Tony returns to Snakes Head but this time on the West side of the river. See 2024-10-03: Snakes Head (PNT); Tony B. for his survey of the East side of the Red Deer River.

1. Inspection Report: 2024-10-14: Snakes Head (NA); Tony B.
2. Images from Inspection

Inspection Report: 2024-10-14: Snakes Head (NA); Tony B.

Question	Q##	Response
		General Information
Date/Site/Submitter:	Q21/22/12	2024-10-14: Snakes Head (PNT) (NA); Tony B.
Guest Names	Q14	Tony Blake
SAPAA Member	Q16	Yes
		Over all Impression of the Site
What is the Naturalness of the Site? 4=Great, 0=Terrible	Q31	3
How Natural?: comments	Q32	This part of the NA on the west side of the River gets very little attention from humans. The industrial legacy (oil well, powerline, and access road) is more-or-less abandoned and awaiting reclamation. The most disturbing disturbance is the explosive expansion of Cicer Milkvetch. When I first visited the site twenty years ago there were only a few plants noted on the oil lease. Now it’s present in almost every hectare.
		How was your visit to the PA?
Trip Duration	Q41	half a day (e.g. about 4 hours)
Why Did you Go?	Q42	Visit nature, Hiking, Birding, Plant identification
Visit Details	Q43	Afternoon walk down the escarpment on west side of the NA and then back along the river.
		What is in the Site?
Ease to Visit	Q51	Entrance signs, information, etc., No Amenities
Biological Observations	Q52	The lease road leading to the NWest corner is quite passable, but legal access is a little sketchy since there is no public road allowance connected to the site. Getting up and down the steep 30 meter escarpment takes some SERIOUS scrambling. Aspen/spruce forest the upland portion west of the river escarpment. Diverse vegetation communities below the escarpment ranging from bare river gravel to wetlands to mature spruce forest. It’s interesting to study the effects of beaver dams on the side channels. They trap a lot of sediment and store a lot of water both above and below the surface. For that reason, vegetation on west side of Snakes Head is much more productive and diverse.
Submissions to iNaturalist	Q53	Yes
Geological Observations	Q54	Dominated by a very steep escarpment (~30 m elevation difference). Braided river channels below with numerous springs.
Designation as a Protected Area	Q55	Signage
Comments	Q56
		Human Activities/Disturbances
Agricultural Activities	Q61	None noted
Resource extraction	Q62	Oil/Gas wells, Hunting or shooting (observed, blinds, spent shell casings, etc.)
Motorized disturbances (ATV or vehicle activity).	Q63	None Noted
Animal or self propelled activities	Q64	None Noted
Gathering and Dumping Activities	Q65	None Noted
Infrastructure encroachment	Q66	Power lines, Roads, Cut lines, Pipelines
Comments	Q67	Heard four well-spaced rifle shots on the east side of the river. Moose hunters?
		What Needs to be Done?
Remediation/Protection Activities Needed	Q71	Re-vegetation, Invasive Weed Removal, Continued Monitoring
What Have you Done Recently to Help the site?	Q72	Visit and Submitted This Report!
Nearby Stewards?	Q73
Comments	Q74
Last Words	Q82

Images from Inspection