Field work reaching a peak

Thursday April 22, 2010 A date like that can stop you in your tracks! Today is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, I can remember what it was like back then; we were young, idealistic and just getting started; how much didn’t we know back then! we’ve come a long way but so many things still move in the wrong direction; what’s it going to be like 40 years from now???

Tonight is the eve of a couple of great field work days – regular field work starts up on Friday afternoons; it should be a good day but Saturday is special; in the morning we will do an Arbor Day planting with loads of kids (organized by the education staff at the center) it should be a blast; then in the afternoon I’ll be leading a fairly large group way out into the preserve - first to check out how the work from last year held up but also to extend that work and see what comes next; most of the students are new to the area this year so they will see it with fresh eyes; this time of year I’m sure they will love what they see; Next time I get the chance to write I’ll be looking to tell about their first adventure into the preserve.

A Field Work Surprise….

Friday field work afternoon-April 16, 2010. . It rained early and it rained late but today’s crew found a warm and dry window; that was a pleasant surprise but that wasn’t the only surprise of the day.

We picked up where we left off last week and continued to push the connecting trail toward where we left off last season. It is only a couple of hundred more yards but these are some of the hardest. This trail segment hasn’t been opened in years and the overgrowth is almost impassable; we are running this trail on top of an elevated berm that separates the wetland preserve from the surrounding commercial properties. It was slow going last week and I was expecting the worst; I’d have been happy if we could progress another 10 or 20 yards; doing things in bite size pieces makes the work manageable and adding more hands makes it all the more fun;

We started slowly and cut and clawed our way through two stands of vine covered trees and another of heavy wild rose. The stands were so thick you could hardly see what lay ahead; but when we cut through the last heavy stand the growth turned out to only be knee deep. Certainly it needs a bit of trimming but nothing that you couldn't walk through. We stepped through into the sunlight and I said let’s walk up and see what we’re up against; the more we walked the lighter the growth became until we stepped into a young secondary growth wetland woods;

I haven’t been to this spot in a couple of decades and the way in was so overgrown that probably very few people (maybe no people?) have been in this area in a very long time. What was it like? It was very quiet. It was very green with the new growth of spring all around us. I was struck -it was absolutely ‘charming’! now that’s a word that I don’t use very much inside New York City; there are many natural areas that are valuable, scenic, ecologically rich, historically important, unusually interesting, simple beautiful and a host of other noteworthy descriptors. This little section trail may not have many of those characteristics but it was a pleasure to discover something so truly ‘charming’. This little woodland trail (which also provides a very nice overlook) doesn’t have a name (yet) but it will be a highlight of the trail system once it is complete.