September 21, 2009

Forests, Fungus, and Fluvium, oh my.
by Cori Stanek

It’s the end of our first full week of classes here at the Homestead and as we look ahead to another in the field, its exciting to look back at all we have accomplished in just seven days!

We started the week with the official kick-off of Forests & Rural Communities—a course focused on the intersections between forest ecology and human communities. For the first two days of the course, the L&L crew was in the field with both Melanie Parker and Steve Barrett, a NW Montana fire ecologist and historian. Students jumped right in and learned about forest succession and fire ecology in a number of diverse timber stands here in the valley. We’re laying the ecological ground-work for important management discussions to come.

Melanie Parker

Steve Barrett

As a part of forest ecology, our class had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with Tim Wheeler, a noted lichenologist, hunting for fungi and talking about the importance of mycorrhizal organisms to ecosystem health and recovery. Our explorations turned up some pretty interesting and incredible finds, and edible mushrooms for dinner to boot!

Tim Wheeler

This week also marked the beginning of Watershed Dynamics. A course blending hydrology and ecology into a comprehensive overview of watersheds and wetland function. For the next two weeks our L&Lers will spend their days with instructor Andrea Stevens in waders—hiking up streams and through riparian areas to learn about water and the landscapes and habitats it creates.

But it hasn’t been just brain exercise this week. Sunday marked yet another annual Community Firewood Day here in the Swan Valley. Each year Northwest Connections and the L&L students pair with community members to harvest and deliver firewood for residents that are in need of a few extra hands to fill their woodsheds as the weather turns colder. Each year it ranks as one of the students’ favorite days of the semester—an opportunity to meet local legends like Neil and Dixie Meyer to a chorus of chainsaws, flying axes, and the clunk of stacking wood, and provide a chance to put able hands to work for this community.

And shoot, by the end of the day, everyone is swinging an axe like an old pro!