A Day At Work

I work in a black bear habitat where there are no rails or cages keeping me or my customers safe. The only thing they(the customers) have is me, a flair, and my pocket knife.
not only do we have trails but so do the bears.
since we only have 3inches to 3 feet of soil before we hit rocks, the nursery logs are a very vital part of our ecosystem.
in select parts of the forest it has been logged twice. once about a hundred years and twice about fifty years ago. this tree is a red alder, it is a pioneer species. it is very vital for the succession of new trees and shrubs because it sucks the nitrogen out of the air and feeds it into the soil. the markings on this tree is from a Red-Breasted Sapsucker.

here we have two of the three main trees in the forest. the one on the left is a sitcka sproose and the one on the right is a western hemlock. you can tell the differences by the bark on the trees. a nice survival fact: that white stuff coming off the sproose tree is a very nice fire starter.

we have about 700 different types of moss in the forest, here in this 6X3 foot aria there are about 10 different types. the moss is good because a lot of it can soak up to 10 times its weight in water. very good for when we have our dry spells.this right here is a Lichen. particularly a lettus leaf lichen. lichens are a fungi and algae working together in harmony. they do not decompose anything but they feed of the oxygen. they can grow year round and they make up 90% of Rain deers' diet in the winter.

here is a long legged hemlock perfect for little critters to make there homes. also good for if you are lost and need to get out of the rain. inside there the rain cant get you but you may come out looking like a rusty nail with all the decomposed material.

this is a territorial marking from a Black Bear. shows you how strong they are.

here is a bit of the water, this is a prime feeding ground for the bears. thousands of fish will come threw here to spawn and the bears will feed on the eggs and brains of the fish. this is why you shouldn't walk off on your own. this one is a small bog they can get hundreds of feet deep and roads disappear in them.
here we have a devils club. very dangerous but very useful too. has cures for cancer and many other things.
here we have my favorite part of the tour. the rain deer! this one is Aurora and she is my favorite. here we have two birds in our rapter center. a great horned owl and a bald eagle. they both have right wing injuries preventing them from flying.
last but not least we have our carver Wane. he is working on a 24 foot totem pole.

well this is the end of the tour. for your benefit i didn't do the whole thing and left about half of it out. if you didn't enjoy yourself just be glad you didn't spend the $85 normal people have to pay. soon the bears will come out so i should have some pictures in the near future.