Update on Olympic Project nest sites

[Arvedis]

On 12/21/2020 at 9:41 AM, BobbyO said:

The site hasn't overly grown over by now neither.

 

Just a few minutes in, Gunnar discusses the degraded site. This is 3 years ago:  https://podcasts.apple.com/ke/podcast/bigfoot-in-kentucky-with-charlie-raymond/id698335582?i=1000405883922

[BobbyO]

On 1/16/2021 at 4:00 AM, Arvedis said:

 

Just a few minutes in, Gunnar discusses the degraded site. This is 3 years ago:  https://podcasts.apple.com/ke/podcast/bigfoot-in-kentucky-with-charlie-raymond/id698335582?i=1000405883922

 

You're talking about the original nest site it seems (from 2016), whilst i was talking about the new nest finds site (from Feb 2020) hence me linking the Todd Hale podcast series.

[BobbyO]

I added this to some of the Small Town Monsters stuff they've been using as promo to push the documentary i the past few days..;)

 

----

 

I’ve waited a while to post this one.

 

On November 16th, @small_town_monsters released their much coveted and most recent ‘On the trail of Bigfoot’ documentary, ‘The Discovery’ (Available Now, on Amazon).

 

One of the many big questions to come from it was ‘Why ?’.

 

Why would something build a nest where it did, and why would they build a nest with what they did ?

All (20+) Olympic Project nests found so far were made with Evergreen Hucklberry (Vaccinium Ovatum), a species of Huckleberry that has pretty unique medicinal values.

 

The Evergreen Huckleberry, also known as the Californian, Florist’s, Shot and Winter Huckleberry is one of only 3 out of 26 Vaccinium species in North America that can be used as a ‘birthing aid’ where its medicinal purpose is concerned.

 

‘An infusion of the leaves and sugar have been given to a mother after childbirth to help her regain her strength.’

 

Could this be the ‘Why ?’ that these nests are built out of what they are ?

 

In some Native languages the term for plants translates to “those who take care of us.’

 

Food for thought, and maybe for other reasons too !

[MIB]

I think I have mentioned this, but the trackway I found back in '74 lead out of the river, across a mud-covered rocky shelf, up a very steep clay bank, and into a horrific evergreen huckleberry "jungle".   It was previously logged, naturally reseeded, and grew back to a mass of mid-sized Douglas fir overstory with an understory of incredibly dense huckleberry and blackberry.    It very much resembled the original OP site / approach path the team used as depicted in video.     I've also uncovered 2 reports from hunters in the Oregon Coast Range of nest-like structures on the ground made of evergreen huckleberry in locations similar to the OP original site in that they were above smaller of a main river, tributaries where salmon spawn.  

 

I do not think this is as unique as it initially appeared, it's just so forbidding people don't generally go into those places so they don't find the nests.    It makes me think of a couple of other locations I should check .. would check if I were a little nearer with younger legs.

 

MIB

[hiflier]

You have mentioned it before, MIB and I am just as wowed now as I was the first time I read it. BobbyO has said as much also and so that logistic is something I have tucked away in my brain as I study Northeast topo maps. My understanding is that there is a kind of more major North/South ridge line that these west-facing spurs come off of and it was on one of those west-facing spurs that the nests were located on (above a salmon-spawning tributary), along with, as you say, plenty of the right kind of local flora for nest building. It's a good set up to look for......except for the jungle part 'cause I ain't getting any younger either.

[BobbyO]

Your East Coast equivalent i'm sure, is the Bog Bilberry (Vaccinium Uliginosum), H..;)

[BobbyO]

22 hours ago, MIB said:

I think I have mentioned this, but the trackway I found back in '74 lead out of the river, across a mud-covered rocky shelf, up a very steep clay bank, and into a horrific evergreen huckleberry "jungle".   It was previously logged, naturally reseeded, and grew back to a mass of mid-sized Douglas fir overstory with an understory of incredibly dense huckleberry and blackberry.    It very much resembled the original OP site / approach path the team used as depicted in video.     I've also uncovered 2 reports from hunters in the Oregon Coast Range of nest-like structures on the ground made of evergreen huckleberry in locations similar to the OP original site in that they were above smaller of a main river, tributaries where salmon spawn.  

 

I do not think this is as unique as it initially appeared, it's just so forbidding people don't generally go into those places so they don't find the nests.    It makes me think of a couple of other locations I should check .. would check if I were a little nearer with younger legs.

 

MIB

 

Thanks for that MIB, that's real interesting.

 

You wouldn't be so kind as to share the 2 reports you mention please would you if they're public ? I'm really intrigued.

[hiflier]

1 hour ago, BobbyO said:

Your East Coast equivalent i'm sure, is the Bog Bilberry (Vaccinium Uliginosum), H..;)

 

Yes, and thank you for thinking of me, BobbyO. Good stuff there. The local leaf images that I have seen do look similar to the leaves on the plants in the nesting area. More rounded with the slight look of elephant skin, as opposed to the more ovate smooth, pointed appearance of the common Maine blueberry. The differences can be more subtle but worth having the knowledge of those differences.

[norseman]

We have huckleberries here. I guess they are the mountain variety. I know they are nowhere as big as the bushes seen at the nesting sites. The blueberries I encountered in Alaska are similar to our huckleberry. Knee high maybe.

[hiflier]

18 minutes ago, norseman said:

I know they are nowhere as big as the bushes seen at the nesting sites.

 

And that could be a good clue to what variety of the ones around the nesting area are? Because, after doing quite a bit of research, I only see one Vaccinium variety that gets that tall (5-9ft or more) and it is Vaccinium corymbosum, which isn't a huckleberry or bilberry but a tall blueberry. Huckleberry and bilberry shrub heights only range from 1-4ft max. Would this change anything? Of course, because it may narrow my own search for the plant plus help to zero in on known locales of large patches using maps and local word of mouth.

[MIB]

There are at least 3 kinds of huckleberry across the areas I roam.

 

I grew up with evergreen huckleberry in the coast range and lower, wetter parts of the inland / Cascades:   Vaccinium ovatum   Where I started deer hunting it was usually the understory below tan oak .. tan oaks were thought to be ice age relics related to southeast Asian species rather than American oaks until pretty recently.   When mixed with salal and Oregon grap, the combination is known by several names which include colorful and profuse profanity among loggers, hunters, etc.    It is pretty nightmarish to try to get through.   The areas where they overlap typically get 100 inches or more of rain in a year but it all falls in 6 months so you're either soaked to the bone or fighting impossibly noisy conditions ... there's a good reason for it to be bigfoot cover!!  

 

At higher elevations in the Cascade range we have (tah dah!!!) Cascade huckleberry: Vaccinium deliciosum 

 

In some areas, in between but overlapping both, we'll find "red huck": Vaccinium parvifolium .  Where found with Cascade huckleberry there is also usually snowberry and both are roughly mid-shin in height in those locations.   In other areas like along the McKenzie river / highway 242 going to McKenzie Pass it gets somewhat bigger.

 

Being Thanksgiving tomorrow, I should add that all 3 make the most incredible pies you'll ever eat if done right.     And to keep it on bigfoot, my research area in the cascade smells like a cooking pie at the end of berry season when it's still hot enough to release the scent of the fallen, uneaten berries.

 

MIB

 

[hiflier]

Nice info, hope your holiday this year is great. Might have to look into those pie recipes some

[Huntster]

3 hours ago, norseman said:

........The blueberries I encountered in Alaska are similar to our huckleberry. Knee high maybe.

 

I always knew Alaskan blueberries as "high bush" (Vaccinium alaskaense) and "low bush" (Vaccinium uliginosum). I've heard people refer to the high bush as huckleberries and the low bush as bog blueberries. The low bush is what we find in the interior and alpine areas, and the high bush is primarily found along the coast and coastal mountains of the Gulf of Alaska. By far, the low bush is more prevalent. The mountains are carpeted with it from @ 2,500' elevation to @ 4,000'.

[BobbyO]

3 hours ago, hiflier said:

 

And that could be a good clue to what variety of the ones around the nesting area are? Because, after doing quite a bit of research, I only see one Vaccinium variety that gets that tall (5-9ft or more) and it is Vaccinium corymbosum, which isn't a huckleberry or bilberry but a tall blueberry. Huckleberry and bilberry shrub heights only range from 1-4ft max. Would this change anything? Of course, because it may narrow my own search for the plant plus help to zero in on known locales of large patches using maps and local word of mouth.

 

That Vaccinium Ovatum at the nest site is 8ft tall in places H, for sure !

[BobbyO]

So since Shane and Todd walked in on the one who was highly likely in the process of making a nest in Feb 2020, i've looked as deep as i can in to this Huckleberry and other localized flora in the Olympics.

 

The Evergreen/Shot/Californian/Winter Huckleberry (Vaccinium Ovatum), as mentioned, is one of only three Vaccinium that has a medicinal purpose as a 'birthing aid'.

 

The other two are the below :

 

Bog Bilberry (Vaccinium Uliginosum) which is also known as the Bog Blueberry, Northern Bilberry and Western Blueberry. It's range is all along the west coast up to Alaska as well as the North East, and New England.

 

Oval-leaf Huckleberry (Vaccinium Ovalifolium) which is also known as the Alaska Blueberry, Oval-leaf Bilberry, Oval-leaf Blueberry. It's range is the Pacific Northwest plus parts of Western and Eastern Canada.

 

I've attached a document i prepared for somebody in New England for the Bog Bilberry, it's range is a little more detailed in the document too via maps. Feel free to share with anyone.

Bog Bilberry.pdf