Trip to the "Magic Grove"

 In June I took the Nevada Conservation Corps crew I had been working with on thinning projects plus some Rangercorps interns up Mt. Washington to apply verbenone to limber pine seed trees. Seeds were collected several years ago to test for resistance to white pine blister rust. In case these trees are resistant, we want to keep them safe from mountain pine beetles. When mountain pine beetles enter a tree, they send out a pheromone called verbenone to signify when the tree is full of pine beetles. So if we apply a synthetic verbenone, then the beetles are fooled and go to other trees.

The first obstacle getting up Mt. Washington is a very steep and curvy road. We also came across a log down, but fortunately the NCC crew had a saw and was able to take care of that.

The views are marvelous! This is looking into Spring Valley and the Schell Creek Range.

We summited Mt. Washington and then went down the other side.

It's kind of steep. Steep enough there are very few plants.

But there were a few of these gorgeous Nevada primrose (Primula nevadensis).

Then we got down to the "Magic Grove" of bristlecones. These tortured trees live with extreme winds, few nutrients, and a short growing season. Despite that adversity, or maybe because of it, they manage to live for millennia.

This natural area is delicate and not visited by many. Those who do visit are reminded to be gentle.

We posed by the "Quarter Tree," which is featured on the Great Basin quarter.


There are a lot of other cool trees up there too.

After applying verbenone to the selected trees,


it was time to climb up Mt. Washington from the other side.

This little tree is raising the treeline on the mountain.

You can actually find pieces of old bristlecone wood even higher, indicating that when the climate was warmer, the forest moved up the mountain. Dendrochronologists have taken sections and tagged these pieces of wood to find out exactly when the trees lived. There's lots more info stored on these mountains than might appear at first glance. That's also why campfires above 10,000 feet aren't allowed in the park--these wood fragments are too valuable to be burned up.

And before we left the mountain, I had to get a photo of the highest elevation cave in Nevada--that slit on the mountain. It just goes down to some snow, there's not much to it. But the scenery is spectacular!


And what better way to end a gorgeous day than at Kerouac's, listening to the Front Porch Pickers.

2018 Beetle BioBlitz

 June 12-14, 2018 were the dates for the Tenth annual BioBlitz at Great Basin National Park. A BioBlitz is a short-term event that focuses on biodiversity. This year the topic was beetles. Nevada State Entomologist Jeff Knight came out to the park to lead the event.

He started with a presentation explaining what beetles are and how to collect them. Then the group went out in the field and used forceps (tweezers), sweep nets, and other tools to collect beetles. They brought what they found back to Baker Hall, which had turned into BioBlitz Headquarters for the three-day event. Jeff put the beetles under his microscope, which was attached by a camera to his computer so more could get a view.

Meanwhile, handfuls of leaf litter were put into buckets with lightbulbs, with the heat, making the beetles retreat down into a bag that was later examined.

Everyone was so excited by what they found. The event was open to all ages, and there were definitely some budding young entomologists.

Some folks tried to puzzle out their finds on their own.

They used guidebooks and asked entomologists for some guidance when they got really stumped.

For two nights there was light trapping, where a white sheet was put down and a light put on top of it. Beetles (and other insects) came to the light, and we saw species that had been hidden during the day.

We also took a black light out to check out some nearby areas and found lots of scorpions!

 On the third day, Forest Health Specialist Danielle Malesky gave a talk about mountain pine beetles at the Wheeler Peak amphitheater.

Talk about a wonderful outdoor classroom!

After explaining how this native beetle has killed lots of trees, she showed how high value trees (such as those in campgrounds) can be protected by using a synthetic pheromone called verbenone. This pheromone mimics the smell that the beetles put out when telling other beetles that the tree is already full and they should look for a different tree.

Her colleague applied SPLAT, verbenone in a caulking tube.

The zig-zag pattern is applied to four sides of the tree and lasts for about a year.

Meanwhile back in Baker Hall, entomologists from as far as Los Angeles County Natural History Museum were working on their samples.

At noon we celebrated with a delicious hot catered lunch by Salt & Sucre sponsored by the Great Basin National Park Foundation and Western National Parks Association.

It was a great way for everyone to come back together again and share where they had been hiking and what they had found.

Following the lunch, Jeff Knight gave a talk about the preliminary results of the BioBlitz, which was more than 500 specimens representing at least 65 species added to the park list. Most of the work lies ahead, back in his lab.

The final part was a raffle of items donated by Western National Parks Association. Then it was time to clean up and say farewells. Participants will be updated as results come in.

If you're interested in participating next year, the topic will be bats and it will be held in August 2019.  To be added to the mailing list, send an email to GRBA_BioBlitz@nps.gov. BioBlitzes are a great way to learn more about an area and meet people who have similar interests. They are held all over the country (and world), and I highly recommend participating in one if you'd like to explore a place more thoroughly!

Many thanks to everyone who participated and helped sponsor the 2018 Beetle BioBlitz!

Caving in Canada

 I had the opportunity to travel to the Canadian Rockies to teach a cave rescue class. I jumped at the chance, as I had never been to the Canadian Rockies before.

Eddy Cartaya organized the class with the help of Canadian Christian Stenner. We held our short classroom session in a hotel room in Canmore. These small party assisted rescue classes are purposefully kept small.

Then our indoor rope afternoon was at Canmore's amazing climbing gym.

I wanted to stay and climb!

The second day we went out on some cliffs near Rat's Nest Cave, a commercial cave.

Later in the evening we hung around a tree. Literally.

On the third day we had a variety of learning stations in Rat's Nest Cave. I helped supervise the climbing and rappelling counterweight station, which is a very fun station as the concept is sort of like an elevator. Weight on one side of the rope that goes through a pulley means the person on the other side of the rope goes up.

And on the fourth day we presented the students with scenarios that they had to figure out how to solve, including packaging the patient and coming up with an extrication plan.

I was an "angel" or supervisor for this, so I had my hands free to take some photos.

The station I was at was multi-pitch, so it was fun seeing how the students solved it. Rebecca, being rescued, eyes the solution below with a bit of concern. Fortunately they worked it out and got her to the next section of rope.

The class was successful, and all the American instructors were impressed with the level of skills of the Canadian students. I'd love to go take a Canadian rescue class sometime, as they have different things they emphasize. Plus Canadians are just a lot of fun!

We had great weather for the class, and then the day after it rained. That meant a good day for Upper Banff hot springs! We (the instructors who could stay a little later) also checked out the Whyte Museum of the Rockies in Banff and ate a delicious dinner.

Then we drove several hours south and stayed in some cabins to prepare for an epic cave trip the next day. I woke up early and found this beautiful sight behind the cabins.

We met up with Christian, who had agreed to take us to Booming Ice Chasm, the biggest ice cave in North America. It required a hike with a 700m (2200 ft.) elevation gain and big packs to carry 250 m (750 ft.) of rope, ice screws, crampons, and warm gear for the ice cave.

I took photos as a good excuse to catch my breath! Here's a Pasque flower.

We kept heading up.

Finally we made it to the thin rock ledge where the cave is located. Some of it is exposed, so it took awhile to get our whole group across. While I was waiting, I found this packrat in another cave entrance. He wasn't at all timid, and one of the problems cavers have in this area is packrats gnawing through their ropes. Yikes!

We're getting close now!

Finally we're at the entrance!

It was time to suit up and have the first couple of people go down to start rigging.

I was very excited when it was my turn to go down. I descended the snow to the first rebelay station.

From there I could look down under the hoar frost to where the snow turned to ice just before the next station.

A bit further into the cave and I could look down several pitches, admiring the giant frozen blue waterfall we were descending. The slopes average about 70 degrees, so even though we needed 250 meters of rope, the actual depth is about 140 meters. The cave is a cold trap, cold enough that meltwater refreezes each year on this frozen waterfall, leaving it look pristine each season. The name Booming Ice Chasm comes from the sound made if something is dropped. The cave echoes a lot, so it was hard to communicate.

Side waterfalls came in from side passages. This one was quite wet and made cool tinkling sounds as water dripped.

Looking back up, I could still see the entrance. But we weren't even half way down yet.

At the one level spot in the cave, we found some calcite speleothems. They were covered with frost.

Finally we made it to the bottom, where the floor was coated with ice. Woohoo! Now we just had to climb back out, using our crampons quite a bit. Once we climbed up the inside of the mountain, we had to descend back down the outside of the mountain.

Christian Stenner snapped this photo of me coming out. I had a great time! The cave was gorgeous, and I felt plenty safe going with seven other cave rescue instructors! You can see some great photos of the cave here. And here's an interesting account of filming inside the cave.

Thanks to all who made this trip possible. It was quite an experience, and I hope to return to Canada to do some more caving.