Upcoming classroom and field sessions will focus on bats, bees and night sky photography
By Lee Juillerat for Ashland.news
Enjoy a sunset, learn about bats and bees, and take along your dog on free hikes being offered by the Friends of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.
The upcoming events begin Sunday, July 6, with a ranger-led Grizzly Peak Sunset Hike. Participants will carpool from the Ashland Rite Aid at 6:45 p.m. They’ll join summer interpretive ranger Emma Lutz for a hike to Grizzly Peak to enjoy the sunset at nearly 6,000 feet. Along the way participants will learn about conifer species and how to identify them. The hike is moderate, a 5-mile round trip with 1,000 feet of elevation gain. It’s expected hikers will return to Ashland about 11 p.m.
Sign up for Friends outings at cascadessiskiyou.org.
All about bats
A Hike and Learn program about the bats of Oregon is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, July 11 and 12. Bureau of Land Management biologist Emma Busk will lead the Friday session from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Ashland Food Co-op Community Classroom, 300 N. Pioneer St. Busk will provide an introduction to Oregon bat species and their role in local ecosystems. The discussion will also cover the differences between bees, flies and wasps.
The Saturday outing, from 8:30 to 11 p.m., will allow participants to “Explore bat biology, myths, conservation, and ultrasonic detection” by using bat detectors to listen for bat calls in the monument. Lutz will demonstrate “how to safely catch a bee and get it into a jar without hurting yourself or the bee.” Each participant will have the opportunity to use a handheld superheterodyne bat detector that convert ultrasonic bat calls into frequencies that are audible to humans.
Dog-friendly hike
Lutz will lead a dog-friendly hike to Little Hyatt Lake scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, July 13. The 3-mile out-and-back trek will follow the Pacific Crest Trail to the lake. A focus of the hike is to learn how to practice leave-no-trace principles with dogs and “better understand how our pets fit into the natural world.” Participants are asked to have their dogs on a leash, and bring poop bags, lunch and water. Dogs must be leashed until arriving at the lake.
Southern Oregon bees
A Friday-Saturday Hike and Learn on July 18 and 19 will focus on native bees of Southern Oregon. Wildlife biologist Amanda Huffman will lead the Friday session from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Ashland Food Co-op classroom. During the Friday program, people will learn about Oregon’s incredible bee diversity and how to identify species in the field. The talk will introduce participants to bee biology, nesting habits and backyard support tips. Saturday’s session will be a field trip from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Participants will practice netting and identifying in a bee-filled meadow in the monument.
Shooting the stars
Astrophotography is the topic for a Hike and Learn program July 25 and 26. The Friday night program from 6 to 7:30 p.m.at the Ashland Food Co-op Community Classroom will focus on the art of night sky photography with Kyle Sullivan of the BLM. Sullivan will provide information on gear, camera settings and apps that can be used to photograph the night sky, including the Milky Way. Sullivan will discuss how to capture memorable photos on a variety of devices, including cell phones and traditional cameras.
Saturday’s field workshop will offer a “hands-on opportunity to capture the stars., beginning at 8:30 p.m. and continuing into the night at Hyatt Lake. Sullivan will help participants adjust their camera settings to take compelling photos.
In addition, Friends Executive Director Daniel Collay said other upcoming events include an ethnobotany and seed collection outing on July 27, and a Hike and Learn program on grasshoppers of the monument on Aug. 8 and 9. Details will be announced and available on the Friends website at cascadessiskiyou.org.
Email freelance writer Lee Juillerat at [email protected].
