LANDS Week 5

Hello readers! In LANDS’ 4^th week in the field, and 2^nd week calling the Mt. Tabor Workhouse in Danby, VT our home, we continued surveying soils in recently harvested sales. Our work took us to the South Road, Cone Brook West, Snow Valley, and Middlebury sales.

On the way south from Burlington our LANDS crew stopped at the Dutton Brook Sale in Middlebury, VT. In the small town of Goshen, VT Jon and Toral spotted a black bear and her three cubs crossing a skid road in the early afternoon; only the first bear sighting of the week! The Dutton Brook sale was one of the more disturbed areas we have visited thus far. Plentiful wetlands made surveying difficult as well.

Above: Deanna checks for compaction

Tuesday took the LANDS crew to the Cone Brook West sale. Reed and Lydia stayed back at the Workhouse to begin the piecing together the soils report for the Green Mountain National Forest. The landing at the Cone Brook West sale was huge and had very disturbed soils. Mapping and assessment of the skid roads was initiated, and survey work was continued on Wednesday.

Above: Zac joined the LANDS crew for the second week of soil surveys. Lucy shows him the ropes.

On Wednesday the crew took on the South Road and Snow Valley sales. Jessie and Deanna were surveying at Snow Valley when they encountered two mature black bears and a white tailed deer. Luckily the bears headed for the hills and the girls changed their transect path to avoid disturbing the bears’. In the end it was a very successful day for the crew, and marked our last soil surveys in the field. One lucky group finished the day hiking in to a beautiful undisturbed area on the Appalachian Trail.

Above: Zac and Sam demonstrate some of Sam's "flying yoga," used to refresh minds during long days in the field.

In order to get a jump on the report for the GMNF, the entire crew remained indoors at the Workhouse to start rough drafts of each section. Nancy, Mary Beth, and Melissa provided a delicious lunch for LANDS, followed by an enlightening presentation on the bigger picture of our work in the GMNF. It was rewarding to hear how our work the past two weeks will be utilized in the coming years. Now that the report is started, we will be taking a break from soil work to finish up our non-native invasive species surveys around the state. Thank you to all our dedicated readers!