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     CONGRATULATIONS TO THE EDGE ESSAY WINNERS!

Ryan ~ Aaron ~ Sheri ~ Mathew

Visit THE EDGE to read excerpts from their essays.

   THE EDGE is here.  This is your chance to

   experience the wilderness challenge. 

    We all have dreams

    and we'd like to make

    yours come true. 

Six days....three of those will be spent in camp learning the basics of survival.  Then you're on your own for two days and one night. 

Don't miss out.  Join those who are already signed up and experience your own, very personal and empowering challenge.

Bear Grylls Shoes

We often joked that Bear had springs in his legs and feet, maybe it was just the shoes!

There is a lot of interest in the shoes and boots Bear Grylls wears on the Man vs. Wild, Born Survivor episodes.  I’ll get right to it, the shoes Bear wears are Merrell Chameleon’s chosen for numerous excellent qualities.  Read more about Bear's shoes here.....

The mighty Bruin are out and about and leaving trails and tales of their travels.....

This is what I usually encounter when out in the woods, and it is particularly fresh scat for when I went up the trail it was absent, and on return it had been deposited within a twenty minute time frame.  I am sure the timid black bear either heard or smelled me coming and exited left! 

Ursus Americanus are omnivorous, they will eat meat.  However they are predominately herbivores, dining on grasses, roots, berries, vegetables and fruits.  Insects also make up a large portion of their diet.  They are particularly fond of ground nesting bees which they dig up for the larvae. 

 This Ursus arctos horribilis is

 scavenging for grubs, but don't

 confuse the two bruin, for the

 picture at left is a grizzly bear.

 They leave the same style of

 fecal matter, in larger quantities!

I did encounter a little bear on this day, but as usual it was headed in the opposite direction on the run.  I am careful to look up into the trees to see if any little ones have been stashed there before I go on my way.  No need to stress "momma bear" out

unnecessarily.

Tracks of the front pads of a black bear were observed around a puddle of water on a high ridge in the Oregon Coast range.  Along with the elk, and other woods creatures, the black bear take advantage of water where it is found.  As the climate warms animals must travel longer distances to find water.  Streams that normally run year round now dry up in the summer months causing stress for many.

Unfortunately water is not all the black bear has to worry about.  They are being poached/hunted for their gallbladders on the "black market".  Some countries use numerous animal parts for alternative medicinal remedies.  Thus making death and destruction a lucrative business.  I have found many carcasses from this practice working and hiking in the coast range and other areas. 

It is much more preferable to view this scene.

National Geographic

Meet the "Spotties"

Banding a fledgling Spotted Owl.

Once again I am fortunate to be able to work with the gracious raptor.

Strix occidentalis. 

The juveniles are banded after fledging in an attempt to discover their distribution from nest areas. 

  'Dad' watches to make sure we don't

  harm his precious progeny.

  Spotted Owl habitat is diminishing, but I

  hesitate to focus on just the Strix

  occidentalis species.  Other inhabitants

  suffer the same loss, i.e. the Varied Thrush,

  and other song birds that depend on old

  growth timber; Flying squirrels and Red Tree

  Voles; amphibious creatures as well as

  many plants; like the forest orchids.  The

  earth is an entire ecosystem highly

  dependent on all interconnected habitats.

  Never is just one specie affected.  We are

  all at risk.

The amphibians and reptiles are showing up again, look what we encountered.

  Meet the Northern

  Alligator Lizard.  Primarily

  diurnal, it can be found

  climbing bushes using its

  prehensile tail to wrap

  around branches in its

  search for prey.  You guess

why the are referred to as "alligator"!!   The Elgaria coerulea.

  This little guy is the Western Redbacked

  Salamander hanging out under a piece of

  dead wood staying cool and moist.  Likely

  where it will discover lunch too.

  Plethodon vehiculum sometimes the

  Latin cracks me up...does that translate

  into dinosaur transportation?  Just kidding.

  Here's a charmer if there ever was

  one. Sceloporus occidentalis or

  the  Blue bellied lizard or the

  Western Fence Lizard.  This is

  a little female based on her tummy

  coloration just a slight little blue

  patch at the sides and under her

  chin.  If I ever need a blood

  transfusion I want one from this

  specie.

It has been discovered that when ticks caring Lyme disease feed on the western fence lizard the bacteria that cause Lyme disease are killed. In areas where western fence lizards occur the incidents of Lyme disease are lower.

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