Foraging, (Forest) Health, and Fishing

A different kind of FHF adventure

Words and Photos by Melissa Hendrickson

One of the lessons I’ve learned over the many years of doing field work and hunting is having several backup plans can make or break a day out in the woods. Carrying this preparation mindset into organizing BHA events helped me successfully host a recent gathering when Mother Nature was trying to cancel: a 90% chance of mountain thunderstorms. This led to a last minute change for a foraging and forest health hike from an alpine trailhead to a valley location a couple miles down the road.  Several families with kids still canceled due to the rain forecast, but the rest of the participants showed up prepared to hike in any weather condition.

 

Hike participants headed out from the trailhead with dry boots and dry rain jackets.

 

What I hadn’t adequately prepared for were the five unexpected bridge-less stream crossings still present this early in the year, as my other visits to the area have been in late summer. For the first few, people took off shoes or balanced on rocks; by the fifth, the only dry shoes left in the party were those belonging to my two and a half year old son who got a carry across each ford.

 

The first of many stream crossings.

Photo by Jeremy Brown.

 

I had chosen this location in particular due to the mixed age and methods of forest harvest practices passed on the drive into either of the trailheads. My co-leader for the day, a silviculturist* and BHA member, gave a talk about how harvest units on Forest Service land are designed, vetted, and implemented. We discussed how these units play a role in the greater ecosystem management of our area timberlands as well as the more micro scale impacts on our own hunting spots. We then started our soon to be soggy foot hike, stopping to talk about and taste different edible wild plants we found along the trail. At the halfway point, we played guess the tree age on a monster of a spruce. The rough count ended up being about 150 years old from the tree core the silviculturist extracted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tree core being extracted from the tree (left) and counted (right.)

 

Near the end of the loop, we all started collecting fresh spruce tips, which were in abundance in the north facing meadow. Back at the trailhead, everyone started their own jar of spruce syrup to take home. In a month’s time of macerating in the sun, the spruce/sugar mixture will turn into a delicious pancake or ice cream topping. Another refreshing way to enjoy it is in a fancy soda. I had brought a jar I’d made the previous year, as well as a couple other foraged beverages for everyone to sample. All were tasty, but it was agreed the wild strawberry syrup was the winner and the recipe was requested. As with many foraged experiments, I had made the concoction without any regard to measurement; below is my best faith effort at re-creation.

 

Picking fresh spruce tips to turn into delicious syrup.

 

After snacks and drinks, half the people dispersed for home, but a few of us stayed to move on to the fishing portion of the afternoon. The stream flowing by the trailhead is plentiful in both native cutthroat and non-native brook trout (read more here). While most fish are in the single digit inch range, they are fun to catch nevertheless. After a sufficient number of brook trout fish sticks were hooked to provide some “fish meat” for my son and I for dinner, we headed out. At this point the last dry shoes succumbed to the temptation of fording the stream. Which on someone who is about three feet tall, also means his entire pants became soaked as well. But what kind of prepared mom would I be if I didn’t have another set (or 3) in the truck?

 

Look closely and you can see a brook trout fish stick being reeled in.

 

We’d been lucky the whole day, only hiking briefly through some light drizzle at times. The alpine peak from the original hike destination never showed itself out of the clouds, reinforcing the location change decision. Then, on the drive out we hit THE storm front. Impressive black thunderclouds arched across the sky, viewed perfectly through some of the harvest units we had previously discussed. Then the heavens opened up with the kind of downpour you have to pull over for if you are driving on the highway. We were still on the dirt road at this point, so we crept along, windshield wipers on high, hail pinging off the hood of the truck, all a melodic background noise to lull the toddler into a well-deserved nap after the day’s adventures.

 

A recent harvest unit with the impressive storm front as a backdrop.

 

Wild Strawberry Syrup

3/4 cup wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca)

3 pieces of ~6” long wild ginger root (Asarum caudatum)

1 cup lose packed pineapple weed flowers and leaves (Chamomilla suaveolens)

2 cups water

1/3 cup honey

  1. Clean the ginger root well, scrubbing the outside to remove any residual dirt. Chop into small pieces and crush with the side of a knife as you would garlic.
  2. Place the first 4 ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. Continue to simmer for 20 - 30 minutes or until reduced by half.
  3. Remove from the heat and strain the solids from the liquid.
  4. While still warm, add the honey and stir until dissolved.
  5. Store in a clean glass jar, keep in the refrigerator once it has cooled.

For a delicious mocktail that tastes of everything spring, add about an inch of syrup to the bottom of a pint glass, fill the rest with cold seltzer. Mix lightly and serve with ice.

Syrup mixing on the left, mocktail taste-testing on the right. A great way to end a hike.

 

If you want to see more videos from the day, check out this YouTube video.

 

*Silviculture definition from the Forest Service:

Silviculture is the art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests and woodlands to meet the diverse needs and values of landowners and society such as wildlife habitat, timber, water resources, restoration, and recreation on a sustainable basis. This is accomplished by applying different types of silvicultural treatments such as thinning, harvesting, planting, pruning, prescribed burning and site preparation. Intermediate treatments (thinning) are designed to enhance growth, quality, vigor, and composition of the stand after establishment or regeneration and prior to final harvest. Regeneration treatments (harvesting) are applied to mature stands in order to establish a new age class of trees.

About Melissa Hendrickson

Melissa grew up in Northern Maine generally spending a lot of time outdoors. She started hunting after moving to Idaho for work in 2014. Melissa is a former public land hydrologist, current North Idaho Co-Chair of the State Board and SAHM.

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