My first day in Tamposi

What a treasure trove this place turned out to be! A perfect place to find evidence of past land use as well as viewing all types of wildlife in a few different ecosystems.

The first thing my group came across was an old stone foundation of a home site. Behind this foundation there was another one made out of chiseled stones with a pile of bricks to one side that I assumed was a fireplace. In the center of the foundation there was a grave stone that looked like it was moved from another place. On one side it read "Our Alice" and on the other side it read "Died on August 10, 1863." Alice was only 11 months old when she died and she was the daughter of Warren and Mary Cohte. We later learned that the trail we were walking on was an old range trail. People were encouraged to settle in the area and log it and put up sheep farms. 1863 was around the time that many people who settled this area moved on to greener pastures out west. There was a dead apple tree planted near the foundation and the roots of a lilac bush found on the side of the old house.

As I continued on with my group, we came to an abandoned beaver pond that had overflowed onto the range road. We found evidence of past beaver chews that had started to regrow out of the leftover stump. We also saw some bullfrogs and a milksnake using this unique habitat created by the beavers.

I enjoyed following the old stone walls that I suppose were made while walking the land with the sheep or tilling the soil for small gardens and used as property markers. It must have taken years to make them. I assume the settlers added rocks here or there as soil was eroded and stones were uncovered.

We came upon current human use on this land in the form of power lines. The area had been clear cut over and over again, so many herbaceous plants and grasses colonized this area. There was plenty of sunlight for them. I wanted to run back into the shade of the forest. The bears seemed to like the blueberries that grew there as evidenced by some scat that we found. There were many wildflowers in bloom in this place and it was more colorful than the forested area.

I was excited by the wildlife sightings. I was surprised to learn how interested I became about the land use history after seeing all the evidence of past human influence in this place. I look forward to learning more about reading the forested landscape from Tom Wessels' book. Just knowing a little bit about what might have happened in this forest has made me realize how many more questions I have about this interesting place.