On Thursday, August 25th, six hikers gathered on the slopes of Mt. Ashland ski resort to look at the area that 'needs' to be cut for a new beginners slope at the ski resort. We were there to look at the 30 acres of old growth and 65 acres of pnewer growth. The area in question is in the headwaters of the drinking watershed for the city of Ashland and there is currently a debate in council as to whether or not the proposed cut would be a good idea. We were armed with cameras - the area has already been flagged, even though there had been no final decision.

Dr. Lenny is passionate about watersheds. There will be more to follow on this issue - for now, enjoy the pictures. The yellow tags, orange spray paint and multi-colored flagging tape are symbols - the order of the photographs is chronological. This is a ski slope - the land is under compacted snow during the winter seasons. The height of the snow varies - sometimes ground is exposed for long periods of the ski season.

We also feature the mushrooms of the slope. Dr. Lenny is a fungi fun guy and this trip had its share of boletes and conches. There were also fine edibles like coral and shaggy mane. Wildflowers were abundant, but seemed to be very late - there was columbine, but no indian paintbrush. Enjoy and fell free to comment.