July 8th -- Water Flow Calculations Day!

Well, today I decided to start a rotation for checking the hair snares just because we are getting more and more out there, and I was told I don't need to be checking them everyday.  I will now be breaking them up into two different sections and days, so I will do one section one day, and the other section the next day.  I think that will help things run smoother in the long run.  So, on todays rotation I checked Yellow Birch and the Blackwater River Road Trail.  I am convinced now more than ever that the squirrels on Yellow Birch have gone on strike because there was no hair to be found...maybe they don't like the new bait...hmmm...BRRT was the same, but I think it is because it's still new...I've noticed it takes between 1-2 weeks for the squirrels to really start visiting the snares.  But, I did see some fresh bear scat there today.  It was a very small pile which means it was a cub...yippee! 

After my field work I decided to finally work on the water flow calculations!  All the measurements I collected in the field with Martin, using his flow meter, had to be put into various formulas to figure out how much water flow there was per second, hour, day, etc.  Thank goodness for Microsoft Excel, is all I have to say about that!  And thank goodness I took a class last semester that taught me how to use Excel!!  All in all it took me about 4 hours to get through all of the calculations -- I had to finish up some that Doug (the technician before me) wasn't able to get to before he left.  I felt pretty accomplished after I was done though! 

Tomorrow Judy is coming again so we can hang some more new snares!  I'm also going to be showing Lori where our snare sites are so she can show Dr. Flaherty when she comes (I'm leaving Thursday to head back up to NY for a wedding and won't be back until Monday evening) on Monday where they are!   Tomorrow will be a busy, busy day!!

 A sweet newt I found on the trail today!

Of course there would be a massive spider web at the hair snare entrance where I have to stick my hand...