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.     

Waiting for Team 2

During my last trip to Acateyahualco (see Mescal Re-Visited and Huarache), we divided into teams and went out to the forest so that the villagers could show us how they do their monitoring transects for Agave cupreata. It was super hot, and dry, and dusty. All but one of the teams had finished, and we were sitting in a tiny bit of shade along the side of the road. Everybody was ready to go back to the village for a cold drink and the main topic of conversation was "What is taking Team 2 so long?".

And then they finally came trudging up the road. They had been given the transects that were the hardest to get to, i.e. they were on the other side of the mountain shown in the background of the image. Luck of the draw, everyone agreed. 

For Gruber

Daring Fireball does resource inventories in northern Myanmar.  In spite of the leeches, the rattan spines, and the pouring rain, the t-shirt performed beautifully throughout the whole transect. [NOTE: Rob Tizard had the foresight to take this picture (thx, Rob)].