Day 2 7/16

Day 2 7/16/13

Awoke 5:54 :P
Ate cereal and made myself some tea :)
Got ready and made my lunch
Attained hiking socks
Class Time 1 (Instructions on Scientific Method and how they wanted us to go about things)
Pre-survey
Shitike creek. Lecture on repairing damaged areas.
Stop in woods. Lecture on Mull Deer population.
Lunch at rocks
Mill Creek Stop. Lecture on what was going to be happening with that land; how they were gonna fix it.
Lodge
Swimming
Lodge
Made rope from tucuse (?).
Dinner. Cooked by Band Wagon :D Chili Dogs
Played Werewolf. Heritage &WS
Slept
Woke Brandi up for her birthday at 12:00

Today was really interesting. The activities today definitely re-sparked my love for science!
At Shitike creek we learned about the restoration project that took place there. It was considered restored because the environment was flowing smoothly, the wildlife was happy, and there was even salmon returning to the river, something which hadn't happened in quite some time!

Then we stopped in the woods with a Wildlife Tech. to learn about Mull Deer and their habitat. Mull Deer have been declining for many years and some people are trying to fix it now. Some of the problems to Mull Deer include:
* Poachers
* Invasive species taking their food/destroying their habitat (such as horses which were at an astonishing population of at least 7,000)
* Predator Levels being too high

After that and lunch our final stop was Mill Creek. Mill Creek is a creek that was basically damed with mounds of dirt called 'berms'. These berms were used to help with transporting logs at the time. Soon the berms were abandoned but rather than take them out they were left there. Because the berms were left there the environment surrounding them, and the creek, has been stunted. We walked around the area and tried to identify things that should be changed to make the area restored. We learned some traits of restoration at Shitike creek. Some things that are going to be changed include:
* Slow the river speed
* Adding dead trees to help nourish the water and create little eco-systems
* Lower the steep banks (no more entrenched river)
* Raise the flood plain
* Change the rocks from all big ones to a diverse mix, including a lot of spawning gravel. (The spawning gravel was pulled up to make the berms)
* Remove the berms
* Make the area more diverse/heterogeneous

Then we went swimming! :) Me and some friends decided to swim/crawl upriver (it was pretty shallow, like wading water kinda, but moving at a good speed). It was pretty tough but a lot of fun! The way back down was pretty bumpy though!

Then my car made dinner. :D