Life on the Outer Coast

Friday morning's commute was a splashy surfing sort of ride. It was one of those days when I feel the need to aim straight for Totem Park and wait until the waves are on my stern or quarter stern before turning for Crescent Harbor. Probably not totally necessary, but ride is more comfortable. Saw about 10 Mew gulls, 8 harlequin, 3 pelagic cormorants, and a surf scoter on my route.


Picked up Scott Harris and Richard Carstensen and drove out to Starrigavan to look at the thinning treatments as part of the Ground-truthing project. The 700 acre clear-cut in the valley bottom and lower slopes was logged between 1968 and 1974. The blocks were thinned and pruned in the winter of 1997-1998. It looks like the rectangular blocks are less than a 1/4 mile on the long side.

The thinning units consist of 5 different treatments which have a goals of wildlife habitat enhancement and/or maximizing wood production. The treatments vary in tree spacing, pruning of lower branches, retention of red alder and one treatment included small gaps and thickets. Why we were interested in the thinning project was to evaluate the thinning as a way to restore habitat values, particularly winter habitat. There were tagged trees in each block that the FSL is periodically measuring.

I had looked at the blocks from the road on three trips last summer with the forest silviculturist, but hadn't gone into the stands very far on previous trips. We walked the road to block E, then walked in. Block E is the wettest of the blocks and is the most difficult to see the effects of thinning. I'm fairly certain that it is the most difficult because tree regeneration wasn't as thick because of the wetness of the site. Basically it never went through a stem exclusion phase, so the understory was fairly diverse.

We traversed the side slope for a ways, then returned to the road and entered each block. Side sloping was a bit of a pain because of the slash, so we tended to walk up into a block, travel across it and then find an easy way back down to the road. In the better drained sites, including the blocks that were designed to encourage understory forbs and shrubs it is difficult to see much effect of thinning at this point. Unless the stands are thinned again, I doubt if the thinning will have any effect. Typically, what seems to happen is that if thinning occurs after the stem exclusion stage, thinning just allows the trees to quickly take advantage of the space and light. It doesn't seem to hurry the successional process in terms of understory plant establishment. Not sure if I've ever seen a productive timber stand thinned often enough to maintain an understory.

We were looking in the stands for the plants that have been considered important winter foods in southeast: Cornus, Coptis, Rubus pedatus and Vaccinium. We saw a few scattered individuals of each species. Most if not all of the Vaccinium was in juvennile form. The main understory plants we found in the closed canopies were Rhytidiadelphus loreus, Hylocomium splendens, Tiarella trifoliata and Dryopteris inexpansa. In wetter open spots we found Rubus spectabilis, some Oplopanax and small patches of Pleuroziopsis ruthenica.

The slope was frequently dissected by areas with red alder, maidenhair fern and Polystichum setigerum and P. braunii. In red alder dominated stringers it was easy to see how the sediment and rock had moved downslope and buried the stumps. In one spot a small creek looked like it was re-establishing its original bed by eroding through about 2ft of sediment.
We did wonder whether active alluvial areas with alot of colluvial flow ever had much value as deer winter range. Perhaps there never was alot of the Vaccinium or Coptis, Rubus or Cornus that we were seeking. Pretty tough to tell at this point. A question was also raised about the value of riparian areas as winter range because of the cold air that sits in low spots. Starrigavan may be more extreme than some areas because of the aspect of the valley. The south facing slopes seem like they would be alot warmer than the valley itself.

The only local valley I can compare it to is Indian river. There seems to be Vaccinium and the three forbs present and I certainly saw deer sign and deer (or maybe it was an elephant?) in the valley last winter. I wonder if the alluvial disturbance is a little less regular compared to other river valleys. If memory serves, the active areas are a little more extensive on other systems on Chichagof and Baranof. I might have to look at a few more riparian areas in the neighborhood.

I certain that the thinning units did not change Richard's mind about the lack of value of thinning riparian forest for restoring terrestrial wildlife habitat. He expressed more confidence in the potential value of thinning hemlock dominated sites on lower slopes. Another style of habitat restoration that Richard had seen in the Thorne Bay district seemed more promising. Apparently, the wildlife biologist is cutting gaps instead of thinning. Presumably the gaps would be large enough to encourage the winter value forbs and so hurry along succession? I'm not sure of the size of the gaps or why the forbs would be accessible in a snowy year. I should have asked a few more questions. Hopefully, Scott will give me a copy of the ground-truthing report from POW.

We talked a bit about second growth on karst. Because of the excellent tree growth, the understory may take longer to re-generate than on less productive ground. That might explain the second growth (wind throw) stands near Tenakee Springs. The trees were about 100 plus years old and there was a lush growth of mosses in the understory, but nothing else. Of course, that time line is not out of line with Paul Alabacks prediction of 400 or more years for an old growth structure to develop.

Saw several of the Hygrophorus olivaceoalbus or "thigh -high -stocking" . I think that it's new common name might be easier to remember than the species name. There were a few scattered Hydnum umbilicatum in Block E. Collected a striking Mycena. It was shaped somewhat like and "glowed" like a Coprinus micaceous. Which is what I thought it was until I had it in hand. It is still silver even now that it is dry.

Saw Buffleheads, mallards, Common Mergansers, Scaup, and a Heron in the estuary. Made a short stop at HPR, Harlequins and Surf Scoters were just offshore the breaking waves.

After I dropped off Scott and Richard, I stopped by Swan Lake to look at the Hooded Mergansers, no luck. I was somewhat surprised to see a breeding plumage male Pintail and a Green winged teal, along with the Ring-necked ducks, 2 coots, and the plentiful mallards and scaups.