Turkey Visit

This afternoon a small rafter of wild turkeys [Meleagris gallopavo] , seven in all, strutted into our yard. Like any chicken-like animal they poked around the flower beds and the bushes while the two cats and I stealthily spied on them from behind the curtains. After they sauntered into the woods nearby, they became engaged in a rather complicated discussion, and emitted an most unusual series of sounds with many intonations and expressions. I since found this link which provides a fairly thorough description of the various turkey calls.
There is a good picture on http://www.outtakes.com/birds/wildturkey.html

Eastern White Cedar

There are concentrations of eastern white cedar [Thuja occidentalis] trees throughout the property and particularly in the old river bank part F, and part C as well as the western end of part A. This is a popular food for deer in winter.

Lots of deer tracks and fresh evidence of Porcupine

Today's task is the inspection of Woodlot compartments C and D.

Found some more oak trees in the northern part of area C. There were two variations yet the both looked most like bur oak. [Quercus macrocarpa]. The variations were different enough though that one could be a white or english oak. In spring I hope to be able to do a better assessment by looking at buds and early leaves.

I ventured into Area D which is very wet. The water was high and the path that runs along the northern border was not passable without wading boots. The area is dominated by buckthorn and there is some red-osier dogwood [Cornus stolonifera]. http://www.borealforest.org/shrubs/shrub11.htm. There is much evidence of deer in the form of well used trails. Also there are scraped earth patches in serveral locations caused by bucks who are currently in rut. We only have one species of deer in these parts which is the whitetail deer [Odocoileus virginianus]. There is no evidence of any moose in these parts.

Heading back south found a very old and large yellow birch [Betula alleghaniensis] in the south part of C. Many of the branches on this tree are dead and breaking off. There is also a good number of young sugar maple saplings in the area. On the walk back found evidence of porcupine. One Tamarack [Larix laricina] – also called hackmatack and eastern larch – of good size, 6 inch (15 cm.) diameter trunk, about 40 feet (15M.) tall was heavily chewed up by a porcupine [Erethizon dorsatum] (p.) and will probably not survive. In this area I had earlier - several years ago - seen a very large porcupine in the top of one of the larger poplar trees. It was certainly 20 kg. (44 pounds), about the size of a dog, in fact I had at first mistaken it for a bear cub. This must be unusually large since all the literature on the animal states much smaller weights. I will take better notes next time.

Filmore R. Park Nut Grove near Kars, ON

Filmore R. Park Nut Grove is located in the Baxter Conservation Area just south of Kars, Ontario. It can be accessed from the McManus Interpretive Centre in the Baxter Conservation Area by following the trail from the back of the centre. At the entrance to the grove, there is a sign kiosk offering a detailed map of the site, and a free brochure for self-guided tours. Today there are more than 30 kinds of nut trees on display, comprising about 100 individual specimens. Included are Ginkgos, Nut Pines, Oaks, Walnuts, Hickories, Buckeyes, Horse Chestnuts, Hazels, Yellow horn, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Locusts, Beech, Black Cherry, Chestnut and Hackberry.

Contact: Sandy Graham, Kars, Ontario (613) 489-4159

Every Individual

Once we recognize the fact that every individual is a treasury of hidden and unsuspected qualities, our lives become richer, our judgment better, and our world is more right.  It is not love that is blind; it is only the un-noticing eye that cannot see the real qualities of people.  (Charles H. Percy - U.S. Senator)

Report Urges Governments to Put a Price Tag on Nature

There is an excellent article on the Ducks Unlimited website which quotes:

A report released yesterday by one of Canada's leading environmental economists urges governments to develop a system that puts a price tag on the services nature provides in our settled areas, before it is too late.

It is a must read for environmentalists and concerned citizens in general.

Starnose

My better half, Carroll observed a starnose mole [Condylura cristata] along our driveway trying to dig its way into the ground in flight. Economic impact of this animal is neutral. Although it occasionally damages golf greens or lawns, it devours many insects and aerates soils according to Burt and Grossenheider.

Added all backdated entries from My Planner Journal

Today I went through my Franklin Planner/Journals and updated this blog with all past relevant entries. About my Franklin Planner, I have been an active user of my planner for well over ten years and see myself using it for many more - well into my retirement. Yearly I buy the Original-Classic refill. For every day it includes an inspirational quote which I quite enjoy. It is unquestionable that without this tool and its accompanying instructions – the first purchase, and that was long ago, came with four cassette tapes on time management by Hiram Walker – I would not have acquired the discipline of keeping records and journal entries and consequently would not likely have been able make as thorough a record of these blog posts.

When I first used it, it was called the Franklin Planner. It is now called FranklinCovey, which I presume is after a merger with the business of Stephen Covey of Seven Habits fame. As a side bar I first read Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, several years ago and have reread it several times since. I still have not reached a level of high effectiveness but maybe one day. Seriously though, It is worth reading and along with the planner makes good company.

Woodlot Management Handbook - Excellent

Finished reading Woodlot Management Handbook by Stewart Hilts and Peter Mitchell. The authors are based in Ontario, involved in teaching and research. The book is 272 pp. for the main text, plus index. The book begins with a Chapter (2) on woodland ecology, that describes the interplay between birds, mammals, plants, the predator and prey, the impacts of certain plants like species of trees on the animals and soils etc. Chapter three is on preparing a woodland inventory. It provides sources of information such as maps and aerial photographs, and how to record the inventory. Chapter 4 is entitled an inventory for Firewood and Timber Production. It gives a summary of the techniques used by foresters to establish an inventory, how to measure trees, characteristics of trees as sources of firewood and timber. Chapter 5 is entitled Environmental Sustainability and Habitat Conservation. This is an interesting chapter describing how to protect wildlife habitats, old-growth forest characteristics, Waterways and wetlands, soils and slopes. It describes the impact of domestic animals such as cows, dogs and cats on the woodland. Feral (domestic and gone wild) Cats are very heavy predators on wildlife. Dogs will chase and kill wildlife especially when operating in packs. Cows trample root systems and compact the soil and thus destroy forests. The chapter then continues by describing methods to enhance wildlife habitats, conserve bio-diversity, and activities to improve people’s awareness of nature. Chapter 6 is about timber and firewood harvest – principles and practices. Now we are getting into the nitty gritty. It talks about thinning or improving cuts. An interesting discussion is provided on even-aged and uneven-aged forests. My forest is quite even aged since all the fields were planted in 1973. The only exceptions are the fencerows where there is a larger diversity of species and age. So the goal is to go towards uneven aged forests, which is more natural and self-maintaining. Chapter 7 about reforestation discusses the reasons for this practice, planting methods. Chapter 8 discusses specialised agro-forestry Options, such as planting windbreaks, various crop trees and making maple syrup. Chapter 9 addresses making trails, dealing with pests and poachers. Chapters 10 through 13 are entitled – Developing your Woodland, Stewardship Plan, Buying Woodland Property, Ensuring Long Term Conservation, and The Spirit of the Woods, respectively. The book concludes with an appendix entitled Getting Help When You Need It.

Overall I find this to be an excellent reference book for anyone who wishes to engage in woodland management. It will give the reader a fairly thorough knowledge, enough to get started and a good overview of the terminology and practices of the forester. At least the reader will be able to know what they are talking about when he hear "snag" is or "stocking" when listening to a professional. There is a very extensive reference section, so one can always dig deeper to find more detail on specific topics.

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The Woodlot Management Handbook, Steward Hilts and Peter Mitchell, Firefly Books Ltd. Willowdale ON, Buffalo NY, 1999, ISBN 1-55209-236-4

Without disturbances in nature the world's forests will be impoverished

There is an interesting artricle on scienceblog stating that without disturbances in nature the world's forests will be impoverished.

Howling night

Coyotes [Canis Latrans*] were very active howling last night. They can be heard howling from the forests near by. They often howl when there is a moon. Last night there was no moon though they may have been howling at the aurora borealis which are reported to be at a peak right now. Overnight temperatures are at around minus 8 degrees celsius now.
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*A Field Guide To Mammals, William Henry Burt and Richard Philip Grossenheider, 1964, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, (Part of the Peterson Field Guide Series).
The book covers mammals in North America north of the US and Mexico Border.
This book was a gift on my 13th birthday from my parents in 1965.

Consequences

Ideas have consequences - Richard Weaver.

Woodlot Management Plan

The woodlot comprises a total of 79.39 Acres (32.13 ha.) Of it 16 acres (6.47 ha.) is Official Conservation Land being an old riverbed. The Lot is part of Rideau Township (formerly North Gower Township) Concession 2, Lot 30 now part of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
The rough geographical position, by GPS is Latitude: 45degrees 07 minutes north, and Longitude 75 degrees 39.1 minutes west.

A woodlot owner can acquire tax savings if he manages the woodlot as per a Forestry Management Plan. In this case the management plan has to follow rules set by the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Plan for this lot, created by a Professional Forester in the spring of 2003 was divided into 9 compartments (or parts) as follows:

Part A. Plantation of White Pine (Pw) [Pinus strobus L.] and White Spruce (Sw) [Picea glauca] covering 9.25 Acres (3.74 ha.). Although that is what was on the forestation plan of 1973 there is also accidental planted Red Pine (Pr) [Pinus Resinosa]
Part B. Plantation of mostly Sw covering 4.78 Acres (1.93 ha).
Part C. Lowland covering 12.94 Acres (5.24 ha).
Part D. Wet area with a plantation that was generally not successful covering 4.32 Acres (1.75 ha)
Part E. Plantation of pure Sw covering 6.90 Acres (2.79 ha).
Part F. Old riverbank adjacent to the old riverbed covering 17.46 Acres (7.07 ha).
Part G. Cutover, mostly clearing covering 3.04 Acres (1.23 ha).
Part H: The old riverbed of 16 acres (6.47 ha) deemed conservation land.
Part I: A usually wet open field of 3.7 Acres (1.5 ha) with Buckthorn along the edges and a very high concentration of purple loosestrife monoculture through the rest. The field has been farmed within the last decade. There are plough furrows reamaining and have never been harrowed or dressed since and let go fallow.

One acre around a residential building must be excluded from the management plan.

For each compartment above a work plan is required and summarised as follows:

Part A: Forestry Plan (F/P) Release and prune, 700 trees
Part B: F/P Release 300 trees
Part C: Environmental (Env.), 4 inspections per year.
Part D: Wildlife, trail development.
Part E: F/P Thinning
Part F: Env. Trail development
Part G: Wildlife, Planting 500 trees (Pw) and 50 shrubs (high bush cranberry).
Part H: N/A
Part I: Wildlife 4 inspections per year.

Trees with a Past: The History of Ottawa's Urban Forest

Attended a lecture given by Dr. Dean of the Department of History, Carleton University, about trees in Ottawa and the history of the municipal policies and developments that affected trees in the City. It was an eye opener in that it gave an uncommon perspective to the many issues and events that evolved. The lecture was hosted by the Ottawa Historical Society.

When: October 28, 2004 8:00 PM-9:30 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Where:
National Library and Archives of Canada
395 Wellington Street
Room 156

Inspection of the field, Area I

Did a thorough inspection of Area I. There is probably an solid acre of buckthorn in the area, and purple loosestrife. Found numerous deer beds among the loosestrife. These are small clearings about 1 m. across or larger and the most recently used beds still have the grass flattened out in a clockwise swirl. They must circle around like a dog before they bed down. The southern fence line is a single barb wire about a metre above the ground fastened to trees.

Trail Cutting

With a hand axe, cut and cleared about 100 metres of trail along the south border of Part B. Much of the brush was buckthorn, ash some willow and white spruce.

Renfrew County Outdoor Woodlot Conference

Held at: the H. David Dick Property, 522 Scotch Bush Rd. Balaclava. Ontario (near Dacre).

Today Carroll and I attended this Conference. It was quite interesting, and operated like an outdoor workshop. It rained pretty hard in the afternoon so we huddled under an army tent undeterred. Got myself some chaps for chain-sawing and picked up some materials from exhibitors and suppliers such as the Ducks Unlimited, Ontario Woodlot Association, Forest Gene Conservation Association, Wetland Habitat fund and there were many others including commercial exhibits. We are both quite physically tired from much standing, walking over trees branches and twigs, and getting damp and cold so it is nice to be home.

The theme of the Conference was “Woodlot Sustainability in Action” and was organised by the Renfrew County Stewardship Council and the County Municipality of Renfrew.

There were sessions on White Pine Biology and Economics; White Pine Silviculture Treatements; Low Damage Logging; Poplar Management; and Utilisation of Balsam Fir and Cedar. This included walks up into the mountains to look at actual logging operations. Various types of operations were displayed including skidding of logs using a full sized Catapillar skidder, logs skidded by a team of horses, as well as a smaller low impact tractor with catapillar treads that I think is called a Forcat 2000, or looks like it anyway. The on site session ended with a demo of scarification using “barrel and chains”. Scarification is the process of disturbing the forest floor thus allowing new seeds to naturally germinate.

At lunch Algonquin College, Pembroke did a timbersports demonstration.

The overall approach of the conference was towards treating the Woodlot as a business and covered many practical business aspects.

The topography of the Renfrew area is quite different to North Gower with its beautiful hilly precambrian outcrops, while this area in North Gower is made up of basically gently sloping drumlins. Much of the Renfrew area is only good for woodlot unlike here were it is has been extensively farmed once the erratics – displaced rocks strewn all over and left behind by receding glaciers - are removed. The fall colours were at their best too.

Though we left cold and damp, it was definitely worth the one-hour drive down and back. I plan to go again next year.

Catalpa Tree

Bought and planted a Catalpa [Catalpa Speciosa] east of our residence. Indentified a Swainson's Thrush.

Forestry Fair and the Buckthorn

Attended the Forestry Fair of Eastern Ontario held at the Ferguson Forest Centre Kemptville, Ontario.
The nursery had common plant stock grown from local seed for sale; wood was being auctioned off, many interesting tree burls were sold, solid trunks of various hardwoods even cherry wood were auctioned and there were a couple of portable sawmills set up to cut into boards any of the logs that were purchased.

Inside there were various environment, forestry and nature related booths on display. There were also a couple of sections selling books. NRCan Canadian Forestry Service had one booth set up to help identify diseases. This was where I was finally enlightened about the identity of the invasive Buckthorn that is taking over much of the open areas of our forest. It is very aggressive. The booth also displayed the emerald ash borer (dead of course) as well as examples of its damage, and also the Asian Longhorn Beetle.

Our forest has a large number of mature ash trees and I am truly worried about the impact of the borer if and when it gets here.

There were tables of books for sale. I bought three books, Trees in Canada, 500 pp., and Trees of Ontario, 240 pp., both identify the buckthorns. Shrubs of Ontario, 495 pp., devotes six pages to just the Buckthorn and looks like a very thorough work on all shrubs in this province.

Two species of Buckthorn were identified in this woodlot.

European Buckthorn [Rhamnus cathartica L.] (also called common buckthorn, purghing buckthorn, European waythorn, Carolina buckthorn); and

Glossy Buckthorn [Rhamnus frangula L.]. It is also called European alder-buckthorn, European-alder, columnar buckthorn, fen buckthorn, arrow-wood, black-dogwood. Now I understand the reason for a unique latin name.

The European (or common) buckthorn tends to be a small tree shaped schrub with several very close stems. It is quite pretty in appearance. It develops horrible thorns instead of a central terminal bud. I had one lodged in my finger which took much effort to remove. Its bark tends to be reddish and smooth. Its sap is very noticeably orangy yellow.

The glossy buchthorn is more of a bush and in these parts tends to have a grey stem with little specs. Typically its shape is one of two or three main stems spreading out widely from a root stalk.
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Trees in Canada, John Laird Farrar, Published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited and the Canadian Forestry Service, NRCan, 1995 8th printing 2003. ISBN 1-55041-199-3

Trees of Ontario including Tall Shrubs, Linda Kershaw, Published by Lone Pine Publishing, 2001 1st printing. ISBN 1-55105-274-1.

Shrubs of Ontario, James H. Soper and Margaret L. Heimburger, Published by Royal Ontario Museum,1982. ISBN 0-88854-283-6

Glowworms

Observed glow-worms [family Phengodidae] one evening after dark among the gravel along the sides of the driveway. In my 50 years of living in Southern Quebec, New Brunswick and Eastern Ontario, I have never seen these insects before. I have seen lightning bugs or fire flies but not this. They look like faint little green lights amongst the gravel and can only be observed in pitch darkness. The insect is positively identified by the website.