ROADSM&R: 2 hours: 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM

Initial clearing of roads in the middle of South Side unit #4.

Road clearing in the south side of Unit #4. Partial clearing between and around the first and second road junctions in the middle of the south side. Lots of downed trees, big and small, to cut up and toss, along with embedded logs, alder seedlings, salmonberry and blackberry to pull out. Fully cleared three small sections of road, especially defining the second junction. Only about 100 feet to go from the second road junction to connect up to the trail coming up the central ridge that I cleared last month. Tossed the woody debris far off the road to expose the mossy berms for a more attractive appearance. There is some heavy alder seedling and sapling regeneration in the more sunny areas of the road around the junctions, so I am avoiding the difficult work of uprooting them. I only pull a certain amount in any one session to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, blisters and excess muscle strain. Some of the brush and larger trees will require a shovel.

BEFORE: First junction in South Side road, six years after the clear-cut, just before I cleaned up the road.

Many logs are lying across and others are embedded in the road. This was a muddy, rutted mess after the timber harvest. No attempt was made to recondition the roads after harvesting, so the lumps and stumps still need to be dealt with. Clearing off the fallen trees and uprooting the alder saplings and brush now will make for an easier job grading with an excavator or bulldozer later.

AFTER: First junction in South Side road, after I cleaned up the road an.d surrounding stand.

I left a lot of the standing dead snags, taking out the smaller ones. The road is completely cleared of woody vegetation and is ready for the blade – sometime during the dry season.

This photo was taken about a month later (12/13/2013), after I had done some additional clearing work on the trail coming up Middle Ridge (in the center of the photo), so this was a multi-session project.

FORESTRY: 2 hours: 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM

Thinning, pruning and general cleanup along South Side road in South Side unit #4.

Forestry work in the south side of unit #4. General clean-up work: thinning out small dead spars and bent-over live trees, blowdown slashing and stob pruning. Worked the area around the first and second road junctions in the middle of the south side, in the un-harvested zones where there are a lot of smaller trees with jack-strawed and bent-over remnants of the 2007 windstorm. Carpet-bombing style woody debris all over the mostly bare forest floor. Only a few trees and brush are starting to move into the understory, now with light coming in from the adjacent harvested zones.

MONITOR: 1 hour: 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM

Walkabout with observations of wildlife: River otters, elk sign and an odd bird.

Hiking wildlife tour of Clearwater Creek Property: down West Ridge to the creek, photo and video at the mouth of the creek, up to the SW corner and then up the south side to the end of the road near the high point at the SE corner. Noticed one, maybe two river otter in the flood-tide swollen base of Clearwater Creek in my salmon-viewing area – lots of splashing around and some irritated chattering noises for a few minutes and then silence – they vanished.  Possibly a salmon involved with the splashing, but not confirmed like the otter. Lots of elk scat throughout the trail system, much of it recent (within the week), but no elk sighting. One murrelet-type bird zipped out towards the water from the big trees in the SE corner, with a seabird-like repeated, high-pitched, single-note call. On the way in (at the gate) and on the way out (by the tidal slough south of CC), a large brown owl was flying around – too dark to see any other identifying features.

River Otter popping up at the edge of Clearwater Creek.

Very hard to see, but a river otter is staring at me from the water’s edge, a tiny gray figure in the middle of the photo just to the left of the stump. It was furiously splashing around in the tide-swollen creek mouth just moments earlier. Perhaps the salmon are running, but none were evident on this visit.

River Otter swimming at the mouth of Clearwater Creek.

Another poor quality photo off the river otter You can see its wake in the middle of the photo and (barely) see his dark form gliding underwater, heading to the lower left-hand corner.

Mouth of Clearwater Creek at tidewater, with trees in and across the creek.

I cleared a path along the edge of the creek (running up through the middle of the photo) for salmon and wildlife viewing, but left the fallen trees and branches in place within the creek itself. I noticed the otters using them for cover when I startled them, so hopefully it will encourage aquatic wildlife to hang out here.