Landscape Tracking - Learning from the Land

This weekend’s theme was landscape tracking! We met at the Hockley Valley Nature Reserve near Orangeville. Few of us had been to the area, so we were keen to go exploring.

After a quick gratitude circle, we followed the trail west for a few minutes, then out into a grassy lowland next to a treed slope. All the grass had been pushed down and there were trails cutting through. Was it the work of deer? Was it people? Or had someone’s enthusiastic dog rolled all over? Jeff noted that the goldenrod was still standing. Could that be a clue about the perpetrator? We bent down and looked at the green carpet more carefully. It was green on top, but brown underneath. This grass had been pushed down for quite a while.

Alexis decided that we should follow the deer trail up the slope and into the trees just to see where it would take us. By observing the trail, we could see how they shaped the landscape. The deer had worn a rut into the earth, and when we stepped off-trail, we sank into the soft pine needle carpet. Punky logs in the path of the deer had been pulverized by their hooves.

Were the deer going uphill or downhill? Was the trail only used to go one way or both? We tried to imagine when the deer would go down to water or up to higher ground and what would influence them to go in either direction. For example, hot air rises during the day and sinks at night. Where would they go to be able to smell a predator? Where would they go to stay cool?

The group spent some time walking in silence. Such a heavily used trail could yield a wild animal sighting if we were careful. Soon, our main trail branched off left, then right, then uphill and downhill. Before long, three separate groups were stalking along deer trails, trying to spot the animals that had made them.

The slope and the top of the ridge were full of red pines. Those had thinned out, their place taken by beeches, ironwoods, oaks, maples, aspens and birch. The understorey had changed, too. We were seeing leatherwood and forest goldenrod. What would attract the deer to this area? Most likely the acorns and beech nuts, especially in fall and winter.

Alexis called us over to investigate a depression in the hillside and asked, what happened here? There were several such depressions, usually close to trees. Some of us thought they were caused by erosion. Others thought they were burrows. But Victor guessed that they were created when a tree had fallen over long ago, its roots pulling up all the surrounding dirt. It had happened so long ago that the trunk had disintegrated. He had guessed right, and we were shown where the signs of what happened could be found: the canopy. Surrounding the hummock were fast-growing aspens and birch, pioneer species that had grown up to take advantage of the sunlight that had been blocked by the big tree’s leaves before it had come down. If we could age those aspens, we might get an idea of when the tree fell – though a good guess would be 1954, the year of Hurricane Hazel.

Back to the deer trails: The main trail led out into another grassy field, so out we went to see where the deer had gone. The field was full of goldenrod, yarrow and asters, typical late summer forbs, and trails criss-crossed through the grass. Each of us tried to follow one, but it wasn’t clear where they were going or even if we were following deer anymore. We remembered an earlier lesson about what trails made by animals low to the ground look like when compared to trails made by animals with long legs. Maybe there were rabbits or raccoons in the area?

A few anthills dotted the field and before long, we were standing around one that had attracted Alexis’ attention. At over a foot wide and about 10” tall, it wasn’t the biggest one we had seen, but it wasn’t the size that warranted investigation; it was the accumulation of tiny, tubular scats on top. We were looking at a vole latrine. Why did the vole latrine here? Wouldn’t the ants bite the vole? Do voles eat ants, or are they strict vegetarians? We had lots of questions, and a flash of insight into small-scale landscape tracking.

Once we reached the other side of the field, we entered a lowland area of cedars bisected by a tributary. As we sat and had lunch, we discussed how deforestation in the upland areas had led to erosion, which meant silt running into the river. A siltier, shallower river in turn led to increased flooding and fewer salmon spawning, and that may have impacted an important food source for mammals in the area -- and a potential source of nitrogen for the plants and trees. They say our forestry practices have changed a great deal over the last decades. I wonder how.

Now that we were in the mindset of cause-and-effect, we were asked to go quietly out around the area and sit and observe. “What happened here?” was the question we were to ask ourselves over and over again as we looked at the landscape, the flora and the fauna. At the end of our exercise, we came together again and shared some of our key observations. Steve, a second-year tracking apprentice, said that he was looking at the water and thinking about how fallen trees might have changed the river’s path. Did some of the little islands have tree trunk foundations?

It was time to get moving. We climbed up gradually then climbed down very quickly into a valley carved by a creek long, long ago. As we climbed back up the other side, we stopped to marvel at a beautiful, fiery-orange salamander. Not long afterwards, we found another vireo’s nest at almost the same height we had found the first one in July. Alexis said he liked seeing so much bloodroot in one place. You don’t often see so much at one time.

In no time, it seemed we had returned to a well-worn deer trail like the one we had found at the beginning of our day. We walked in a line all the way back to the trail head. Mark said he could tell we were close to the meadow where we began because he could hear the crickets chirping. After another quick closing circle, we were done for the day.

What eye-opening lessons! Who knew that the anthill to the vole is as important as the ridge is to the deer? If you’re interested in learning more, here are a few books you might be interested in:

Reading the Forested Landscape by Tom Wessels

The Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Forests, by John C. Kricher

Written By: Christina Yu - 2nd Year Tracking Apprentice

Rennel Sound Beach Combing

From our Sleeping Giant hike we travelled 30 km to where we parked our car to walk to final 3 km down to Rennel Sound on the west side of Graham island. On the drive we passed some huge old growth trees as well as many areas that have been previously harvested by timber companies. There was a danger of mudslides in this area and we saw remanants of many previous ones in the not-so-distant past. The steep hillsides and the clearcut logging practices can create a very unstable situation on the sides of many of these mountains. Part of the reason for us hiking the last leg of this trip was because of a recent mudslide that had covered the road. It had been cleared away, but there was still quite a bit of debris and soil on the road.

We saw many deer as well as a Marten who ran across the road in front of us carrying what looked to be a red squirrel in its mouth! Pretty cool. Rennel sound is a beautiful area and is perhaps the only place on the west side of Graham island that you can drive to. We spent three nights here and walked the rocky beaches looking for shells, rocks and other 'treasures' that the ocean had washed up on shore. Bald Eagles soared overhead and curious Harbour Seals kept eyes on us as we combed the beaches.

One of the highlights of our time here was getting to watch a group of Sea Lions feeding just off shore. You could hear them 'grunting' and 'barking' as they swan together. After a while they began to display thier 'playful' nature as they rolled on the surface of the water waving thier flippers as well as even jumping right out of the water. It was quite a event to behold. We also found some more bear trails travelling through the mossy forest beside Mountain Creek. Well worn paths that lead us to a great bear 'marking' tree. All of the moss had been rubbed off of thisAlder tree and there were numerous bite and claw marks between 5 - 7 feet off the ground. At the base of the tree you could see clear indentations where this bear and perhaps others had stood numerous times in the past. It was a great discovery. We enjoyed seeing the western side of the island and spending time in this beautiful area. On our walk out we saw another Pine Marten up in a tree, he kept a close eye on us as we moved past. From here we drove back towards Quen Charlotte and were going o head north to Naikoon Park. Once in town we were told of an event happening at Skidegate hall. There was a visiting storyteller from the N.W.T. as well as a community feast being offered by the Haida First Nation. We were treated to an evening of Native dance and song as well as an amazing seafood soup that contained all kinds of local ingredients. It was Delicious! It was a great way to begin our trip northward.