Finished!

Team 2 is jubilant as they walk out of the forest after completing their 2000 m² rattan inventory transect (see Training in Lak Sao and Donsard). Counting rattans in forest growing on steep karst can be tedious. [NOTE: Love the field shoes - and the hat, and the victory signs, and the smile - on the young lady in front. I wonder who has the tally sheets?]  

Science Week: Day 4

Original Post: Find the Rattan
Date: March 28, 2012 at 8:15 AM

[NOTE: The links to Thin Red Line and More Rattan Counting are important parts of this re-posting. Have a look].

N18°08.604'
E104°55.584' 

When I talk about rattan inventories (see Thin Red Line and More Rattan Counting), its important to remember that the field crews have to count and record the rattan plants in all size classes. Even the very small seedlings. This can be, as you might imagine, a very tedious and time-consuming task.  For example, can you find the two Calamus seedlings in the image above? Now scroll down and look at the image below. See what I mean about tedious and time-consuming? And the crews have to stay focused and keep looking plot after plot after plot.  

Lunch at Donsard

N18°09.598'
E104°55.241'

Putting lunch together after the inventory work at Donsard (see Donsard and More Red Lines). We were about 15 people, and I remember we all ate on the floor in a big room where the individual dishes were spread out on a split rattan mat. We were given a little styrofoam plate (such as shown above), but no utensils. Food was delicious, albeit a bit messy for someone not accustomed to eating with his hands. [NOTE: There were no napkins, either. Once you were finished eating, you just walked back to the kitchen and washed your hands and face].

Find the Rattan

N18°08.604'
E104°55.584' 

When I talk about rattan inventories (see Thin Red Line and More Rattan Counting), its important to remember that the field crews have to count and record the rattan plants in all size classes. Even the very small seedlings. This can be, as you might imagine, a very tedious and time-consuming task.  For example, can you find the two Calamus seedlings in the image above? Now scroll down and look at the image below. See what I mean about tedious and time-consuming? And the crews have to stay focused and keep looking plot after plot after plot.  

More Red Lines

N18°08.604'
E104°55.584' 

Still life from Donsard, Laos (see Donsard) as we are getting all of the equipment sorted out to run inventory transects. Compasses, clipboards, tally sheets, and the knotted red transect rope used to correct for slope and layout the plot (see Thin Red Line).

Best. Hat. Ever.

Chhin Sinourn did a fantastic job running compass during the rattan inventories in the buffer zone of the Preah Monivong National Park (a.k.a. Phnom Bokor National Park). And she certainly won the prize for best headgear. Was a real pleasure doing fieldwork with my Cambodian collaborators. [NOTE: I love all the reds in this image: her shirt, the compass string, the blessing string around her wrist].

Donsard

N18°09.598'
E104°55.241' 

After the training workshop (see Training in Lak Sao), we traveled down a bumpy road for about 45 minutes to the village of Donsard where we practiced running rattan inventory transects in a nearby tract of forest. The steep karst pinnacles surrounding the village were breathtaking. [NOTE: Fortunately, there was good forest about a kilometer from the village and we didn't have to do any steep climbing].

Elephant on the Road

Really hope they get everything straightened out in Kachin State (see Happenings in Kachin). There's nothing quite like finishing up an inventory transect, walking out on the road, and seeing an elephant come lumbering toward you. I miss Myanmar. 

Sao La Nature Reserve

Gave a presentation this morning at the Sao La Nature Reserve office in A Luoi on the preliminary results from the rattan inventory (see Where Are Those Transects II). That's Mr. Ho Van Sao in the image above providing information about how the field crews actually located and sampled the transects. We had a productive discussion on using inventory and growth data to develop a sustainable management plan for rattan in the reserve and a lot of good ideas came up. Stay tuned. Something wonderful - and unprecedented - may be happening here.  

Where Are Those Transects II?

Another look at the location of those 960 rattan transects (see Field Books) using Google Earth and a video screengrab program. Different marker colors are used for different Nature Reserves. A total of 192 hectares of forest was sampled in this unprecedented resource survey.