The Spirit of Spring

Despite moody weather, there's been a notable shift in activity this week.

Week in Review

Although the weather this week was a mixed bag, with bits of sun and lots of shifting clouds, temperatures have been surprisingly warm. Lots of snow is disappearing, ice completely melted from Big Twin Lake a couple of days ago, and the rivers are turbulent and muddy.

Every day, it seems like there are a few more flowers and a few more insects. I mentioned the appearance of catkins in last week's newsletter, but they were much more conspicuous this week. It's easy to take catkins for granted, but you might be interested to learn that they play a vital ecological role, which I discussed last spring in my Lukas Guides newsletter.

Butterflies have been especially active and conspicuous on sunny days, and I also saw my first wasp flying around (I've seen a few wasps over the past month, but they have all been motionless and half-dead).

Birds are particularly active right now, with many groups of dark-eyed juncos eagerly searching for food among sprouting grasses, red-winged blackbirds defending territories around water, and western bluebirds checking out nestboxes. I even saw my first mountain bluebird of the year, and trumpeter swans returned to Big Twin Lake on the evening of the 15th.

And the one arrival that made me catch my breath was seeing my first turkey vultures on the 16th. I'd been watching the sky every day, wondering when they'd finally arrive, so it was a thrill to spot them.

Without a doubt, the highlight of my week, and the reason I decided to write a newsletter today after thinking that I wouldn't, was seeing birds battling for territories. There's so much energy in the air, and birds are definitely feeling it!

A Side Note

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is asking for public comments on their proposed recreation plan for the Methow Valley, and the deadline is March 31. Proposed actions include a number of changes to trails and access points, so glance at their plan and maps and comment as you see fit. An article in the Methow Valley News talks about the comment period and highlights some of the thoughtful comments people have been submitting, including raising questions about weeds and the continuing winter closures.

All feedback is valuable, but I want to share my thoughts on this proposal. In general, I oppose this recreation plan because it feels like WDFW is always focusing on some fancy new plan for chopping up and degrading intact habitats rather than taking care of the lands they manage. For example, WDFW has a serious weed issue. Many of their properties are highly degraded and have epic weed infestations, yet WDFW continues spending money installing fancy new signs and carving out additional parking areas instead of doing the real work. In fact, one of their proposed new trails cuts directly across a pristine meadow system where no one currently walks, and it's a perfect example of how they're cutting up the landscape and inviting more damage.

I also believe that people love the areas they hike and explore as they are. Many wildlife area trails are simple user trails, with quirky and rustic parking, and that's a big part of the fun. This all changes when you start installing trailhead signs and putting in big parking areas that turn "walking" into commodified "recreation." And speaking of new parking areas, I don't trust WDFW. To get a sense of what they call a new "parking area," all you have to do is drive up Frost Road to see where they added an unneeded parking area by bulldozing out a bunch of shrubs in a spot where people never had a problem finding parking beforehand.

Let's leave these wildlife areas quirky and rustic, where the trails people walk are little more than game trails, and parking is part of the adventure. I understand if some people want something more formal and stuffy, but it's a huge mistake if we're diverting limited funds and resources to these priorities while the ecological fabric of the land continues to unravel around us.