Throughout the long winter season, CSERC staff set up and maintained wildlife photo-detection stations at scattered locations on national forest lands.   The infrared-triggered camera stations help to locate rare furbearers and other species drawn to the baited stations.   Much of that CSERC fieldwork was done on snowshoes when deep snows covered the forest.   The Center's staff also visited many development project sites on private lands down in the foothills to assess potential project impacts and to be able to submit accurate comments to county planners.

But late spring is really the time when the vast majority of the Stanislaus Forest, Yosemite Park, and the private timberlands of the middle and upper elevations open up to public access.   Now is the start of CSERC's major watchdog monitoring and survey efforts.   As the big snowdrifts melt away, CSERC biologists and support staff are not far behind.   For such a small staff, the Center will take on a huge amount of fieldwork and watchdog monitoring during the 2010 field season.

Lindsey is heading up our water quality testing program which will include samples taken in both the foothills and the high mountains.   On most sampling days, she and another staff member will drive to stream sites, spend the time necessary to obtain fresh samples and document field conditions, and then hurry the samples (with containers in ice water) back to the certified laboratory for testing.

Lindsey and Brenda (our two CSERC biologists) will also head up the warm season wildlife survey efforts that will push high into remote areas that are inaccessible during the snowy winter period.   CSERC aims this summer to reach some of the best, unsurveyed habitat areas with high hopes for finding the elusive fisher, wolverine, and Sierra Nevada red fox.

Julia and Rebecca will assist CSERC biologists in doing meadow and streams surveys at as many as 50 different meadows across the Stanislaus Forest.   Past surveys have found that utilization of meadow grasses by livestock is often far beyond legal standards set by the Forest Service.   The surveys also focus on riparian plants (such as willows) that can be heavily browsed.

John will assist with all of the above, plus he will focus much of his fieldwork on monitoring logging on both private and national forest lands of the region.   John will also be monitoring how new minimum streamflow requirements for the Stanislaus River system mimic the natural flow regime.   All of the CSERC staff will be keeping track of road impacts and following up on reports of off-road-vehicle damage.   And finally, John and the entire staff will also attempt to get out into wilderness and roadless areas to assure that the pristine conditions in wild areas are being managed appropriately.