Yesterday (6-3-2010) I had the chance to do a couple of hours of field work in the preserve right after work; of course all day long the weather seers were predicting strong afternoon thunderstorms; all the signs were right for HIGH WINDS, lightning and thunder, hail, downpours and anything else that might fall from the sky; all day it looked like a sure washout but they were both right and wrong. It rained on Long Island, it rained in NJ, it rained in CT but for whatever reason it never did rain in Queens! I lost no time right after working making my way out into the preserve and making the most of my good luck.
Not being out in the distant parts of the preserve for a couple of weeks, I mostly wanted to see how our hard work had held up and how things looked in early June; I also had a couple of loose ends to tie up and wanted to nail together some of the loose building materials we had left at a couple of locations; I didn’t need much more than hammer and nails and a some shears to do some light pruning near the spring.
Our efforts from last year really make a difference in trail access; I had no trouble at all following the way and the trails were in great shape; wild rose, poison ivy and the ever present porcelain berry are growing back strongly but that’s their way and we will always have to stay ahead of them at least near the trails sides;
The planking that I had to nail together only took about 40 minutes; by the time I was finished I was drenched not with rain but with my own sweat. Working alone, at dusk, at my own pace and not having to play the leader was an interesting shift for me. I like hard physical work and being out in the preserve, alone with only my own thoughts as company, is something I haven’t done in a long time, Time to work, time to think, time to feel, - it felt like a rare and precious gift.
After the heavy work I moved quickly through the rest of the trail aiming to get to the spring and make sure it would still be accessible. The Phragmites which are heavy in that area grow back so fast that I was afraid it would begin to close up again. As I round the last trail turn to the spring I came across a recent ‘marsh burn’ in the heaviest section of Phragmites; it was a moderate size burn - not like the 100 acre burn from a few years ago- but it was very noticeable; my guess is that it is between 1 and 2 acres and it burned from trail side into the wet marsh where it must have died out with no where to go; It actually cleared the both banks of a small stream that flows into the headwater of Alley Creek.
Nothing much I could do about this location right now but it got me to thinking that this might be the opportunity to try to recover some of this area before the Phragmites completely regrows; it is quite easy to cut the stems as they grow back from the massive root system. Phragmites only grows from April to July and then they normally stop growing (up) and spend the rest of the growing season building up underground reserves for the next season. . I wonder how the area would respond to some strategic cutting this month and next and to some seeding with meadow grasses and young trees?
The sun was just starting to set. It was ducking below the high tree line on the west valley wall. The mosquitoes noticed it before I did but as they reminded me I called it a day. My few hours in the preserve, alone with my thoughts and with urban nature, were a gift from the weather gods who passed by without looking down. When I got home I said thank you for this gift and I didn’t forget to water the garden late that night.
No comments:
Post a Comment