Sw Wa Field Work

[BigTreeWalker]

I noticed that this morning on the way home from work. The sun was up but it was just a red ball in the sky. A couple years ago there was a fire near Mt Adams, about ten miles from our elk Camp. An east wind came up and blew the smoke into our area. It was rather disconcerting not knowing where or how close the fire was to us. We had to drive a couple miles from camp to get some cell coverage so we could call and find out how close the fire was. Must be bad for the animals!

[norseman]

Eastern and Central Washington, north Idaho and western Montana are being nuked right now. And I work in the oilfield in Baker MT, and the smoke is horrible here as well.

[BigTreeWalker]

It almost looks like everything that didn't burn last year is burning this year in north central WA. Up around Lake Chelan I noticed from the fire maps that the new fires are burning right between the older fire areas.

[SWWASAS]

Anyone know how long after a fire is out before the forest service walks away from it? Do they prohibit access?. You probably can figure out where I am going from my question. Certainly with forest canopy burned looking down into the trees from the air would allow one to see the ground and what is on it better.

[BC witness]

I like the way you think, SWWAS. We're waiting here in the Fraser Valley for the Forestry to allow access to the Wood Lake fire, on the western slope above Harrison Lake, which is still, after 3 full weeks, only 80% contained. The wind is from there, toward my home in Abbotsford today, and the smoke is thick enough to make the mountains just 3 miles from my window barely discernable as hazy outlines. We don't have a small plane, like you do, but we want to search for tracks and possible shelters (rock overhangs, caves) in the fire zone. Using binoculars from the east shore of Harrison on Wed., it looks like a lot of the big timber may have survived, with the thick understory being burnt away below it. Could be interesting. :-)

[BigTreeWalker]

The best bear tracks I have found were in the ash after the big Okanogan fire last year. Easy to follow too.

[SWWASAS]

Gotta be careful.    There is a reason they call those fire snags widow makers.     What I wonder is if they search the area for dead animals too.    Our visibility here has been as low as 1/2 mile but the winds have shifted and it is a lot better today.  

[SWWASAS]

Field work this morning.   Back to my first field work area on a new mountain bike.     More of a test ride for the bike than anything and did not think anything would happen.    Nice to cover 8 miles in a couple of hours instead of half a day.   Anyway saw evidence of some movements down a steep slope in a chute off a cliff area.      Slope was about 45 degrees.   Could not figure why anything was coming down that slope.     But something big that did not leave hoof marks in the soft dry dirt was making skidding tracks down the slope.    It occurred to me that arms would make the descent less suicidal as there were things along the side to grab onto.        Deer or elk prints would have shown in the soft soil.       Decided that would be a good location for a game camera to find out what is using that chute.     I came back past the area and looked again on the other side of the trail that overlooks the river.    Found about a 14 inch footprint there off the trail margin on the side towards the river and evidence of travel down to the river with disturbed vegetation.     Interestingly this area is just below (1/4 mile)  where I found my first BF footprint in 2011.   In that case a BF had come up from the river headed up the mountain.    Looks like I will be putting a game camera there to find out what is going on.  

[BigTreeWalker]

That sounds like a very productive trip. Good luck with the cameras.

I know it's great to have hands and brush to hang onto on steep slopes.

[SWWASAS]

Possible a bear had been using the chute.    They are capable of pretty sleep terrain.      At the base I saw what looked like a bear print, that was headed back up.    It could have used it to go down to the river, then tried to get up the same way, but just stopped looking up, left the print, then decided to go find an easier way up.    There was a creek bed not far away that would have been a better climbing route.   The other footprint was not a bear.   In gravel so not good quality but no sign of toes or heel so may or may not have been human.   But something 14 inches gets my attention.     Just not good enough to tell which. 

[BigTreeWalker]

I caught up with a beautiful cinnamon bear on a side road in the GPNF one day. It picked up speed and disappeared around a corner ahead. I was doing about 30mph. By the time I got around the corner (maybe 15 seconds), it was at the top of about a 60 degree bank 50 feet above the road. Talk about moving fast in rugged terrain. It would have taken me at least 5 minutes to get to the top slipping and sliding the whole way.

[hiflier]

Hello SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT and BigTreeWalker,

All I seem to come up with lately is ideas. But hey, since I'm not in the field much and you are something I come up with might help. What comes to mind of course is what's on everyone's mind: fires get animals moving. But here's a little hypothetical twist for you. let's say a fire breaks out and either gets put out, burns out or both. Obviously the animals have vacated the area if they were able to. Ok the fire is out and people are allowed back in.

Then at some point another fire breaks out a couple of miles away and again, animals are on the move. But the difference here is that the first area is out and now cold. Other than the odor of burnt wood which I would thing a BF would be used to then moving away from the second fire through the ash floor of the first doesn't seem unreasonable if the wind as moving the smoke from the second fire from the area; and especially if there's still timber standing. There should be prints then if there's a population in the neighborhood? I think, or hope, you get the idea.

[BigTreeWalker]

Yes it's a good idea and yes tracks will be very visible after a fire. The problem I have is entering an area with a fire still burning in the vicinity. If there are standing trees that didn't burn completely there is still fuel available. There's a fire burning now in an active sighting area in Okanogan County in north central WA. If a person were to wait for the fire to go out, then in a couple weeks patrol the edges of the area you might get some good tracks entering or leaving the area. However it is dangerous walking around in a burned over area because of still standing trees and sink holes where stumps have burned out and are covered over with ash. I speak from experience, because that is what happened to some of my property last year. No BF tracks but lots of good deer, bear and coyote tracks.

[norseman]

The woods and lakes are largely closed in the Colville NF. They have also canceled hunting season in many spots. Many of these fires will burn until winter.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3852325.pdf

[SWWASAS]

I flew up to Port Townsend today.     Smoke not so bad through central WA but  was getting bad with low visibilities in Southern WA.      Supposed to get some rain this weekend but it might not get to the worst fires which are further East.   I keep hoping to see a BF flipping me off when I fly over.    No such luck yet but I did not even have a camera with me today so probably a good thing it did not happen.     That would have been really frustrating.