07-14-14 Field Note

07-14-14 Field Note

July 14, 2014

Jeff Clarke's Field Note describes a houndstongue weed pull, the first alfalfa harvest of the year, and a juvenile great horned owl.

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Field Note Boondocks houndstongue pull, weed whack kochia, pond clean up July 14th, 2014

The crew removed weeds from the southern edges of the clubhouse pond. A weed free bank will allow the native plant communities to flourish.

The crew removed weeds from the southern edges of the clubhouse pond. A weed free bank will allow the native plant communities to flourish. We discarded all of the weeds into the pond. The added organic material will provide structure and nutrients to the macro and micro fauna.

Thousands of bluet damselflies hatch and mate on the added vegetation.

This common whitetail dragonfly buzzes around the pond and eats mosquitoes!

We removed several exclosures from shrubs that looked growth-restricted. Many of their branches tilted to the ground. The exclosures not only protect the shrubs, but provide support to their skinny, vigorous, branches.

Kochia grows thick in several planted areas. Dan and Joel work together to mow the weeds and prevent them from seeding. The crew weed whacks the kochia in areas that the mower can’t reach and in places where we don’t want to mow the native vegetation.

Transplanted basin wild rye flourishes in the washed out soils of lower Partridge Alley.

The crew planted, chipped and drip-lined 200 clematis around the orchard fences at the Top House and Orchard House.

Knapweed root weevils are out and about. Next week we will start to collect and relocate them to the top of Baldy, an area with a far smaller population.

We completed the first alfalfa harvest of the year.

year. Flood waters wreaked havoc on this buck and rail fence.

Over the last two years, this buck and rail inhibited ungulate browse enough to release these aspen suckers. When river levels drop, we will remove the fence.

A mother bufflehead dabbles with her clutch in the flooded back waters of the northern floodplain.

This white-tail deer fawn track is about the size of my pointer finger!

Elderberry blossoms begin to fade.

Houndstongue and mullein grow thick along the rounds in the boondocks. Last week, the field crew collected all the houndstongue seed heads and sprayed all the hounds tongue rosettes as well as the mullein.