Site Monitoring Proposal and Equipment Request
Photo by Ed Cushman
Bull Creek – Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Photo by Emily Peterson
About Robert Leiterman
I received my Bachelor of Arts in Recreation Administration with
a minor in Natural Resources from Humboldt State University in 1986. I
started my first seasonal job with parks back in 1981. Prior to landing
my first permanent State Park Ranger position in 1987, I had worked seasonably
as a Park Aide with the California State Parks on the beaches, deserts
and mountains of Southern California, and as a seasonal park ranger with
the National Park Service in Southern Oregon. I have been protecting the
redwood resources here along California’s North Coast as a State Park
Ranger since 1997.
My unit ranger responsibilities include interpreting the areas’ natural and cultural history, public safety, park operations and resource management. As a generalist ranger, I have learned that there never is such a thing as a normal day, when it comes to protecting our resources here in the majestic redwoods.
I am well aware of the difficulties and challenges that we need to overcome in order to protect our parks. With increase visitation and on-going budget short falls, the everyday challenges of managing the park resources, entrusted to land stewards like myself, has gotten more complex. There are a limited number of park professionals with lots to do and thousands of acres to oversee. As the public pressure on our park resources increase, by necessity we have learned to be more creative and self sufficient. We realized the need to be smarter managers. As habitat slowly diminishes, both plant and animal species of concern are beginning to disappear. Environmental concerns like climate change, over harvesting of ancient forests, and the diminishing of the water quality, just to name a few things, are big items of concern. The assault on our parks isn’t just environmental factors. The numbers of resource crimes are on the increase. From timber theft to marijuana patches in fragile areas, and from native plant removal, to mushroom and animal poaching.
Our parks are slowly becoming islands in a sea of change. These islands are the homes to several species of flora and fauna native to Northern California. The threatened and endangered species list grows as we learn more about the creatures that inhabit our ancient forests.
Photo by Robert Leiterman
When I heard about the opportunity to acquire new tools, like wildlife cameras, I got excited. The use of hidden cameras can be an excellent way to protect the parks resources, enhance visitor safety and assist in the documentation of wildlife and their behaviors.
There are two State Park units within the influence of my patrol area:
1 - Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park - a smaller out of the way unit of approximately 1800 acres, snuggled in between two ridges and adjacent to private timber lands.
2 - Humboldt Redwoods State Park - a 53,000 acre predominantly coast redwood ecosystem. Of those, approximately 18,000 acres are ancient redwood and Douglas fir old-growth forests. With two wilderness areas and a nature preserve, it’s the third largest State Park in the system.
Both of these park units have major North Coast Rivers running through
them, as well as smaller, salmon/steel head spawning creeks. They both
have groves of ancient redwoods and Douglas fir forests. They are both
situated amongst rugged, isolated terrain in the mountains of Humboldt
County.
My request is for three wildlife cameras. The location descriptions and needs are as follows:
Location One: Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park
Request for two cameras to set up and cover a full 360 degrees around area of concern.
There is a snag in a section of the forest that has been used as a scratching post for the last six months plus. The animal visitation is very consistent. The constant scratching is deteriorating the rotting snag. Unfortunately, the ground substrate isn’t very conducive to tracking. The thick forest and high organic content of the forest floor has made it difficult to identify tracks. Tracking through soils with high percentage of organic debris has proven to be difficult.
On two occasions I have had to remove food items (tuna, fruit/vegetables and lunch meats) from the location, most likely placed by park visitors attempting to habituate the animal.
Photo by Dave Stockton
Photo by Emily Peterson
Photo by Dave Stockton
Redwood Forest in Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park
Photo by Robert Leiterman
Location Two: Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Request for one camera for a remote location that covers the goose pen entrance of a large, ancient redwood.
This is a unique opportunity. On a ridge top in a section of the ancient forest, there is an old growth tree, one of many throughout the park that has been hollowed out by a fire of long ago. The hollowed out living tree is called a goose pen because the early pioneers used them to enclose their live stock at night to protect them from predators as well as making homes in them for themselves. These features are also used by animals for seasonal homes and shelter. Bats and bears alike have taken advantage of this resource. Because of the nature of the redwoods’ fire resistant bark and the lack of flammable pitch in the wood, these natural structures are spread throughout the ancient redwood forests.
Photo by Dave Stockton
One of our volunteers stumbled upon this find last spring. There's a lot of animal traffic going to this little pond, but the tracks are indistinct, and likely represent several different species, large and small.
It would be safe to assume that every big wild mammal that is following
this ridge line is using this relatively clean pond as a source of drinking
water along the way.
The size and shape of this hollow tree, and the angle of the entrance
allows the tree to collects its portion of the 55 to 75 inches of rain
water that we receive a year and hold it through late spring when the
nearby springs dry up.
It would be great to be able to recapture on film the various animals
that use this ridge top watering hole.
The Humboldt Marten (a rodent-eating mink/otter that lives in trees) was
last seen in the area in the early forties. It is believed to be extinct.
To potentially rediscover the Humboldt Marten would be well worth the
time and effort for placing a camera here.
Photos of anything else unexpected may prove to be a valuable asset to the State of California.
Sincerely,
Robert Leiterman
State Park Ranger
Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park
rlhammer@humboldtredwoods.org