10 February 2012

1030 hours from the Blue Creek parking lot to the Cowlitz River Salkum, Washington, Lewis County. Coordinates on my GPS were 46 15' 33.41" N 122 54' 01.51" W. The weather was partly to mostly cloudy with passing rain showers and a air temperature of 48 degrees Fahrenheit. Today was supposed to be a take it easy day, but I noticed a lot of Brachythecium frigidum at the bases of the maple trees on the access trail I was walking on. The Brachythecium I collected for further examination was pale to whitish green in color and was identified as an acrocarp. As I hiked further up the trail it started to get wetter and much damper. I noticed there was some Scapania bolanderi and some Porella navicularis on logs and on some stumps. Although I do have several for my collection, I took a tiny sample of both of these liverworts for further practice identifying bryophyte species(I do need it!).
This area around the Cowlitz river is a mixed stand forest such as conifer, doug fir, and hardwoods. I plan to go back there over the weekend for a collecting foray instead of a fishing one. I should then collect different species of liverworts and mosses for my overall collection. For those that are wondering, I caught only one steel head trout and lost two others in three hours time. That is another way I enjoy and examine other species that live in this ecosystem

Posted on February 11, 2012 04:53 PM by serhardt25