Snow Shoeing Field Trip By: Lauryn Newman

Snow Shoeing Field Trip

Friday February 23^rd 8:30am- 6:00pm @ Gold Creek in Snoqualmie Pass

The weather conditions were clear with no rain, and snow showers throughout the day.

(picture is of Snow Shoe Hare Track)

 For my Field trip I decided to challenge myself and go up and go snowshoeing up @ Gold Creek in Snoqualmie Pass. This was very interesting for me because I am by no means athletically inclined, and have never snow shoed before so it was bound to be quite the experience for me. After we arrived at Gold Creek we saw a few different tracks initially. We saw a Snow Shoe hare track, a Grey squirrel track, and a coyote track. We also saw the marks made on a tree that we concluded to be a bear that had rubbed its back end on the tree as some bears do. I want to go more into depth on how we concluded what the animal tracks were. A lot of it had to do with the path the animal was traveling for instance the squirrel tracks we found started at the base of a tree and went away from the tree, which lead us to the conclusion that the animal that made the tracks most likely is able to climb trees we were then able to look at size and shape of the tracks to determine the most likely track for that particular animal. For the Snow Shoe Hare track that we saw we noticed the back feet were longer and wider foot prints and that the two front track where deeper in the snow then the back feet which for most rabbits when they hop they place more weight when they land on their front feet causing the snow print to be deeper around the front. Also the way it was traveling which was a straight line told us it was something wild. Because there were lots of domestic dogs on the trail it was important for us to know that because the behavior of a dog is more random as it is excited to see new things the tracks are normally not in a straight line they are all over the place. A wild animal is only focused on its goal of getting from one place to another so it will not waste movements and will be more of a straight line. When we noticed tracks that veered far off away from the main trail (another behavior not typical of a domestic dog) we decided to follow the trail to see if we could find more clear and defined foot prints so we could make a decision on what animal it was. We concluded it was a coyote track because of the shape of the paw print (more oval than circular which is more of a feline trait) and the V shape in its paw a pad crevice.  That was a very fun part of the trip but unfortunately for me I was very uncoordinated and fell several times throughout the trip. Including one off a step ledge, I was secretly hoping more people would fall so I would look less stupid but sadly for me most people had much better coordination then me. Nonetheless I was proud that I stuck with it even though it took me a lot longer to keep up with the other people. The scenes of the snow and the trees and river were absolutely breathtaking I wish everyone could be that one with nature. The real importance in respect to Human ecology of animal tracking is to be able to know what animals currently inhabit the environment around us. The I-90 wildlife corridor is a classic example of why animal tracking is useful. The project was started mainly because of the amount of human and animal vehicle collision’s on the I-90 highway. Many animal’s attempt to cross the highway to migrate and find more sources of food. Because there is no specified place for the wildlife to safely cross there was an increase in the collision’s that killed both animals and people. So many groups got together to make wildlife corridors along the I-90 highway to allow wildlife to safely cross. Animal tracking is an important part of this process because it is necessary to track the different animals using the wildlife corridors in order to make sure that they are working efficiently. Most people want proof that they are effective and if they are not what improvements need to be made in order to give wildlife more encouragement to use them. When we were on our field trip our class actually stopped by and we viewed one of the corridors on I-90.  It was very impressive and very well made. This defiantly was a prime example of how people come together to solve solutions that benefit the lives of both animals and people. One of the main contributors to the I-90 corridors is “Conservation Northwest” their main contribution was to make sure that the animals safety and well-being was kept in mind when designing the corridor plans. As well as keeping track and monitoring the different wildlife in the area. Several groups would go out and put up cameras to get counts and monitor behavior patterns of the different species of animals in order to determine the best way the structure and environment of the corridor should be to increase the likelihood that the wildlife would use them and avoid crossing traffic. This field trip was very rewarding because it allowed me to see how far biology and society have come together and truly are connected in the great scheme of things. I think it speaks volumes that people from different backgrounds that do different jobs come together to make something that helps the wildlife and people. We need corporation from all people in order to make our world a better place and to ensure that the organisms we have living today are their for future generations to continue to enjoy!  

 (Beautiful View right!)