Walk around the block

Forest Gun Club

Deer Experiment Area

Coming into Leetonia from South

Uprooted Oak

Oak Project ?

Camp

Coyote Tracks

Corner at Francias Leetonia 

Rock at Cushman View

Well, I walked around the block today it took 5 hours it is almost 12 miles. In all that distance I didn't see anything bigger than birds. 1 Raven, 3 Grouse and several Chickadees. There really wasn't that many tracks for deer in the entire loop. The pictures above aren't in the order I walked and are a few of the things I photographed.
For me some of the saddest things are the experiments the Forestry and Game are doing with the woods. The picture labeled, "Deer experiment area," can pretty much be described as a waste of money.  Several years back they did a "controlled burn," that got a little uncontrolled. Then they fenced it to keep the deer out. This was supposed to prove how much damage the deer do to the forest. Only all it proved was how much damage the controlled burn had done. A year later many of the large trees died from the burn so they let a logging company in to take them. Still they persisted with the fence a bit longer. Bears and deer got inside easily and their data if they really had any was useless. So they took the fence down last year.
The next experiment is going on further down the road. They logged everything out of a large area except a few select Oak trees that were supposed to reseed the area. It sounded logical, but they neglected to account for the effect the lack of trees would have on the ones left. The lonely oaks once buffeted from wind by their neighboring close trees now got the brunt of it and I counted easily a dozen uprooted. Also the lack of cover dries the ground out making it difficult for the oak seedlings to start. So far I don't see any new oaks. Maybe I need a better explanation of how this is supposed to work.
Our forest is out of balance. It is out of balance because of so much harvesting of pulp wood and it is out of balance in the composition of the animals. I am beginning to think managing the forest means: figure out the way to get the most money out of it and don't put anything back. If I am wrong about this please educate me and explain how this all is supposed to work.
Well, that is my political message for the day. On the brighter side the walk was very pleasant. The temps started cold at 10 degrees but it warmed up and walking was very nice. The distance proved about 2 miles more than my legs would have liked to have gone. When I reached downtown Leetonia, they wanted to stop. But since the bus was running slow, I had to push them forward. Walking in the snow even though it was packed takes a bit more effort than walking on dry land. I enjoyed my time in the woods and I would recommend a walk for anyone really wanting to see this area. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.



Even though Map says Sat...I did this on Sunday.

Create Maps or search from 80 million at A 11.45 mi Walk mapped on Sat Jan 26 2013 and more walks in Galeton, PA on MapMyWalk. Find walk

com/">MapMyWalk