Selected photos by Rod Crawford, Laurel Ramseyer and Markku Savela from our 3 August 2019 spider collecting trip to Entiat Summit Ridge, Chelan County, Washington. The plan was to collect in habitats regrown after a wildfire around 2000, as shown in 2017 aerial photos on Google Earth. But we didn't know about the Cougar Creek Fire of August-September 2018! One of our planned sites was burned to a crisp, and the others were at least singed. Nonetheless, thanks to the resilience and dispersal ability of spiders, we managed to get a barely-sufficient sample of 21-22 species. Markku likewise photographed a number of butterfly species.

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Pre-fire aerial view, our sites in red      (Chelan County, 2017)	Roadside at our first site                   © Rod Crawford
Grass growing at edge of burn        © Rod Crawford	Burned streak through the forest                © Rod Crawford
Life survives next to well-charred log  © Laurel Ramseyer	Productive roadside thimbleberry                    © Rod Crawford
Natural terrarium in discarded jar    © Laurel Ramseyer	Understory, less productive than roadside            © Laurel Ramseyer
Life returns: Xysticus locuples…      © Laurel Ramseyer	…reproducing under log burned last year!               © Laurel Ramseyer
Cone oddly embedded in bark       © Laurel Ramseyer	Speyeria hydaspe butterflies               © Markku Savela
Lycaena mariposa               © Markku Savela	Unknown gnaphosid spider                  © Markku Savela
Cercyonis oetus         © Markku Savela	Polygonia gracilis                 © Markku Savela
Callobius species #4           © Laurel Ramseyer	Ochlodes sylvanoides nectaring           © Markku Savela
Gnophaela vermiculata were mating all over   © Laurel Ramseyer	Rod and Laurel labeling spiders           © Markku Savela

Our second site was on the ridge crest, closer to the main fire damage.

Rocks, some with spiders under        © Laurel Ramseyer	Markku on the ridge crest (big burn to left)          © Rod Crawford
Balsamroot in full bloom          © Laurel Ramseyer	Fires still a-burning elsewhere           © Laurel Ramseyer

Finally, we got some more spiders from this Miners Creek tract that had under 11 months to recover.

A future tree sprouts         © Laurel Ramseyer	Looking out over the Cougar Creek Fire burn        © Markku Savela
Burnt trees and shrubs          © Rod Crawford	Scattered trees survived at the edge             © Rod Crawford
Iridescent stag beetle          © Laurel Ramseyer	Grass and flowers already regrown here            © Laurel Ramseyer
Brand-new lush creekside          © Rod Crawford	Water made a big difference in post-fire regrowth     © Laurel Ramseyer
Laurel descends to the green zone     © Rod Crawford	Miners Creek nurturing its habitat strip                   © Laurel Ramseyer
Lovely streamside flowers        © Laurel Ramseyer	Super-lush, isn't it?                    © Rod Crawford
Satyrium sepium            © Markku Savela	Mini-cascade and Mimulus on the water             © Rod Crawford
Lake Wenatchee from the ridge         © Rod Crawford	Dusk in Tumwater Canyon           © Rod Crawford

This page last updated 17 December, 2019