Yosemite Trip

Half Dome

From the top of North Dome

Luckily we made it to yosemite just before they shut down all of the National parks!  By the time we were there most of the fire had been contained and the conditions were not smokey. I tried to get an update today but because of lack of funding, the updates are down as well.

Below is a picture of the aftermath of the rim fire. The trees and brush are black.

Rim Fire Remains

 Below you can see some of the emptier areas caused by the fire.  Large areas of land looked like the got a buzz cut.

Less wooded areas

Fire Info Board

The park rangers explained that the roads make a good fire break because it's not too often that the fire will be big enough to cross the roads.  This rim fire ended up being Californias 4th largest fire as of september 23rd, it may have reached third. It was discovered that the fire was caused by hunters who had made a campfire that got out of hand.

In the field where we collected data for our research there was evidence for a recent controlled burn.  Many of the trees and other plants rely on burning to spread their seeds and make fertile soil.

Controlled Burn



The trip also included some research in El Cap meadow using GPR equipment as well as some volunteer work for Yosemite facelift.

Looking at Plant Types in El Cap Meadow

Taking GPR Data

Taking GPR data

Cleaning Up Cooks Meadow for Yosemite Facelift

After the trip some of us were interviewed by the spectator for an article about the trip and made it onto the UWEC news page for our volunteer work in Yosemite. We also created a web page showing everything we did on the trip.