American Medical Response Comes to Our Aid. American Medical Response (AMR) of Redlands provides outstanding ambulance service and emergency medical care to the entire East End of the San Bernardino valley, including areas around the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Recently we were fortunate to have their Field Supervisor, Scott Meyer, sign up as a volunteer. Scott arranged for AMR Chief Training Officer, Henry Vasques, to give a basic first aid course to 20 of our veterans (and one new volunteer) at the AMR facility. Several volunteers told me Henry’s presentation was the best first aid training they’ve ever had. We thank Scott, Henry, and AMR very much for their support.

They Ventured Afar. With all the work we have right here in the San Gorgonio area, it is very difficult for us to serve in other areas of the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF). But we do desire to serve anywhere we can and occasionally some brave dedicated volunteers are able to venture outside the San Gorgonio area. Most recently, we have Gitty Denver, Sheila McMahon, Sandy Messner, and Ted Schofield to thank for their outstanding help in covering the reception desk at the SBNF Supervisor’s Office (SO) in San Bernardino. They weren’t up in the pine-covered mountains, but they learned a lot, had some fun, and found it rewarding to help support the entire forest. Once again, thank you volunteers.

Michael Continues Outstanding Web Site. Michael Gordon continues to maintain the outstanding SGVA web site. This beautiful web site with all of its excellent information and photos generates many sales of our Backcountry Store products and brings in many new volunteers and contributing members. Recent visitors to the web site have left many messages of praise including the following:

• "First off, let me commend you on a great site. I came across it a few months ago, and every time I come back, I always find something new and interesting." Stephen C.
  
• "You have done an outstanding job putting together the SGVA website. I like the Trail Conditions, Wilderness Trails, and Backcountry Store the best…and none the least." Joyce.
  
• "I found your website while on a business trip to Pasadena from West Virginia. Picked one of your trails (Vivian Creek) and had a great day. You all do a superb job at this site and in the SG Wilderness. Thanks!" Richard W.
  
• "Thanks so much for such a well crafted web site. It is one of the most outstanding and informative sites I have ever come across." Mark A.
  
• "When I was a kid, I realized the reason my father could tell me the names of plants and birds was that he’d studied biology and botany as a student. Never did I dream, when I came to your site yesterday, that I’d be able to learn it all HERE! THANKS! What a wonderful job you’ve done." Ann L.

It is not surprising that the web site receives complimentary comments from across the nation. Thanks, Michael, for creating and maintaining such a wonderful part of the SGVA.

The Lion Watches. More mountain lions have been sighted near the San Gorgonio Wilderness this past winter. One was seen getting into garbage in the Forest Falls area. Another was sensed, then seen, by a fisherman on Mt. Home Creek. The fisherman said he "got the creeps" about the area and decided to go elsewhere. When he turned to go back downstream, he saw a large mountain lion jump across the creek. The lion hissed and took a step toward him. The fisherman shouted and raised his arms and fishing rod. Anyone for catfish? The lion moved away up the hillside. The fisherman quickly scrambled back to his truck, falling in the creek in the process. As Lenore Will, Patrol 17, said, that creepy feeling must have been what one feels while being looked at as lunch!!

The mountain lion (Felis concolor, or cat of one color) seized the American imagination as the country was being formed. Mountain lion stories are full of historic 19th-century-settler terror. And the cat has taken on many romantic names--puma, cougar, and catamount (short for cat-a-mountain). The cat suffers under its pioneer myth, the blood-crazed monster of the frontier that dragged off livestock, pets, and tasty sodbuster children. However, only 67 mountain lion attacks (including 14 fatalities) have been documented since 1890. More Americans die from bee stings each year than from mountain lion attacks.

Sources: Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals; Sports Afield/Winter 97-98

Oops, Don’t Pick That Plant! Melinda Benton reports that a new nonsteroidal cream to fight poison oak called Triamcinolone Acetonide, 0.1% strength, really works. Applied two times a day, it relieves the itch and dries the blisters quickly. It also helps you sleep throughout the night. She highly recommends it. You’ll need a prescription from your physician to secure it.

Flash…Snow Update. Mickey Kacherwski reports that as of May 9^th there was 3-4’ of snow at South Fork Meadow and 8-9’ at the entrance to Dry Lake. A sign high up in the tree is sitting at snow level!! (Editor: Anyone for a season of winter survival skills, cross-country skiing, sledding, etc.?)

New Volunteers. It is a rarity to state this, but we currently have on board the maximum number of volunteers that we can effectively use and support in the San Gorgonio Wilderness area! However, there are openings in the Cucamonga Wilderness area northwest of San Bernardino. If you are interested in serving in that area, please call Juanita Oderbaugh at Lytle Creek Ranger Station: 909-887-2576. If you wish to be on a waiting list for the San Gorgonio Wilderness area, please call John Flippin, Volunteer Coordinator: 909-790-2157. (Editor: Imagine that, too many people want to be a volunteer…amazing!)

The SGVA volunteers are again offering a program for camp counselors covering effective camp use of wilderness areas. Workshops include activities for backpackers, area wildlife, plants, crafts, sites for group camping, map and compass skills, low impact wilderness camping, cooking outdoors, campsites, and camping with groups.

Richard Harris and Bill Laudenslayer

A "snag" is a standing dead tree. Snags provide habitat to innumerable organisms including fungi, insects and other invertebrates, and land animals such as amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Logs and limbs from snags are important to the forest floor and streams. As they decay, they release nutrients essential to long-term soil productivity. Down logs and limbs also provide habitat for many animals including salamanders and carpenter ants.

There is a misconception that forest "health" is negatively affected by diseased, dying and dead trees. On the contrary, their presence is an important component of natural forest ecosystems (although large quantities of these trees in some forests do suggest a decline in forest health). In this article, we suggest a few simple guidelines for managing and recruiting snags.

Why Are Snags Important?
Probably the single most obvious reason for snags is because they provide habitat for birds. Some birds, such as sapsuckers and woodpeckers, excavate their own nests in snags (primary cavity nesters). Other birds occupy abandoned nests or natural cavities (secondary cavity nesters). These secondary nesting birds comprise up to one third of the breeding birds found in some forests.

Most cavity-nesting birds consume large quantities of insects each year. There is evidence that "biological control" by these birds can help keep populations of potentially damaging insects, such as bark beetles, below epidemic levels. Insect outbreaks often attract cavity nesting birds.

Snags are used in numerous other ways. Woodpeckers and sapsuckers communicate by "drumming" on dead branches. Squirrels and other small mammals use dying and dead trees as foraging sites, to store winter food supplies, and for roosting and denning. Bats use loose bark and hollow tree trunks for roosting. A myriad of insects use dead trees as overwintering sites; some consume portions of dead trees, contributing to the decomposition process.

The death and eventual falling of trees provide forest openings that encourage regeneration of shrubs, trees, and grasses. This leads to improved habitat for species such as deer and small mammals.

Ecology of Snags
The number of snags in a forest varies. The creation of new snags depends on agents of mortality including insects, disease, and fire. Tree death in the forest is patchy, episodic, and grouped reflecting the ways in which natural disturbances work.

The rate at which a dead tree deteriorates determines many of its ecological properties. Larger diameter trees persist longer than smaller ones. Decay rates also vary by species. For example, ponderosa pines generally persist longer than white fir of the same diameter. Large diameter snags appear to be more valuable because they stand longer and provide habitat for birds which require large trees to nest. It is the large trees and, consequently, large snags that are becoming more scarce in our forests.

Hard or Soft
Snags may be classified as "hard" or "soft." Hard snags are essentially sound wood while soft snags are in an advanced state of decay. Hardness depends on tree species, the nature of the decay agents, and snag age. Some birds and insects may only excavate in soft snags. Others, including woodpeckers, require hard snags because of the stability they provide for nest cavities. As a snag progresses from hard to soft, pieces begin to fall to the ground. Eventually, the snag is reduced to a decomposed stump and collection of downed, decayed material—in essence, forest floor woody debris.

Each stage of deterioration has importance to certain wildlife. Early in the process when bark loosens, snags become important roosting sites for bats. Advanced stages of decay are most important for insectivorous birds and small mammals.

The successional stage of the community around the snag also influences the way in which they are used. For example, some birds will require snags in open shrub or grass communities. Others avoid snags in the open and will only use those in the closed forest.