Returning From Nam Sabi

Had a productive field session in the Village Management Area (VMA) of Nam Sabi. Made a basecamp deep into the VMA (more on this later), and started reading the growth bands that we had put on a sample of timber trees exactly a year ago. Scheduled a follow-up survey to finish reading the bands with WCS, Forest Department, and a team of villagers in about a week. Image above shows us pushing the boat out into the Chindwin River to return to the ranger station in Htamanthi.    

Looking Up

When you are here (orange square shown in image above), and you stop for lunch, and, while you are munching on your greasy curry and peanuts, you pause and look up–this is what you see:

Beautiful piece of forest. Well worth the walk. See Nam Sabi VMA and Running The Baseline for more information about this; thanks to U Myint Thein and Daw Myint Myint Oo for bringing me here. [NOTE: As a contrast, I would be remiss to not link to The Importance of Looking Down].

U Linn Zaw and I

Really like this picture. U Linn Zaw, a villager from Nam Sabi, acted as my assistant/helper during all of the fieldwork setting up the Village Management Area (see Nam Sabi VMA). He carried my pack most of the time, helped me across the streams and up the steep slopes, and generally did whatever needed doing without having to be asked. Which I couldn't have done anyway because he speaks no English. Really a wonderful man and a dear friend. [NOTE: Photo by Sein Day Li (thx)].     

Nam Sabi Kids

There's a group of kids that follows me around whenever I am in the village of Nam Sabi (see Drawing Histograms). They seem quite happy to have their picture taken. Well, at least three of them. [NOTE: Freezing cold in New York and my thoughts turn to Sagaing Region].  

Stake 14

U Ohn Hlaing, leader of the Village Management Area project at Nam Sabi (see Nam Sabi VMA and Tiger Tracks), adjusts stake 14. [NOTE: It gets cold and snowy in New York and I start thinking about setting inventory stakes in northern Myanmar].

Wade in the Water

The first steps out from the VMA basecamp at Nam Sabi (see Basecamp) lead directly into Hway Taung Kaw (Taw-htan stream). Wakes you right up in the morning. [NOTE: That's me in the middle with the walking stick (with orange flagging tied around it so I won't lose it]. 

VMA Inventory

Image above shows the location of the Village Management Area in Nam Sa Bi (see Nam Sa Bi VMA). We laid out the 2.0 kilometer baseline and inventoried the first two of twenty transects in late October. Received an e-mail yesterday (thx, Myint Myint Oo) letting me know that the field crews had finished the remaining 9.0 hectares of transects and put growth bands around 80 sample trees. This is a huge accomplishment. And I am ecstatic. And it is now time - maybe a little past time - for the guys to go harvest their rice fileds. Talk about a full plate. Rice farmer, forest manager, biometrician. The Shan villagers from Nam Sa Bi do it all.     

One Knot

We always correct for slope in our transects (see Tying the Knots), and during the early stages of laying out the VMA baseline at Nam Sa Bi it was my job to measure this parameter with a clinometer (or my eye). Image above shows one of the flatter segments, and I had apparently determined it to be a 10 percent slope, i.e. one knot. Hence, the gesture. I have a  strong feeling that I eye-balled this one. [NOTE: Photo by Myint Myint Oo or Sein Dale (thx)]. 

Transect Treefall

So, you're halfway through the transect and you've forded the stream and scrambled up a steep slope and you're finally on a little flat (and dry) spot and you think that everything is going to be a little easier for a while - and then you see that the transect line goes straight over a treefall and that the tree is the size of a railroad car. Gulp. [NOTE: The crew hopped right over the treefall; I walked around it].

Tiger Tracks

After we finished the first transect in the VMA, we went down to a little sandy beach along the stream to have our (late) lunch. The following day, after finishing transect two, we decided to go back to that same sandy beach for (an even later) lunch. And that's when the guys saw the tiger tracks. Fresh, from the night before. Tigers in the Village Management Area. Wow. [NOTE: Have never really wanted to meet a tiger in the forest (Yikes!), but I am honored to have seen their tracks and shared a space with them].