Mapping and Counting

It has been a very busy few days here on the Middle Fork John Day. Pretty much busy from sunrise to sunset. I have been wanting to post parts of my day but just couldn't find the time until now.

The weather continues to be absolutely amazing! crisp and very chilly at night and in the mornings then it gets in the low to mid 80s during the day.

Geomorphic data collection on the MFJD is going well. The last couple of days have been focused on gravel counts; embeddedness measurements; stream unit mapping; and photo documenting the four primary river reaches we are working on -- complete with GPS.

I think I talked about gravel counts earlier (July 29th).
Embeddedness is related to how much water flow and aeration occurs around the gravels and cobbles on the bed of a stream. The more embedded, the less flow and aeration. Flow and aeration around gravels and cobbles is necessary habitat for successful fish egg development.
Stream unit mapping means identifying all the riffles, pools, and glides in a river segment (usually not visible in photos or even from the bank in the detail we are recording). Complexity is necessary for healthy aquatic habitat and river function.

Stephanie and Jessica work'en on the MFJD -- with coyote bluff in the background.

While I have been doing the stream unit mapping my cohorts (Stephanie and Jessica) have been photo-documenting the river in photo sets that are GPSed. This will be used for historic comparisons in the future.

So that's that!!!

Today we finished four gravel counts and embeddedness measurement sets on our uppermost river segment. These things take a lot of focus as there are literally over a hundred per riffle that is done and each is maticulously recorded.

We had a "force of nature" experience today as we were getting close to finishing our data collection on the last riffle. Some might have called it a dust devil -- it formed just 100 meters away from where we were working on an old quarry site. This thing ended up being around 200 feet high and about 100 feet across. It formed rapidly, picking up dust, pebbles, and sticks up to 1 foot long. It was solid debris. Luckily we were in the channel so we were slightly lower than the surface it formed on. Still, we were pelted with sticks and rocks as it moved quickly over us. No injuries except a couple of little scratches. It dissipated as it went into the lodge pole pines at the edge of the valley.

But, we finished up early. This gave Jessica and I time to hike up to Lemon Cabin -- it'an old miners cabin about 2.5 miles up on an abandoned (closed off to motor vehicles) Forest Service road. We ran all the way back down the mountain and plunged our sweaty heads in the creek before heading back to camp.

Granite Boulder Creek

Now, here I am. The sun is low in the sky but still very warm. Steve (my fantastic beau) just arrived for the weekend. And, it's time to make dinner!

Pollyanna -- not worried about unflattering photos.

Flower of the day -- anyone know what this one is called? They are tiny!