Our team split up into two groups so that we would be able to collect more data. My group went on what we thought was a six mile hike, although we later found out it was actually over nine miles. On the hike we completed a presence/absence survey and a randomized productivity study.
Our team split up into two groups so that we would be able to collect more data. My group went on what we thought was a six mile hike, although we later found out it was actually over nine miles. On the hike we completed a presence/absence survey and a randomized productivity study.
Presence/Absence Survey
One of the goals of this study is to create a distribution map of Huckleberries in the Swan Valley. To date a map such as this does not exist but its creation will be useful for wildlife management.
To complete the survey we stopped every fifteen minutes on our hike to record the latitude/longitude and check for the presence or absence of thimbleberries, huckleberries, buffalo berries and service berries. We also stopped for five minutes to survey the presence or absence of bees, a pollinator species, in the area.
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Randomized Productivity Study
We stopped twice on our hike to conduct a randomized productivity study. In this study we set up a twenty five meter surveyor tape and took pictures of the canopy cover every five meters. Every meter along the tape we stopped and used a 1m x 1m transect to count the number of huckleberries inside. If there were no huckleberries inside the transect we were able to move the transect one meter over in either direction to see if there were any huckleberries. If no plant was present we recorded this as an absence. We also collected 100 berries to send to a lab to measure the size of the berries and for DNA analysis. To date there is no data indicating whether there are different species of huckleberries.
Bears, Oh My!
While we did not see any bears, grizzly or black. When we first started hiking we did see bear teeth marks on a bridge and collected hair that was caught it the wood. Even more exciting was smelling a decaying carcass and seeing a turkey vulture flying overhead. Both of these are indicators that a bear may be in the vicinity.
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