counting salamanders

sifting through the forest debris, we work to quantify the amphibian distribution in a forest site in maple ridge. our class, divided into teams of three to four individuals, are each given a starting point, measured out forty meters apart down the gravel logging road running approximately north//south. we find our commencement points, grab out tie rope, and dive into the bush, measuring out a line of one hundred meters. then, on each side of the line and under it, we scour.

acting like bears, feeling our way through the forest on all-fours, we scratch away at the underbrush, we overturn rotting logs, peer into small crevices, strip at moulding bark, we peel back the forest.

the forest, close to our faces, smells fresh and clean, recent rainfall has given little fungi the opportunity to push their way to the surface and we compare tastes of licorice fern to the scent of licorice centipedes. our fingernails are ringed in blackened humus, knees steeped in the earth.

western redbacked salamanders, ensatinas, gooey egg masses clinging to debris in ponds, flowering trillium, all observed with face at earth-level, field work is dirty and sweaty and possibility of discovery is under every needle on the forest floor.