July 12, 2010

Monitoring & The GUTS! Program
by Brooke Stallings

Greetings from the crew at Northwest Connections! We have been keeping ourselves busy with a variety of activities over the past two weeks… This past week consisted mostly of invasive weed monitoring for the Forest Service on various units of the Holland-Pierce Fuels Reduction Project. The weed monitoring is part of a larger multiparty monitoring effort to assist the Forest Service in planning future projects in the Swan Valley through adaptive management and to build trust and a common understanding of local forest conditions. A main goal of the weed monitoring is to determine the effectiveness of the project design features to minimize the spread or the introduction of new invasive plants. A key indicator that we looked at while in the field this week was the level of disturbance and how that correlated with weed infestation in the project area. Our data will be analyzed and given to the Forest Service to assist with future project design.

Houndstongue

Orange Hawkweed

We were joined for an afternoon of this by a group of girls participating in the GUTS! program (Girls Using Their Strengths) from Missoula who were spending several days in the Swan Valley. They helped us with a few surveys, learning about various invasive weed species and the purpose behind these surveys.

The following day they went on a hike with me and Adam on the Owl Loop Trail to the south of Holland Lake to check a few natural bear rubs for hair. We told the girls about the USGS Grizzly Bear DNA Project in this region, and the purpose behind this project and the uniqueness of it being a non-invasive monitoring technique. We showed them about the procedure behind the DNA collection, and they each had a chance to participate in it and get some hands on action with our GPS units for navigation work.

Bear hair captured on a natural rub object in the Swan Valley.

Collecting bear hair from a rub tree; samples are sent to a lab for DNA testing.

Turned out to be a fun time for me and Adam, and I think the girls had a good time and learned a lot out in the field!

Until next time,

Brooke