Friday, September 14, 2012

Fire safety

When driving in dry grasslands, it is important to look for dried plants under your truck!  I will definitely be checking under my work truck after seeing this happen to a co-worker.  We didn't get there fast enough to prevent total engulfment.  It made for some Friday excitement and some education about "catostrphic converters," which get hot and can ignite any dry material stuck in the undercarriage.



Thursday, September 13, 2012

For Sage Grouse

Marking fences increases visibility and lessons the likelihood that birds will fly into them by 83%, as found in a graduate student's research (Bryan Stevens).  Here on the Yakima Training Center, home to one of the two populations of Sage Grouse in Washington State, we are marking boundary fences to reduce mortality.