{"id":66562,"date":"2015-10-05T08:46:20","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T15:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/?p=66562"},"modified":"2015-10-05T08:46:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T15:46:20","slug":"the-amazing-big-horns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=66562","title":{"rendered":"The amazing Big Horns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blog<\/p>\n

The fall is firmly here, leaves are changing and the workload is tapering down.\u00a0 I got to spend a week in the Big Horns working on a timber sale.\u00a0 It was a great experience, as we got to see some of the issues facing forests elsewhere.\u00a0 The Big Horns have a lot of diversity when it comes to their tree species.\u00a0 Trees like douglas-fir, limber pine, ponderosa pine, subalpine fir, and lodgepole pine and exists in very close proximity, all with different needs and issues.\u00a0 While in the Black Hills the predominate tree species, by far, is ponderosa pine.\u00a0 Ponderosas in the Black Hills have been hit hard by mountain pine beetle while the Big Horns has been largely spared this fate.<\/p>\n

Seeing how a mixed conifer forest is managed, balancing different light tolerances and regeneration levels reminds me of the issues facing Eastern forests.\u00a0 One thing that I had not anticipated is the destruction being caused by white pine blister rust.\u00a0 Limber pine is a white pine, generally having five needled, and there was not one stand that we saw which was not infected.\u00a0 As such, there have been a lot of sanitation harvests to stimulate regeneration and reduce fuel loads. \u00a0This is one of the main purposes behind the timber sale we worked on, improving the health of the forest.\u00a0 The douglas-fir are showing their age as well as some massive lodge pole pine; these trees are reaching the end of their natural life and instead of creating excessive down woody debris a useful product can be created.<\/p>\n

Besides the fun new trees to look at there was so much wildlife. \u00a0Just driving to our work site we saw a huge bull moose eating some willow.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing just how big they are.\u00a0 There was also amazing raptors present; we saw countless hawks as well as a bald, golden eagle and a northern harrier.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A great place to spend the week in the Big Horns<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our final day in the Big Horns, a great view of Cloud Peak. Checking out a burn site and firewood sale. Such a great ending to a great week.<\/p><\/div>\n

While in the Big Horns we were able to go to a Society of American Foresters meeting. \u00a0This is a great organization that provides a lot of information on what is happening within the forestry arena. \u00a0We met at and got a tour of the Tensleep Nature Conservancy Preserve.\u00a0 This is a great place to visit, amazing views and an abundance of petroglyphs. If you are in the area it is worth a stop.<\/p>\n

Back in the Black Hills the end of the tourist season finally came and with it the last hurrahs of many of the places that have been so much fun over the summer.\u00a0 Custer State Park,\u00a0home of one of the largest bison herds, has an annual roundup where they collect the bison and preform health checkups and have an auction.\u00a0 It was amazing seeing 25 people on horseback trying to corral wild animals, at times the bison were very uncooperative. I just can\u2019t believe that the summer is almost over and I have to go back to real life.<\/p>\n

\"Bull<\/a>

Bull Moose eating willow<\/p><\/div>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/a>

Hazelton Peaks, this is just some of the great views and settings that I get to experience.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog The fall is firmly here, leaves are changing and the workload is tapering down.\u00a0 I got to spend a week in the Big Horns working on a timber sale.\u00a0 It was a great experience, as we got to see … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66562"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66570,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66562\/revisions\/66570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}