36
votes
Accepted
Is it significantly faster to hike along a river bank?
It depends and is hard to generalize about.
If river volume is seasonal (think late summer in temperate countries, especially with snow-capped mountains or places with a specific rainy season), you ...
33
votes
Can removing dead wood harm the ecosystem?
I'll answer this from a perspective of what we follow in some of the areca nut and coconut farms that I've grown up in.
The areca nut and coconut trees shed their branches often. These are similar to ...
- 7,815
26
votes
Accepted
Sticks leaning on a tree building a hut-like formation - what's the purpose of that?
These dot the woods near my house (Eastern United States), where children construct them as play forts. I suspect this activity has worldwide appeal.
- 276
22
votes
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What is this blob found at the edge of a puddle on a forest logging road?
The pool of water they are in is called a vernal pool. Amphibians and other woodland creatures take advantage of these temporary pools while they last.
Not having anything for scale in the picture, ...
- 1,847
22
votes
Accepted
How to deal with hordes of flies in outdoor toilets?
The answer is to limit and/or control ventilation. You want to make sure that there is little to no ventilation of the odours/gazes into the space (tent/hut/...) where humans are using the toilet.
...
- 12.6k
19
votes
Is it significantly faster to hike along a river bank?
On rare occasions it can be easiest to walk in the river.
I had this happen to me on a trek in the Rocky Mountains up near Banff / Lake Louise. The valley next to the river was old-growth forest mixed ...
- 12.6k
16
votes
How to deal with hordes of flies in outdoor toilets?
Your chief problem seems to be:
with tens of flies trying to fly into your nose, mouth, and eyes
Why not a mosquito head net? It's safe, re-usable, portable, and non-lethal!
Like the old saying goes:...
- 261
15
votes
How to deal with hordes of flies in outdoor toilets?
If possible, try to make a "dry toilet" use of the facility you've to deal with.
Dry toilet means that excrement will not be leaved exposed to the air but have to be covered with some carbon-...
- 151
15
votes
Accepted
What animals pose a threat to humans in the Vienna Woods/Wienerwald?
I am Austrian. There are realistically no animal dangers one worries about when going into nature in Austria, but let's analyse a few candidates rationally.
The following holds for most of Austria, ...
- 1,499
15
votes
Accepted
Maps showing forest type
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap provides information about the type of forest. The information is stored in the tag leaf_type, which has the following values:
broadleaved
needleleaved
mixed
leafless
...
- 266
14
votes
Can removing dead wood harm the ecosystem?
The answer seems to be that it depends,
Birds, small mammals, and other wildlife use snags for nests, nurseries, storage areas, foraging, roosting, and perching. Live trees with snag-like features, ...
- 69.2k
14
votes
How long after a storm is it safe to go into the forest?
Personally I'd pass through the forest once the wind has died down significantly. I'd go a little more cautiously on a bike, because I wouldn't want to ride round a bend into a fallen tree.
That's ...
- 25.9k
13
votes
Accepted
A skeleton with elfish ears - which animal was that?
That looks like the spine and pelvis of a raccoon: .
Although the raccoon is not native to Germany, they were introduced there in the 1930s and can be found in the wild. The map below shows raccoons ...
13
votes
Accepted
How do tree trunks get chevron patterns in the bark?
Very cool picture! That pattern must be quite old, I guess. I'm quite sure this tree is some kind of pine, judging by the bark, so this seems to be a remainder of resin harvesting, which was a common ...
- 1,499
12
votes
Sticks leaning on a tree building a hut-like formation - what's the purpose of that?
Were there fruit trees nearby? I ask because here (South Germany) the old-style apple trees grow really big, and in autumn they have such masses of fruit that the branches can break off under the ...
- 281
12
votes
Accepted
Is it practical to tap a tree for syrup on an overnight stop?
Using some numbers from Cornell's Extension program:
10 gallons of sap per tap in a season is reasonable.
The length of a season varies- Let's say it's 90 days.
The sugar concentration, which ...
- 376
11
votes
Accepted
Why are trees marked purple in the state of Texas?
Purple paint is a common means of indicating private property boundaries in a number of US states. Some states use alternate colors such as orange or blue. The paint may be considered the equivalent ...
- 8,418
10
votes
Accepted
Where does uncommon litter come from?
I live an area where a lot of the woods was farms a hundred years ago. 50 years ago it was bushy fields, now it's heavily wooded with increasingly narrow cart paths running through it. A lot of the ...
- 4,219
10
votes
Accepted
What is a suitable workflow for cutting down trees?
For the purpose of my answer I'm going to assume there aren't any special considerations like a tall tree on a small lot.
In general I think this is the best procedure:
Cut down one tree.
Trim off ...
- 9,668
10
votes
Sticks leaning on a tree building a hut-like formation - what's the purpose of that?
While that construction has no shelter currently, Scouts and other outdoors groups will often make a frame like you describe, and then cover those branches with leaves, moss or even a tarp in order to ...
- 24.9k
9
votes
Accepted
Advantages of a (hunting) hat in the woods?
In the woods, there are many small items that can fall from above that are more or less awkward to have on your head. This goes from leaves and needles on the "not very harmful" side over water ...
- 7,502
9
votes
Accepted
How do you tap a tree for sap?
Sugar Maple trees are by far the most popular trees that people tap for sap. So I will use this as my example of how to tap a tree. The following is taken from: Common Sense Homesteading.
Identify ...
- 9,589
9
votes
Accepted
What types of wild foods are protected from foraging in the Swedish Lapland forests, and how is the status decided?
Protected species in sweden are listed in English here: Protected Species in Sweden.
Since information is subject to change I will not copy the information into this answer.
Apart from that, hunting ...
- 1,952
8
votes
How to assess the likelihood of a tree falling in a forest?
A few suggestions for reducing the likelihood of an incident:
Sleep in clearings.
Avoid the forest during heavy winds.
Avoid sleeping under large branches: even when the tree looks healthy. I have ...
- 7,501
8
votes
How do you tap a tree for sap?
There are a few ways to tap a tree, before you tap you need to know when the sap is rising from the roots to the branches.
I have read about
use a knife to make a shallow cut under the bark, then ...
- 1,778
8
votes
Accepted
PICTURED - What causes this sort of clearing?
That is cause by clearcut timber harvesting. Timber harvesters will remove branches from trees that they fell and leave them on site. They will also sometimes leave specimen trees to help repopulate ...
- 2,924
8
votes
Advantages of a (hunting) hat in the woods?
Hats are great for many reasons. They keep sun off your head, they retain heat when it's cold. They help keep small stuff from hitting your head and sometimes your face. A branch may knock your hat ...
- 4,702
8
votes
Accepted
Headlamp and flies
Fastening the lamp further down (eg, chest, waist) generally provides better perception of trail features and makes it easier to wear a headnet. If the light source is above your eyes, you won't be ...
- 2,012
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible