to work so I would not have to do a vegetation survey and a FLOW survey in the same 24-hour period. Thus making the workday shorter and somewhat easier for me.
Having fun in the woods. (ZH 2010)
Finally day ten came around. ZH and I we were tired, sore, dejected and ready to head back to Salt Lake City to lick are wounds and recuperate for 4 days. Arriving at our last transect we were pleasantly surprised to see it was relatively flat and open. While conducting the vegetation survey I could not believe I was walking on relatively flat ground with no blow downs to negotiate. Walking was effortless and it took 10 minutes or less to get to each call station. I thought to myself, this is what all the transects should be like. I finally had a smile on my face and looked forward to actually conducting a FLOW survey.
Transect from Heaven
Arriving at the filed house in Salt Lake City at 3:30 a.m. was a joyous occasion after the 3-hour drive home. ZH and I quickly unpacked the truck and went to sleep. The next 4 days were spent recuperating. We were so whipped that we could not recreate let alone ride our bikes until the our third day off. That is how bad it was. I have not had my derrière kicked this bad since hiking in the Barranca del Cobra of Mexico.