Running Compass

A key feature of good inventory transects is that they follow a straight line. Wonderful things happen when you walk a straight line through the forest. Keeping the transect on the right bearing is accomplished through the judicious use of a compass, in this case, a Silva Ranger compass.

Once you get the first two or three transect stakes in position, you can put the compass away and just use back sights to keep the stakes lined up. Continual use of the compass (or GPS) will cause the line to zig-zag (see Believe Your Eyes).

Image above shows U Myint Maung, Warden of the Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, keeping our rattan transect on course (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey)

Shooting Plectocomia

Documentation of the photographic frenzy around the (fertile) specimen of Plectocomia assamica Griff. that we finally collected. Read the January 23, 2005 and January 25, 2005 entries in the Myanmar 2005 journal to see what all the fuss was about.  This is the rattan that the elephant is pulling out of the canopy at the end of the rattan survey video (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey). [NOTE: Nikon Coolpix on the right belongs to Andrew Henderson; that's U Tun Shaung on the left with the video camera] 

Field Equipment

My field research is decidedly low-tech (see Transect Ropes Redux).  You really don't need much stuff to lay out an inventory transect: 1) a transect rope with knots to correct for slope (yellow nylon), 2) a Silva ranger compass to keep you going straight, 3) a Speigel Relaskop for measuring slopes and heights (in leather case), and 4) Forestry Suppliers fieldbook for recording the data (I use their orange, hardback, six column Level book, No. 5737). 

[NOTE: Image is from the 2005 rattan survey in the Hukaung Valley, Myanmar (see Hukaung Valley Rattan Survey). With the exception of the transect rope, I still have - and use - all of these tools].

Learn From The Pine

This from Hattori Toho, a longtime student of Matsuo Bashō:

"Learn about the pine from the pine, learn about the bamboo from the bamboo" - this dictum of our teacher menas that you must forgo your subjectivity. If you interpret "learn" in your own way, you will end up not learning. To "learn" here means to enter the object; then if the essence reveals itself and moves you, you may come up with a verse, a page, a painting. Even if you seem to have described the object, unless it has an emotion that comes out of it naturally, the object and your self will remain separated, and the emotion you have described wil not have attained sincerity, because it will be something made up by your subjectivity (translation by Hiroaki Sato, from Jane Hirshfield's Nine Gates). 

[NOTE: Image from Acateyahulaco, Guerrero. Agave cupreata Trel & Burger (see Mescal) in the right foreground; unknown species of pine (Pinus spp.) in the background].

Think.Do.

Sign at the entrance of the Columbus College of Art and Design (see ART). Nice, reasoned alternative to Nike's "Just Do It" slogan. Do things; but think first. [NOTE: As William Gibson so aptly put it in Neuromancer, "Measure twice, cut once, wise man said"].

Rolling Fruit

19°48.457'
105°46.583'

Having breakfast in the vibrant center of the Thanh Hoa market and watching the world go by. Scooters, and cars, and honking horns, and little kids running around with their parents chasing them, and lithe ladies balancing baskets of produce on a shouder pole (see Street Vendors), and carts filled with rambutans, lychees, bananas, and small green apples. And this lady with baskets lashed to the back of her bicycle loaded with six different species of fruit. [NOTE: A women sprinkles water from a bottle over her fruit, while another stuffs a bunch of bananas in a blue pastic bag and makes a sale. I feel honored to be a part of this]. 

Investigate Mountains Thoroughly

Walking out from Namyun (see Checkpoint on the Road to Namyun and Porter II) on the Ledo Road.  In the drizzling rain. Looking for rattans to collect. 

"Therefore, investigate mountains thoroughly. When you investigate mountains thoroughly, this is the work of the mountains. Such mountains and rivers themselves become sages and teachers".

-Eihei Dōgen
Mountains and Rivers Sutra (Sansui kyo)
Koshoji, 1240

[NOTE: Off to Indiana tomorrow to see my oldest son graduate from college. Time flies].
 

Self-Defense

N39°34.457'
W84°45.684' 

With dense clusters of branched thorns growing out of the truck and main branches, some over 20 cm long, the honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.) is one of the most well-armed temperate trees around. The thorns are thought to have evolved to discourage browsing by Pleistocene megafauna. Certainly discouraged me from getting too close when I took this picture. Fascinating article about anachronistic fruits and the large, now extinct, herbivores that may have once dispersed them can be found here. [NOTE: Image was taken in Hueston Woods State Nature Preserve near College Corner, Ohio].

Rice Fields at Phú Vinh

Driving into Phú Vinh (see Phú Vinh) on a rainy morning during planting season. Red brick walls and emerald-green rice fields. Wispy fog. Enchanting. [NOTE: Music is Alberta by Goldmund, a.k.a. Keith Kenniff].