Journal 9/10: Ravenna park, 12/6/16

December 6th, 2016

Sunny with few clouds, no breeze

Crisp, low humidity, 39 degrees

Long time no see, Ravenna! I kind of like it when there are longer intervals between journal entries, because it leads to a greater shock upon viewing my site. My first finding was that the heavy rain washed away some of the stream bank, which exposed some rocks, most of which were about the size of a plum or smaller. These rocks were mostly smooth and light in color, most definitely brought there by the Vashon ice sheet. 

Rocks Exposed on the Side of the Stream

When I crossed the stream, I saw just how sparse and bare the site has become. Winter is like a steam roller, allowing gravity to take over, and pull everything towards the Earth. Only the very highest leaves on the salmon berry bushes remain, and only the thickest patches even remain standing. The sword fern bush is looking pretty slim as well. It's funny how in winter animals gain, and plants lose. 

View of the Main Site

The wetland area surrounding my main site is completely flattened. You can see for ~7 meters on each side, where at the beginning of this quarter, you couldn't see through the thick foliage at all. All of the leafy marsh plants are gone for good this time. Not even the thick stalks remain standing. The cedar tee has also lost quite a bit of oomph- the limbs are more exposed than they were ten weeks ago. 

Sparse Wetland 

Cedar Tree

In the 1 square-meter magnitude of my site, the bird feathers are still there. Only the base of each feather is left, the rest having decomposed. But you can still that they're feathers. Salmon berry and Maple leaves decay on the moss-covered buttress, and I can see one mushroom has popped up in a different spot. All of the mushrooms I've seen growing on this spot have been the same kind. Maybe they're mycorrhizal, and they help the Thuja plicata? 

Photo of the 1-meter Spot

The mud is at its worst, my boot sunk in the ground by about two inches! It's also very quiet here today, I can definitely hear the creek and the bird calls more distinctly. Or maybe I'm just starting to pay better attention to the natural world around me. 

Now for the final touch:

BEFORE AND AFTER

Before

After

Obviously, a lot of death and decay has occurred here. Notice how there are only a few leaves covering the forest floor in October, but you can't even see the ground in December. Ferns and Salmon berries used to cramp around the Western Red Cedar, but now the tree stands alone.  

More thoughts

I will most definitely come back to my site after break is over; I'd like to keep checking in, to see the reverse process- SPRING! However, I'll probably only visit once every two weeks or so, and not for such lengths (I'm such a weakling for the cold). 

So this is not goodbye. I love Ravenna park, and will absolutely run through here quite often. As a small "service project" for my last journal entry of the quarter, I pulled out some invasive English ivy at my central point. And don't worry, I didn't just discard it back in the forest- I'm composted it once I got back to campus. 

This class has inspired me to be a better steward of the Earth.

PART 2: FINAL THOUGHTS

1.) As I observed my site, I realized just how quickly decay happens. The trees shed their fall leaves, covering the ground entirely. Then, two weeks later, the leaves were almost all incorporated with the soil; they had either become sodden and damp ghosts of their former selves, or simply non-existent.

My observational skills became sharper as weeks went by. I suddenly knew all but one of the plants at my site, and  would find new patterns every time I went back. After the lichen and fungi units, I found myself spotting examples everywhere (even if I couldn't identify them). I started to pay more attention with my other senses, especially after our bird watching sessions in the field. My ears started to open up, which increased my radius for observation, because I knew what was around me even if I couldn't see it.

We began this class by discussing the anthropocentric tendencies of Western naturalists, in terms of how we tend to view nature as something that happens around us. However, with the documentation of phenology each week, I have become a humbled and more realistic naturalist. Watching my site each week, or every other week, has enlightened me; the natural world exists without a human eye, and simply being there to view it is an honor that humans are given, not a right that we are reserved.

2.) Even though I grew up here, I thought of the Pacific Northwest as a pretty homogeneous region; full of pines trees (which I couldn't differentiate), and Salal everywhere. No joke, I really thought that Salal had no boundaries or preferences. I thought our the whole landscape West of the Cascades was simply the same on all accounts.

But when we visited different locations both on campus and around the state, I learned just how wrong I was. Washington state is a rich and diverse state, with prairies, mountains, old growth forests, and a distinct coastline ecosystem. I saw firsthand many of the different vegetation zones we learned about, from the oak-savannas to the mountain-hemlock/noble fir area.

Not only did I see the diversity, but I learned its causation as well. Knowing the impact of the ocean, altitude, and mountains on regional climate was an important part of my appreciation for each site we visited. I appreciate this class because we focused so heavily on both cause and effect.

3.) To intimately know a place, you must be familiar with all (or almost all) of the general and minor processes, patterns, and interactions that occur. But to be able to fully understand these things, you must be able to identify species and elements of the environment on an individual level as well. For example, if you want to know what kind of mushroom it is that you're seeing in the field, you would need to know about its growth form (gilled, polypore, Bolete, coral), and you would have to pay attention to the environment that it's in. If it's growing next to a certain type of tree, it might be mycorrhizal. And if a mushroom is mycorrhizal, knowing the impact of the symbiosis is another important concept that would add to the understanding of this ecosystem.

Knowledge of specific places can be compared as well, which is why it's important to observe all sorts of ecosystems. An example of this is our study of lichen, where we hunted for lichen in the city park, and on Whidbey island. Our examination of lichen in both areas allowed us to understand the affects of air quality and other aspects on lichen growth.

This knowledge can be for ethnobotanic purposes, such as edible or medicinal plants, or can simply be for the sake of satiating curiosity. I believe that the pursuit of knowledge and cognizance without a goal often leads to the most serendipitous results. I think this is especially true in the case of natural history, because there is such a huge capacity for unexpected connections.


4.) For me, this class has been both educational and emotionally beneficial. During my first week in Seattle, I was very upset about having to live in a city. I had grown up in a rural setting, and coming to the "concrete jungle" was a real struggle. I felt like I was being buried in a pit, where people are stacked on top of each other like cans of sardines. So being able to get away from campus and going into the woods was a really healing part of acclimating to the University of Washington.

This class has also been a sort of gateway to the Environmental Studies department here, which really sparked my interest. During fall quarter, I concurrently took a seminar that allowed me to visit the POE building and meet with students and staff. I also had Beth Wheat as a guest lecturer, which inspired me to take her class during Winter quarter. Those experiences, coupled with Enviro 280, made me realize that I would very much like to pursue a degree in Environmental studies. Being able to integrate humanities, specifically education, into ecological studies would be so fulfilling and exciting.

5.) Over the length of this quarter, I think I've become addicted to plant identification. It started when I bought the plant handbook. I kept it by my bed and flipped through the waxy pages even before the first day of class. Then, when we went out to Ravenna for the first time, I knew I was done for. I knew many of the plants on the first day, and was a little too eager to show what I knew (I regret being such a know-it-all). I was way too excited to have to identify new plants, and was always antsy in my 8:30 class before field work because I was so  amped to get to the park or to UBNA.

It really went downhill right before the midterm. When we were "forced" to learn the Latin names for each plant, I became neurotic. I loved the process of memorizing the names of every single plant. Even now, I look over my flashcards about once a week, and I keep my eye out for plants that I know wherever I go.

This constant hunt for familiarity made me realize that wilderness isn't a place you go, and nature isn't always a far-away escape. That's what has really helped me acclimate to living in a city, knowing that I can go to a park, or look next to a parking lot, and find native plants growing through the cracks.

Walking Tour (final project)

Walking Tour

Welcome to Ravenna Park! Ravenna park is located North of the University district, just past the University village, and extends next to Cowan Park. The park is mainly used for bicycling, running and walking through 4.5 miles of trails. It's a destination in itself, but is also a very helpful shortcut through town. The main trail is .75 miles in length, and is fairly flat. 

Ravenna's history goes way back. In 1887, the park was privately owned, but was then purchased by the city of Seattle in in 1911. Since then, many trees have been felled, the creek was forced underground, and then daylighted in 2006. 

This walking tour is designed to highlight some of the many exciting things that are located in the park-some that you might not notice if you didn't know what to look for. 

1.) Geology/geomorphology

Ravenna park is in a ravine, that was carved out by the Vashon Ice sheet 16,000 years ago. The creek was an outlet of Green Lake, also created by the Vashon Ice sheet. However, with the lowering of the lake in 1911, the creek's source for water was cut off. Now, several springs feed the creek, which is a ghost of its former flow. However, evidence of the Vashon ice sheet can still be found. 

When the glacier created the Puget trough 50,000 years ago, it carried sediment from the North, which would be modern-day Canada. I guess you could say we are on Canadian soil (now you don't have to flee Trump). But the glacier couldn't carry everything, and when the ice receded, it deposited large boulders, known as erratics. 

If you walk along the main trail from the Cowan park end, you will walk under the 20th street Ravenna bridge, which is the second bridge you will walk under. Look to your right, and you won't miss spotting the large, moss covered rock. The Ravenna erratic is an igneous rock, specifically Granodiorite. Since the erratic is located at the bottom of the ravine, it can be speculated that the large rock tumbled down from the top of the hill. This is station 1 on the map below.

Even if you're not a rock nerd, the Ravenna erratic is a pleasant and unusual surprise. People of all walks of life stop to marvel at this large and curious feat of nature. I have seen people meditating and sunning themselves on the rock. 

2.) Land Use History

Stream, Ravenna Park, Seattle, 1912

Courtesy UW Special Collections (Image No. SEA2076)

http://www.historylink.org/File/9559 

Ravenna park has a long history of both reverence for the natural beauty of the land, and abuse and misuse of that land. In 1887 the park was a privately owned "Ravenna Springs Park", attracting people to the mineral springs with supposed health benefits. In 1892, a railway was almost built through part of the park, but the beauty of the land attracted so many people that the builders decided against it. The park was so popular, that by 1902, over 10,000 people had paid to enter the beautiful land. One of the highlights of the park was the "Roosevelt Tree", a 274 foot-tall Douglas Fir. The city bought the park from its previous owners, the Beck family, in 1911 for $144,920, and the land became available for public use. In the same year, the creek was forced underground, and two years later, the Roosevelt Tree was cut down. With the signing of a contract in 1926, the removal of old growth giants continued. In the 1960's, waste from the excavation to create I-5 was dumped into Cowen park, filling in parts of the ravine in order to create street-level playing fields. The abuse of Ravenna caused the formation of the Ravenna Creek Alliance, which seeks to maintain and restore the park. The creek was daylighted in 2006, which reconnected it to Lake Washington. On the map, I chose a spot on the trail where you can walk past the daylighted creek.

3.) Bird/Birds

Ravenna park has varying levels of foliage, which gives habitats for many different kinds of birds. It is easy to view birds from the top of the ravine, but the Cowen park entrance, so you can be eye-level with the tops of the trees. 

There, you can spot many LBJs (Little Brown Jobs, as Kaeli taught us). These include Black capped chickadees with their easily distinguishable alarm calls, 



Dark-eyed juncos with their contrasting heads,



Song sparrows, 



and Bewick's wrens.



I have also seen a Spotted Towhee in the thicker brush at the bottom of the ravine, and have seen and heard the loud drumming of a Northern Flicker against a tree.

I especially enjoy seeing Bewick's wrens, because the movement of their tails is very interesting. They flick their tails side to side, especially when they're agitated. They also flick their tails while they hunt for food.

It's also very easy to see and hear crows as well, especially near the erratic, where they frequently mob the Barred owl that inhabits the area (I haven't been lucky enough to spot it). 

4.) Plant/Plants

 The combination of forest and wetland in Ravenna park allows for a high diversity of plant species. This station by the creek is a perfect example of this diversity. Within the same 20 square meter area, you can find a large range of species. These include:

-Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata), with it's fibrous bark, lacy needles, and swooping limbs, this tree is often called "the tree of life" in Native American culture. It was used for clothing, canoes, and housing. This tree likes to grow near water sources, which would make sense that it grows next to a stream at this station.

-Red Alder (Alnus rubra), a nitrogen fixing deciduous broadleaf tree, is easily identifiable by its smooth, ash-gray bark, and large, almond-shaped leaves, which are doubly-serrated. Red alders are a good indication of disturbed forest, which is true of Ravenna park.

-Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia), a smaller evergreen tree, with its conspicuous red berry-like seed-cones. This tree also grows in moist areas, such as stream banks. Furthermore, Pacific yews are fairly shade-tolerant, which is important for its growth in the understory. This tree is a really "Christmas-y" tree.

-Giant horsetail (Equisetum telmeteia), part of the Juncaceae family (rushes), characterized by "branches" protruding from distinct bracts, and grows to about knee-height. Giant horsetails mainly grow in damp and shady places, like the marsh area that surrounds this station.

-Salmon berry (Rubus spectabilis) is a shrub with woody stem with thorns and trifoliate leaves. They can grow very tall, and there is one at this station that is easily over 6 feet tall. In the spring, they bear delicate pink flowers, and in the early summer, produce edible raspberry-like fruit. Salmon berries form dense thickets, which can be almost impossible to penetrate. They too, prefer moist environments, such as coastal forests.

5.) Visual Ecological Disturbance:

Ravenna park is a haven for many native plants, but is also filled with ornamental plants. These ornamentals may occur due to direct anthropogenic causes, such as intentional planting. They may also become part of the environment through indirect human contact, such as seed dispersal. Some of these introduced plant species become invasive, due to the fact that they thrive so well in Washington's mild and moist climate. Some of these, like holly

and english ivy,

    

along with morning glory (vines)

are highly invasive. The vines of english ivy and morning glories physically choke the tree or plant that they wrap around. The host will eventually die, due to lack of light, and causing weakness due to the excess weight of the vines. Other ornamentals in the park include horse chestnut,

with its distinct and somewhat prehistoric looking palmately compound leaves. The leaves grow in groups of 5-7, and turn a nice shade of yellow in the fall. There are also larch trees

in the park, which are a unique type of conifer that lose their needles in the fall. Some of the larch trees in Ravenna turn a lovely burnt-orange/red. They're quite a treat to see.


6.) Lichens/fungi:
There are many (I repeat, many.)...(No, I'm serious, so many) types of lichen and fungi in the Pacific Northwest. Lichen are especially hard to identify, because it is composed of both a fungus and a cyanobacteria or blue-green algae. However, lichen are sorted into three categories: foliose, fruticose, and crustose.
-Foliose lichen are leafy, kind of like pages in a book. Foliose lichen have different colors on their upper and lower cortices, which can sometimes be very difficult to distinguish, such as with Antler's Perfume.
-Fruticose lichen are hairy, or shrubby, and are the same color all around. They are the least tolerant of air pollution, due to the fact that their surface area is highly three dimensional.
-Crustose lichen are what you'd consider to be "crusty". They are the most tolerant to air pollution, because their surface area is only exposed where they attach to.

One lichen, which I was not able to identify, intrigued me the most. It isn't a lichen that we found when we were with Katherine Glew in the field. It's not hard to figure out why we didn't find it, because it grows only on the underside of a patch of salmon berry bushes that were draped across the creek. It was also growing on the rocks that make up the sides of the stream.

I find this lichen to be highly interesting, and it raises a lot of questions. Is it intolerant of sunlight? Katherine told us that some lichen "sunburn", and develop bright pigment to combat the sun. Could this lichen possibly only exist near bodies of water? The moisture from the stream could be the reason for its adherence to the side of the branch closest to the water. Also, this lichen is purely white, without any other markings to suggest reproductive structures. In this case, the reproductive structures are probably microscopic. 

Lichen are incredibly beautiful and mysterious. That's probably why they're so fun to see in the field!

7.) Invertebrates:

At this station, there are three types of inverts that you are mostly likely to find. These are: Earthworms, Banana slugs, and millipedes. The first and last specimens will most likely be found under this log:

Earthworms will most likely be partially coming out from the dirt, which is their home of choice. Earthworms are decomposers, so they are essential to the recycling of energy in the forest, which is why they're also an important part of composting. If you've never seen an Earthworm, they are pink to red in color, with fleshy skin, like that of a newt or salamander, but even more translucent. They move head first, and prefer to go under their obstacles instead of crawling over them (like me). 

The millipedes under the log obviously prefer dark and moist environments. They are usually about an inch long, and light in color- I wouldn't say white, more of a sandy color. They play dead when they are introduced to stress, where they curl up in a tight ball, in the same manner that pill bugs do. 

Banana slugs are most likely to be found near plants, but also prefer moist areas. They feed on leaves, and have similar skin to Earthworms. They are can be brown, yellow, or yellow with brown spots or blotches. They are decomposers as well, and create soil humus by recycling decaying matter.

8.) Ecological interaction:

Big Leaf Maples (Acer macrophyllum) are very tolerant trees, as they can occur at almost all levels and stages of a forest (canopy level, age level). They are also very tolerant in their ability to host epiphytes. Epiphytes are plants that attach and grow on other plants, but are not parasitic. Epiphytes use their host only for support, not for nutrients or moisture. An example of an epiphyte is licorice fern (polypodium glycyrrhiza). Licorice ferns mainly grow on Big Leaf Maple trees, and are the most common type of fern to do so. In fact, if you see a fern growing on a tree, it will almost always be licorice fern. Licorice ferns are smaller than sword ferns, and have distinct red dots on the underside of each frond. At this station, a very large Big Leaf Maple, licorice ferns grow over the whole tree, from around 7 feet on the trunk, all the way up the tree, which is probably around 50 feet tall. The ferns grow with moss on the tree, both on the trunk and the limbs.

9.) Animal behavior:

On this Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) tree, we can see evidence of a woodpecker. The real mystery is... what kind of woodpecker? This is most likely the work of a Red-breasted Sapsucker, which are common to Ravenna Park. The Red-breasted sap sucker can be identified by its makes distinct and neat horizontal rows of holes that are about 1/4 inch in size. Sapsuckers drill into trees in order to feed on the sap of both hardwoods and conifers, which I think is very interesting. However, I can't be positive that it's a Sapsucker, because this tree is fairly large, with thick bark, that they do not prefer. Woodpeckers also drill loudly into trees as a method of communication, in order to attract a mate or ward off competitors.
The other woodpecker that it could be is the Northern flicker, which has similar drilling patterns. The Northern Flicker is an unmistakable bird, with black dots on its underside and black and red tail feathers.
All woodpeckers have very unique tail-feathers, which are individually pointed,  which helps them stabilize against the trees.
Another fun fact about woodpeckers is that they belong to the Picidae family, which is funny because they "pick" at trees.

10.) Giant Sequoias!

For my tenth station, I thought I'd pick something that was more personal to me. Every time I've come to Ravenna park, I've seen a small patch of redwood trees. There are about six or seven trees, each with a few more growing from their bases. Redwood trees are a subspecies of Sequoias, which are part of the same family as cedar trees. Most famous are the redwood forests and Giant Sequoia forests in California, which includes "The President", one of the largest trees in the world.

I adore John Steinbeck's works, and find similarities between the settings of his novels and my own life. I was born in San Francisco, and lived an hour away from Monterrey, in a town very similar to Steinbeck's Cannery Row. Whenever I walk past this patch of trees, I am reminded how important the of documentation of nature is, not just for scientific reasons, but also for the purpose of enjoyment. Steinbeck's description of Northern California's beautiful forests have inspired millions to enjoy the same scenery half a century after his life.

Bibliography

• Blecha, Peter. "Ravenna Park (Seattle)." HistoryLink.org. Historylink, 23 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2016. <http://www.historylink.org/File/9559>. 

• "Northern Flicker." All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornitology, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016. <https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/lifehistory>.