The week started out with some article readings and dam mapping, as the weather wasn\u2019t great for field work.\u00a0 These articles weren\u2019t as simple as the first week, though.\u00a0 Most of my science background to date is in chemistry, biology, and physics.\u00a0 I\u2019m taking my first geology course next semester, and I run into sentences like, \u201cIn the glacio-lacustrine hydrosequence, depth to subsurface concentrations of oxalate extractable Fe (>800 g m”3) decreased with increasing wetness.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, I still refer to soil as \u201cdirt\u201d unironically.\u00a0 But with the help of a few USDA and USGS resources, I made my way through it.\u00a0 I came away with a better understanding of the complexity in interactions between soils, water, and wildlife that occur in beaver habitats.\u00a0 It really is incredible how strongly these animals influence their ecosystem beyond the obvious tree-cutting and dam building.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I did get into the field on Friday, intending to grab a few soil samples after lunch at Left Hand Creek. \u00a0It\u2019s only about 30 minutes out of town, easy enough to do in an afternoon.\u00a0 I got to the parking spot and began making my way towards the beaver pond, but just as I got near where the wetlands began I heard splashing.\u00a0 I immediately thought that I\u2019d come across one of the beavers, and quickly moved around the stand of trees between us to see a mama moose and her calf.\u00a0 A very large mama moose who was separated from me by a very shallow and suddenly much smaller creek.\u00a0 It was at this point that the rational part of my brain that doesn\u2019t like running toward loud noises finally regained some control, and I calmly went right back behind the trees that had separated us. By the time I\u2019d gotten my camera out and moved to a better position, they\u2019d already disappeared deeper into the forest.\u00a0 But at least I got my first view of a moose in the wild and managed not to get trampled in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The week started out with some article readings and dam mapping, as the weather wasn\u2019t great for field work.\u00a0 These articles weren\u2019t as simple as the first week, though.\u00a0 Most of my science background to date is in chemistry, biology, and physics.\u00a0 I\u2019m taking my first geology course next semester, and I run into sentences… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reccs-2018"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-30 05:40:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1103,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions\/1103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/reccs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}