Archive for the ‘volunteer naturalist’ Tag
SCVN Friday Hike On The Box Camp Trail (06-28-13) — Images by kenne (Click here to see complete set of photos on Flickr)
Next week’s SCVN Friday hike will be on the Wilderness Rocks Trail on Mount Lemmon. I will be leading this hike, so I may not be taking any photos, but you can click here to see a posting on last year’s hike — it’s a great hike!
kenne
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Oracle Ridge Trail, View South Toward Mount Lemmon (Since I Was Leading This Year’s Hike,This Is An Image From Last Year) — Image by kenne
Oracle Ridge Trail #1
Once a trail
through the Mount Lemmon Forest,
shaded by tall ponderosas
until the trail reached the ridge
where the only shade
was from large alligator junipers.
This picture made it a favorite
of many southern Arizona hikers,
till ten years ago
the ridge was charred
by the Aspen Wildfire,
leaving only minds eye images.
Now, ten years out
many blacken trees remain
as new aspen, pine seedlings
and New Mexico locust
bring back the green
to the ridge.
Always a moderately
difficult trail on the return,
the loss of shade
has made it less inviting
to those looking for
a cool retreat from
the desert heat below —
still #1 for some.
kenne
Short iPhone Video Clip At Dan’s Saddle Where We Rested Under Sparse Shade Before Starting Our Return Up The Ridge.
Phil Bentley Playing The Harp
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Image by Jay Carey
Many of us who spend time in Sabino Canyon, and the Tucson area mountains in general, would love to have an opportunity to photograph a mountain lion. Tuesday morning Jay and Nancy Carey were able to video a big cat near the Cactus Panic area, which is where the Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist (SCVN) kindergarten program takes place. This is an area when mountain lions have been spotted before, so all SCVN are on alert as they work with children. Click the link below to read more in the Arizona Daily Star.
kenne
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Buffelgrass In Sabino Canyon — Images by kenne
When the Tucson area experiences sub-freezing temperatures, as it did a week ago, many express a concern for our stately Saguaro cacti. This icon of the Sonoran Desert can be damaged by long hours below freezing, depending on the health of each cactus, but the biggest treat to the saguaro is fire. The above images show many saguaro cactus surrounded by an invasive species, Buffelgrass. The upper right of the top photos has no buffelgrass, which represents a more normal view of the canyon vegetation.
Buffelgrass grows densely and crowds out native plants of similar size. Competition for water can weaken and kill larger desert plants. Dense roots and ground shading prevent germination of seeds. Buffelgrass can kill most native plants by these means alone. However, buffelgrass provides an intense fuel for wildfires and resprouts vigorously after fires, where most native desert plants are killed — including the saguaros.
Removing buffelgrass from steep slopes such as those being inspected by Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist, Mark Hengersbaugh is a very difficult task, which often involves the individual removal of each plant.
The image below is from a posting about a year ago I did on buffelgrass. Many volunteers are at work removing this invasive plant, but many more are needed. (Click here for link to earlier posting.)
kenne
Markus removing buffelgrass in the Esperero Canyon, February 24, 2012 — Images by kenne
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Hepatic Tanager — Image by Bill Kaufman
Fellow Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist (SCVN), Bill Kaufman set out the other morning to photograph an Hepatic Tanager in the canyon’s riparian area. As luck would have it he was able to photograph this beauty singing in the morning sunshine.
While hiking Pima Canyon yesterday, Bill shared his photographing experience, later in the day emailing the above image.
Great image, Bill — photographing this sing bird is made difficult by its unsettled movement high is the trees. Thanks for sharing.
Thy duty, winged flame of spring, is but to love and fly and sing.
— from the poem “Nest” by James Russell Lowell
kenne
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Becoming is Superior to Being 
When the Tucson area experiences sub-freezing temperatures, as it did a week ago, many express a concern for our stately Saguaro cacti. This icon of the Sonoran Desert can be damaged by long hours below freezing, depending on the health of each cactus, but the biggest treat to the saguaro is fire. The above images show many saguaro cactus surrounded by an invasive species, Buffelgrass. The upper right of the top photos has no buffelgrass, which represents a more normal view of the canyon vegetation.
Buffelgrass grows densely and crowds out native plants of similar size. Competition for water can weaken and kill larger desert plants. Dense roots and ground shading prevent germination of seeds. Buffelgrass can kill most native plants by these means alone. However, buffelgrass provides an intense fuel for wildfires and resprouts vigorously after fires, where most native desert plants are killed — including the saguaros.
Removing buffelgrass from steep slopes such as those being inspected by Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist, Mark Hengersbaugh is a very difficult task, which often involves the individual removal of each plant.
The image below is from a posting about a year ago I did on buffelgrass. Many volunteers are at work removing this invasive plant, but many more are needed. (Click here for link to earlier posting.)
kenne
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