12 August

 The "dog days" persist.  It's mostly quiet in the forest and marsh.

The various berries in the forest seem to have all been harvested, presumably by birds -- bears tend to be messier in their harvests.  The salal, however, is becoming quite productive, and tasty.

The mosses in the forest are flourishing.  I either have to learn more about them or bring someone along who knows mosses or more likely, both.  There are some beauties.

The first two photos both show mosses and nurse stumps for other trees.   

This one has a couple of tiny huckleberry bushes starting.

Possibly a new alder?

...and two mosses with emerging sporophytes.

The marsh remains quiet.  The bullfrog mating season must be at an end--we're not hearing them. 

There are, however, smaller bullfrogs, not yet fully grown.

I'm pretty sure this is a female, maybe four inches long.  The visible tympanic membrane is unique among frogs in this area.   Quite a few of them are visible just now--possibly a hatch of the tadpoles we photographed a few weeks back?  And also because the marsh is lower, and there is less water to hide them.

The water level in the marsh continues to subside, but it still looks to be retaining water.

There are still open patches of water visible.  The woods to the south are starting to show the signs of drought or heat stress.

There is an increasing amount of greenish vegetation, which looks to be non-vascular, growing in the water of the marsh.  It shapes itself into some odd formations, and is habitat to an assortment of aquatic insects.

Unfortunately, it looks as though I can quit reporting on Arrowsmith's snow loss.  There's really nothing left up there.

A tree has come down across the path. 

 It looks to have broken off about six inches above the ground.  It's not clear how this would have happened -- Hot weather can take its toll on trees.  It hasn't been stormy.

Although it's clearly drying, much of the growth remains green and abundant.  It's possible that the groundwater from the marsh is sustaining the forest.