Jan. 3 8:10AM 48F
This is my last visit, it's not nearly as cold as one year ago. I've sat here watching a deer browse the hill slope above me, 3 squirrels chase each other all over a snag, a turkey vulture ride the thermals just about the tree canopy. I hear a few songbirds but can't put eyes on them.
I think about what's changed in or around the mandala over the past year. It's gotten wetter through the wettest year on record. For the second half of the year, there's always been standing water near the mandala. The soil's been soft, rubber boots a necessity. Several big trees have fallen nearby and just recently a 9" diameter limb on the mandala's edge. The stream has changed course a bit, scoured by flooding and held up by natural debris.
What hasn't changed is the solitude of this forest, a simple retreat from the suburban hustle and campus bustle. As peaceful as this spot is, it cannot escape human influence. Most days, anthropogenic noise exceeds that of nature. The accumulation of trash is no less than disgusting. ORV use is perhaps the most disturbing as new trails appear and old trails become deeper and more eroded. I worry about the future of this little piece of forest with new campus development expected soon.
One of the other things that hasn't changed is my pleasant surprise at what the trail cameras have caught passing through the mandala. Of course there have bit a boat load of deer, and though we knew they were around, we've seen lots of foxes especially recently. I've found lots and lots of raccoon tracks in the area but haven't caught too many on the cameras. Apparently they use different trails than larger species, largely sticking to the water's edge. Coyotes too. Certainly they were here but now there's photo evidence. Perhaps my biggest surprise from the cameras was the great blue herons in the tiny tributary along the mandala. These cameras have helped to show a bit of what we don't know - pieces of the foodweb that remain out of sight and out of mind. We can be sure that there's much more here than we can easily observe. That's some of the beauty of ecology, the mystery, the complexity. That's why I do this, and why I'll be back.
