field trip

On Friday February 2nd, I went to Gold Creek at Snoqualmie Pass on a snowshoe trip to track the wildlife. When we first arrived before noon, it was raining heavily. With the interest of us kids in mind, Gwen and Tom took us to a place near Ellensburg. When we arrived, there was not a lot of snow, and a little bit of rain in the weather. We walked around for a little and learned about the different types of trees, moss, and why there are terrace-like structures on the hills. We loaded back up in the van and headed back to Gold Creek, where we snowshoed for about 2 hours.

The most interesting track I saw was the ones made by the beaver. The pictures below were taken by the wetland area, showing how the beaver got to and from the water, and also the remnants of it chewing on the tree. The picture is not the clearest, but one can see where there is a trail going into the water, as shown if Figure 1. The way we identified the beaver was the two distinct sizes of paws, and the beavers have five fingers. The amount of fingers was hard to see, as the rain that came down that morning wiped away the tracks. The most interesting part was seeing the remnants of the beaver chewing, shown in figure 2. We identified that the chewings were fresh, because the chips were on top of the snow. We looked at how the tree was being cut down, and how the chips were cut. Based on the research, we proved that the beaver was chewing perpendicular to the tree.

We also saw lots of other small animal tracks, most being from squirrels or hares. They were all found going from one tree to another closeby tree. The tracks were a little disturbed from the rain, but one could see one set of paws were bigger than the other. This is an adaptation we learned in biology. The back paws were bigger so they have more surface area and do not sink into the 6 feet of show. This is similar to our snowshoes. People had their snowshoe fall off their foot, and would sink over knee deep into the snow. Tom Murphy said that is why there are no elk around here at this time, because they would always sink into the snow and make it almost impossible for them to move.

Tom Murphy also talked about the construction of wildlife bridges that cross Interstate 90. These are being built so animals can cross from one side to the other safely. People are now going out to track these animals, seeing which animals are crossing and when they are. The bridges are good for the wildlife, as the animals can migrate, get other resources, and have more genetic diversity. The resources would be the watershed on the one side of the road, and mountains on the other. The genetic diversity is key to genetics of animals. A smaller gene pool would limit the diversity in the species.

Reflecting back on the day, I learned more about animals than I expected to learn. I knew squirrels and hares stayed in the snow, but did not realize they use their large feet to not sink in the snow. I also learned that the otters like to use the hills that go down to the creek as a playground, sliding from the top of the hill, straight into the water. I knew beavers chewed on trees, but did not know they chew perpendicular to the tree. I was also told about how elaborate beaver dams, and their homes can get. I cannot pinpoint one thing that was most important, as all the knowledge I gained was beneficial.

Figure 1: Shot by Parker Lehman showing the trail beavers take to and from the water.

Figure 2: Shot by Parker Lehman showing the remnants of where a beaver chewed.