October is now upon us and snow is right
around the corner. Which means field season is over for this
botanist. Once the leaves start dropping and the herbaceous species die
for another winter, making a species list for an area becomes nearly
impossible. However, there are still lots of blog posts for me to catch
up on, so you will still get some summery pictures on this website.
My
last trip of the year was to the beautiful Peonan Creek, located
roughly between Melfort and Prince Albert. It is a winding, meandering
creek with a variety of different riparian vegetation along its length.
We hiked through old-growth white spruce and balsam fir forest; willow
and alder thickets; open aspen- and poplar-dominated habitat; and even
some abandoned pasture. In some places the bank is cut away in a sheer
cliff 15 metres high, in other places the creek has flowed over a bit
into its floodplain due to the enormous amount of beaver activity and
the impressive dams that have blocked its flow to the Saskatchewan
River. My job there was to assess the health of the riparian zone by
looking at the shoreline vegetation species and erosion and other such
things.
Here are some photos that highlight my trip:
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| A wide part of the creek. |
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| Tiny bear cub footprint on the creek bank?! |
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| A tree hanging onto the tall bank for dear life. |
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| And, just for fun, a tiny little waterfall in Duke Ravine (another stream I assessed on the same trip). |
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| Hiking down the creek. |
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| Looking down on Peonan Creek |
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| Where Peonan Creek meets the Saskatchewan River. It was a beautiful sight at the end of the hike. |
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