David Parrott

FOR 480 Week of January 28-February 1, 2008

Web Journal

                Tuesday, January 29, 2008.  The mood was intense.  It was only week three of the FOR 480 project, and we were already a week behind.  The snow covered roads had prevented field work last week, and now all the preliminary plots had to be done in one day.  Using a long complicated chain of calculations, we knew we needed to record data for at least 25 points in order to meet our requirements.  This information is a critical component for creating a design for our inventory proposal.  It would take a Herculean effort for a group of three to achieve this task, but this is what we’ve been training to do for the past 3 years.

We arrived at the property and began to trek to our first point when we realized a fatal flaw in our plan.  We had planned to use the GPS to find the randomly selected points, and neglected to make a paper map with the points marked.  Like fools, we had ignored all the warnings of the Terminator and Matrix trilogies and put our faith in machines, and now we would pay for it.  The clouds had become an impenetrable barrier for our satellite signals which left us walking blindly through the woods. Using the few sneaky signals that made their way through, we found the first plot and began the data collection.  At each point we collected data about the timber and general notes about the areas.  This will come in handy when deciding which areas should be divided into different stands for the final inventory.      

                We knew we could struggle through with a weak GPS as our guide, but this became a moot point when the periodic sprinkling grew stronger.  By our second point, the skies had opened up delivering rains that created the risk of potential terrestrial drowning.  Undaunted, we continued on with the mission.  Chris led the way as Ryan, Andrew, and I slipped and slid through the slick terrain behind him.  Morale was low. 

                  

The GPS units left the blind to                               Only hardened foresters and Titanic survivors could  

lead the blind.                                                         handle these conditions.

                               

In our 5th plot, our luck somehow got worse when Chris realized his camera had fallen out of his pocket somewhere in the woods.  Observing our ‘Leave no man behind’ motto, Chris knew what he had to do and disappeared into the wet woods in search of a needle in a haystack.  His camera was waterproof, which was its only hope for survival.  Two points later, Chris miraculously returned with camera in hand.

We managed to seek refuge in a convenient rock shelter to gather our thoughts.

 

                Accepting that we would not accomplish our 25 points, we went to the eastern side of the property to get our last two points and see the area.  This region along the Rockcastle River was much different from the previous areas.  Along the shore we immediately knew that we were in beaver territory.  They had lined the river with their handiwork.  In this area, the invasive Japanese honeysuckle and multiflora rose also reared their ugly heads.  Seeing the river was the highlight of the day.  It was a strange blue and raised our spirits for the long walk back to the van.  We had only finished 12 points which meant we would have to come back again later this week in order to finish the rest.  Once again, morale was low.

           

Beavers: Mother Nature’s lumberjacks.               No boxelder is safe from the devastation.

 

             

The invasion of Japanese honeysuckle.                 No exotic party is complete without multiflora rose.

 

Wednesday, January 30, 2008. We met in the computer lab to collaborate our attack for the next day.  While strategizing, we received word that our gracious advisor had extended the deadline for our inventory proposals, and we could finish the preliminary points on the following Tuesday.  The students rejoiced.  This also allowed for us to work on the beginning of our inventory proposal while we were in the lab.  After printing out a hard copy of our map with labeled points, we were ready to finish the job we had set out to do on Tuesday.

 

This week taught us all a valuable lesson about putting too much trust in computers and machines to do our work for us.  Dr. Kalisz’s reservations about GPS reliance were accurate.  From now on we will always keep hardcopies of important information and maps when going out in the field.  I wish we had realized this before we were walking circles in the rain, praying for satellite reception.  As of week 3, my feelings toward this project are mixed.  While I see potential product we can create from this project, I question if we will have the time to get everything done in order to achieve the goals we’ve set.  While it is still early in the game, each week that passes is one week closer to our final deadline.  Hopefully, the weather gods will be more mild mannered in the coming weeks and allow us to get back on schedule.