Tree Spirits

As he dangled in the air, a small breeze gently rocked his tree boat against the oak limb beneath him. It too dangled from his saddle as he stared at the rope system in front of him and the webbing used to attach one end of the tree boat to the sturdy oak trunk. I rested and watched as fellow student Hallow put the knowledge we learned into use. Here we were in Oregon City, Oregon to learn advance tree climbing skills with Tim Kovar, New Tribe.

The tree climbing was done on a beautiful farm with green grassy hills and groves of Oak, Cedar, and Douglas-fir trees. Hallow drove down from Canada and I from the Seattle area. The first day I arrived we set up our tree boats and hung out in them. Later on that night we climbed up into our tree boats again and looked up at the bright stars as the frogs below talked amongst themselves. The tree climbs spread out in front of me like thick veins. They pulsed with energy and life all awhile being still and content with the passing moons.

Hanging out with the Licorice Ferns

This weekend a few friends and I went to a trail called Mt. Si in the Cascade mountains. We went about one mile up the trail then went off trail to find a tree to climb. The main canopy is made up of tall Douglas-fir trees with branches that start at least 90 feet in the sky. A more appropriate tree for climbing was a Big Leaf Maple. Once I found a good tree I set the rope up and the required knots for DRT. After giving a demonstration and setting each person up, they got to wiggle their way up to where the Licorice Ferns were dangling off the branches. I'm going to "go out on a limb here" and assume they had a pretty good time.


Tomorrow I will be driving down to Portland to learn more about tree climbing with Tim Kovar through Tree Climbing Northwest. http://www.newtribe.com/tcnt.htm
I will be there for four days and look forward to spending more time in the trees!

  

Marbled Murrelet

       Picture this, a monogamous pair of Marbled Murrelet’s just spent several years out at sea and on this special day they traveled over 70 kilometers of ocean and land to the temperate forests of Washington State. Flying into an old-growth forest that has been there for centuries, is now completely gone. They glance over at the secondary forest nearby but this habitat doesn’t work. The young branches of the Douglas fir tree are not broad or tall enough to hold a variety of epiphytes that could protect their single egg from predators. The couple flies onward, in search of a suitable home to raise their chick. This scenario has potentially happened to several Marbled Murrelet’s. Logging and development are the major causes of this unique species numbers to drop, placing it in the endangered category.

Marbled Murrelet's, Brachyramphus marmoratus, spend most of their lives out at sea but when it's time to nest, the pair heads into the woods in search of that perfect place to lay a single egg.They are small birds, roughly the size of a robin and a challenge to research in the large trees of old-growth forests therefore most research takes place at the ocean. For a sound recording and/or video of this bird visit Cornell's wonderful Lab of Ornithology website at http://macaulaylibrary.org/index.do.


Photo courtesy of: San Fransisco State University



Lettuce Lichen



Photo by Daniel Mathews


If you live in the Pacific Northwest you've probably seen me before. I kind of look like a piece of lettuce or maybe a lung so people call me Lettuce Lichen or Lung Lichen. My scientific name is Lobaria oregana and I am the largest in my family. I like to be in areas where there is a lot of water and I can hang out on the branches of trees. When the wind gets really gusty you can find me on the ground waiting to decompose and provide nitrogen to the soil. I pride myself in playing a key role in this ecosystem because I am a nitrogen fixer. I take nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into ammonia which then other plants can use to grow and thrive. Pretty cool huh!?

Las Mariposas

There were several of them chasing each other, fluttering around as if playing tag. One or two would disappear then all of them would gather, twirling with the light breeze, dancing up the current towards the pale blue sky. I watched them dance as I safely sat in my saddle, sixty feet in the sky. I was grounded to a huge Red Oaks armpit. Just half an hour ago those same butterflies were dancing in my stomach as I perched up on one of the largest arms of "Rosie." I took a deep breath and logically thought about my situation. I was safe, the knots were good and I wasn't going anywhere.

After watching those butterflies I got to do a bit of my own dancing in the sky. With one big push off the main trunk my body was propelled backwards, I spun slightly to do a 360 turn to land back at the trunk with my feet.

I adore this painting above by Jaime Jose, it is called El vuelo de las mariposas, The flight of the butterflies. In a way we are all made up of a bunch of small butterflies. Maybe their trying to go up towards the sky, and into our minds they go. Sometimes they get a little anxious and flurry around, running into each other causing chaos. And like this woman in this painting shows, she breaths, calming the flurry, and in turn helping those butterflies to perch and rest.  

Hmmmm

"Are you ADHD?" Peter Treeman Jenkin's asks me. He asks because he thought most tree climber's were. My reply was, no, I really don't think so. But how would I know? What is ADHD? I picture kids with tons of energy running around crazily, unable to focus on one task. So I took a test and would you believe it, I scored a moderate level of adhd. Granted some of the questions were vague but they were questions based on behavioural characteristics and a few of them hit home. A few observations such as, "Concentrates better when moving or fidgeting, has increased anxiety or nervousness, is restless or in constant motion, is always on the "go." On the go.......HMMMM that sounds familiar!

I'm on the go, go, go, all the time, time, time! I just got back from Argentina, now I'm in Atlanta, Georgia and people ask me, what's next? I usually think I'm going to do some sort of silly non-realistic "relaxing" but the last time I said that, look where it brought me.

Tree Man

Either way, there's nowhere else I'd rather be than here in Georgia dangling from a, I believe Peter said, a Southern Sugar Maple Tree. In the first part of the morning we practiced the Double Rope Technique (DRT) which is a series of several knots. Then I practiced some line throwing and in the afternoon I was shimmying my way up into the tree. The tree is on their property in front of the house where guests can stay for the low  price of $45 a night.

I'm pretty tired now and need to get to bed. I can only imagine tomorrow my muscles will be sore and my head already hurts a little from all the information I'm soaking in. When I got into the tree I set up two more pitches, a way to progress further up into the tree. I then set up a downward pitch to get out of the tree. Peter had me learn these methods because I will be climbing taller trees than the maple and have to learn how to work with the different pitches. Peter designs his program based around an individuals needs. Very patient, helpful, and funny, Peter is a better instructor (and person at that) than I ever imagined. His wife Patty does a lot of the behind the scenes work and is also a genuinely good person with a passion for the outdoors.

I have another full day tomorrow and will be joining Peter afterwards to a residential home to inspect hazardous trees. This will be after climbing all day for eight hours. Lovin' it! Stay posted mis amigos!

Wandering Salamander

Look at me, I'm a slimy, lungless, tree climbing salamander! My latin name is Aneides vagrans, fancy wording which means, Aneides in Greek, I lack form or shape and just like my common name says, I'm a wanderer. I've wandered my way into British Columbia hiding under Tan Oak bark shipped there in the late 19th century then sneaking out and seeking refuge in the forests. I like it there quite well but nothing compared to my original home in the damp forests of the redwoods, California. You can find me hiding under rotting logs, dark crevices in rocks, and even waaaaay up in the trees. I'm talkin' over 100 feet up in the sky! There's no need for me to go anywhere else. The complex system in these trees are refuge to all kinds of plants called, epiphytes, meaning these plants grow on other plants for support without hurting them. I'll eat anything I can find like bugs and worms that live here year-around in the forest like me.

If you want to learn more about me and some of my relatives check out the following links:<http://www.californiaherps.com/>

This stuffs intense right here: <http://www.humboldt.edu/redwoods/sillett/publications/spicklerEtAl2006.pdf>

Gato de pelo

Fine cat hair sticks to every inch of my clothing, sneaks its way into my food, and is a constant visual companion in my grandmothers home in Kent, Washington. Her three half siamese cats and my grandmother are my new companions as I work out my spring quarter school plans. My spring independent project is Tree Canopy Research and Climbing. I will be reading two books, writing papers and taking three tree climbing courses. The first one is April 10th to the 16th in Atlanta, Georgia. I will be taught how to safely access and climb trees with the founder Peter Jenkins, of the first recreational tree climbing organization in the US.

http://treeclimbing.com/

After this week course I will be able to acess the tree canopies on my own. For safety reasons I will practice with my re-acquainted friend John who is a certified arborist for the city of Kent. It has been 11 years, along time since our days punching each other on the bus. Besides this exciting transition I will be adding a new member to the family, her name is Smurfett and she's a blue 2003 Honda Element. Perfect for my adventures into the wilderness with plenty of room for gear and AWD for nasty roads. It's time to go read my Forest Canopies book and roll around in some cat hair. I hope everyone is having a nice transition into spring. I'm finally accepting that it will be spring, for a while since I've been back I keep thinking it is going to be fall. This year will be my third summer.

The Juggling is Better

Remember the VERY first post I wrote here? It was about my pasayo, a clown, that followed me around collecting new spanish words and putting them in mate gourds. Then he would try to juggle them and clumsily spill the words out everywhere so at night I had random spanish words racing through my head.

Six months later and I thought of this as I tried to go to bed. Instead of spanish words interruting me during sleep, this time it was preventing me from sleeping. Estoy cansado pero quiero ir a dormir. Si tengo muchas cosas en mis mochillas.... I am tired but I want to go to sleep. Yes I have a lot of things in my bags. And on and on it went. I realize now the pasayo got better at juggling but when I get home to the states he will probably drop a few gourds.

I´m headed on the plane tonight to finally go home. I´m exausted, I´m ready to relax. I will miss Argentina but know I will be back to climb some mountains and confuse the pasayo once again. See you all soon!