Thursday, we had a wildfire in the Auburn State Recreation Area. The fire started in Cool near the Olmstead Loop Traihead. If you head over to the fire station in Cool, you will be able to see the damage the fire caused.

Thanks to the talent of our area firefighters the fire was controlled before it burned too many acres. Thanks firefighters…you do a great job!

Now the hills are blackened. But if you look closely, especially after the rains of today, you will begin to see small green shoots appearing. Fires are scary to us, but they are a part of nature’s way of regrowing. Some seeds need fire in order to grow.

Still, as Junior Rangers, I hope you will be careful during this summer about things that can cause fires. Do you really need a campfire just because you are camping?

A really great website about wildfires is called ONLY YOU. Here, you can learn about the science of wildfires, what makes a fire good and bad, and what you can do to prevent wildfires.

And, if you feel like it, send a thank you card to the firefighters at the Cool and to CALFIRE. Because of their quick work much of the beautiful scenery of the Olmstead Loop Trail was preserved.

Recently, I went with a zoologist from UC Davis who was doing a bird count in our park. Her name was Ona, and she was an amazing person. I thought that we would see the birds, but to my surprise, Ona could identify the birds by listening to them.

I was so excited when we first heard, and then saw a Yellow Breasted Chat, which is a “species of special concern.” This means that the habitat for these birds is getting smaller and smaller. But they like the Auburn State Recreation Area!

So many times, we use only our eyes when we are out in nature, but when we do this, most of the natural world will remain hidden.

There is a great website where you can learn birdcalls. It is the Cornell University bird website. You can go to their All About Birds site and learn many things about birds. Listen to bird calls. Learn how to bird watch. And learn how your reports of birds can really help scientists.

When I went birdwatching with a person who really knew how to listen we were able to identify over 20 bird species in just about 4 hours. Amazing!

We always talk about opening our eyes, but Ona taught me the importance of opening my ears.

photo: Steve Zack, courtesy of www.prbo.org

Many things in nature are pretty obvious, but Junior Rangers will learn to see what isn’t obvious to everyone. Junior Rangers can understand hidden dangers by “reading the river,” use compasses to “stay found,” know how to identify plants and animals, and understand the history of the American River Canyon. If you are age 7-12, join us this summer for an awesome time and become a Junior Ranger.

We will meet on 5 consecutive Saturdays from May 31st until June 28th from 9am – 10:30am. The program is held at the Auburn State Recreation area Ranger Station, 1 mile south of Auburn on Hwy 49. To sign up, bring a parent and just show up to the first day!

Call Michele Craig at (530) 823-4183 for information.

.

Butterflies and wildflowers are beginning to appear in the park.

The Pipevine Swallowtails are very large, black butterflies with iridescent blue spots on the lower parts of their wings. If you are lucky, you may also see the Pipevine Swallowtail’s very large black caterpillars, with their distinctive red spikes.

Look too for Mourning Cloaks, another large butterfly. These beautiful dark brown butterflies have an edging of white or cream color on their raggedy edged wings.

Sara’s Orange Tips are smaller, white butterflies with orange on the very top tips of their wings — I always think they look very cheerful. If you know what a Cabbage Butterfly looks like, you will be able to spot the Orange Tips.

You can see all of these butterflies down at Ruck-A-Chucky campgrounds right now on Driver’s Flat Road.

So get out those nets and cameras, but remember, catch and release only. Keep good field notes so we know which butterflies are doing well in ASRA. Be gentle, and these beautiful and delicate messengers of spring will be around for your children to enjoy.

If you want to learn more about California butterflies, check out Professor Al Shapiro’s butterfly website at http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu

Professor Shapiro started keeping records of butterfly populations when he was a teenager, and he still does this to track when different butterflies hatch and if the populations are changing locations.

Spring is a good time for playing with rocks at the park. Unlike during the summer, the rocks are cool and the weather is just right for creating art, or just looking at these stones, which are some of the oldest things in the park. Last Sunday, I noticed this mysterious rock sculpture at Mammoth Bar near the 90 cc. motorcycle track. I took a photo of it, because wind, weather, and animals will probably return these rocks to their original state on the river bank. I thought the small rocks between the large ones were cool.

Another name for piles of rocks like this one is a “cairn.” In Scotland, before warriors would go into battle, they would toss a stone onto the cairn. When the warriors returned from battle, they would take a stone off. The stones that remained showed how many warriors the tribe had lost. Today, cairns are used to mark things in nature, like trails, or good places for gold mining. I wonder what this one is marking?