Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving week-end came and went; (personally I need to work off a few calories and maybe some field work is just the ticket). We resumed classes today (Monday Nov. 29); the last thing that I heard from students as we said our farewells last Tuesday was that some students just didn't want to stop the field work as I had originally scheduled; they just wanted to work through to the end of the semester; one group was aiming at DEC 4 (Saturday) and another group was looking at DEC 8 (University holiday); honestly this was very unexpected but if they can work through the winter chill all the more power to them; we worked into DEC last year so it can't hurt to keep going; let's see what tomorrow will bring.

Progress to Report

The field work for the fall semester is reaching a peak and, like the falling leaves that cover our trails, will soon be part of the history of the preserve; Very much like last year the field season starts slow but ends with a flurry of activity, enthusiasm and accomplishment. Yesterday (Nov. 17) we had a full field day and students started at any time they wanted between 9 and 3 and worked until the end of the day with sunset being around 5 PM. It was a very successful formula with some starting as early as 9 AM (my early birds!) and many others joining in at 10, 12 and 1. Being able to choose the best time seemed to make a difference and we always had fresh troops to throw into the effort.

'early birds"


We had a total of 30 students across the entire day (which is a new record) and they did some group projects that smaller groups could not possibly do on their own; in the morning we concentrated on some vine control and cutting out the worst sections of alien vines with some good results (some great before and after pictures are included here);

1. pick your target!

2. get to the root of the problem!!

3. smile for the camera!!!

GREAT RESULTS!!!!

debris pile of vine cuttings

In the afternoon, with more people on hand, we broke up into two construction crews and one group went east to trail segments 5 and 6 and built a terracing stairway to the top of the berm; the other crew went with me to the spring section of the trail where we had some of the heavy duty boardwalking materials stored; these are “monster” planks - 16 feet long, one foot wide- and when they are wet they weigh upwards of 200 pounds. I had everyone fashion 7 or 8 ‘rope loops’ that we put around each plank. Walking on opposite side of the plank we lifted and carried it roughly 200 yards into its final resting place; no one person was going to lift anything like this by themselves but 7 people, each carrying a small part of the weigh, can accomplish amazing things; This is a lesson to be learned and the idea of 'teamwork' and 'sharing the burden' was not lost on these fine students; Both planks and their underpinning only took us about an hour to get in place and they now span one of the wettest and softest swales in the trail.

I'm proud of the heavy work these students saw and did not shy away from and also the careful work that the other group constructing the steps on the earthen berm. These two tasks only took two hours total and with plenty of good weather and daylight still burning they opted to go out one more time and do some touch up work, some fine cutting and replace one missing marking block. I told them that whenever you return from the field “never come back with an empty wheel barrow”. On their way back they hauled out some of the worst old highway debris that they came across along the way and it makes for a great final picture!

We’ll have to take a day or two to assess where we are at this season and to see if certain things need to be wrapped up; other students are still asking if they can work in a few more days and hours before the end of the semester so if the weather holds and doesn’t change over too fast maybe there is more to do in the very near future.

I couldn’t be more proud of this particular group; I know from their reactions and their good-byes and their feedback today that they took something special away from this very long and tiring day. I did too!

CAUSE TO CELEBRATE

This season's field work is moving forward step by step; several days had wet weather and even a tornado watch so that was a bit of a slow-down; on the other hand the days that had the gorgeous fall weather like today had some great results;

so why is there "cause to celebrate” today?

Today was a STJ school holiday and so we had the chance to do both morning and afternoon field work; three work groups from the morning and two more in the afternoon move the trail project forward and completed the last part of our trail marking blocks; (see the three pictures below) this may not sound like much but we have been working on this since this project began last Oct’ we now have all 85 blocks in place and have the entire 8500’ of the trail marked approximately every 100’. That was the original plan and it is now a reality.
We still have to put the trial symbols and exact distances to each of the final blocks but they are FINALLY in the ground and ready for the final markings.

THE FINAL BLOCK

The rest of the day was spent in some heavy duty vine control (see other pictures) and in some TLC (– both Tender Loving Care and Trail Length Care-) in trail segments 4, 5 and 6. It was great working with these young students and sharing their enthusiasm.

Vine Country

l

Way to go - Peter/Nicole/Emily

In the middle of the day a former student from many years ago walked into our work site and surprised us; Chris Tomasello is a good friend and former student who now runs his own environmental consulting company and was just passing by and took the chance to stop in to the center and say hello; Chris is in the oil spill and Haz-Mat clean-up and remediation business and it was a nice chance to catch up a little.

And some TLC from Raphael

It was a tiring day. As we said our goodbyes I asked the students at the end of this long and tiring day how they felt about the project? they had all sorts of good feelings and thoughts; they had a sense of teamwork, they had a sense of accomplishment; one said it was therapeutic; and perhaps most importantly they had a sense of what this place might someday become.

Having the trail marking part of this project complete is only one step but it is an important step. Now we can ask volunteers to direct their efforts to particular tasks at particular trail intervals; we can begin to interpret the ecosystem and the plant communities for visitors and we can begin to produce trail maps and guides keyed to the trail markers that encourage people to get out and explore the park by following the marked trail. I think that will have to be my next project for the winter months when things are frozen solid and snowed over waiting for spring to arrive.

I’ve waited a long time to celebrate this day. I have to thank the students from last Oct., last April and this fall season that worked so hard to take this off the drawing board and put it into the ground.

And a final thank you and good-bye from one of the locals.

THE REAL FIELD WORK BEGINS

Haven't written in a couple of weeks but everything is moving ahead as planned; we ran the second orientation tour with more than 30+ students on Sept 29 for a total of around 75 volunteers; others still want to join in even though they couldn't make the Wednesday walks; as long as they can get the basic idea of what to do then they should still join in but the orientation to the whole preserve is a problem.

I drafted a 5 part work plan and am dividing the work into days depending on how many we have on any given day; today WED 10-13 was the first day we had a real crew on hand and they did a splendid job; I'm not surprised that they wanted to work back in the spring area - it is so beautiful this time of year. Good place to begin as any but it is far out and the farther out we work the harder the work is; nevertheless it was their choice and they did fine;

We have a new tool in the arsenal called a 'brush grubber' I was hoping it would pull masses of wild rose up by the root mass but the stems are too tiny for it to grab; but it was outstanding for pulling roots of porcelain berry which in the long run may be even better; porcelain berry is at its peak right now but we can really set it back with enough hands and effort;

We took extra time to give instruction about tool safety and working together and then took half hour or so to walk to the site; that didn't leave us with much time but in a little more than an hour what a great job they did;

Before and after pictures are some of my favorites and so here is were we started; (-the spring is in the middle of the photo-)

and here is how it looked when we finished!

Now it is possible to get visitors to walk to the edge and see all the drama of that cold, clear-flowing artesian spring; people can't help but be fascinated by its flow; the best descriptor 'simply mesmerizing'; it is a marvel of nature and a tribute to nature in this great valley.

We talked a bit about stabilizing some the collapsing banks of the spring with some natural stone but that is something that would need to be planned very carefully. Sometime the old adage is true - "if it ain't broke don't try to fix it"

These students have to be proud of their accomplishment even if it only took them an hour; When they get back and show what they did in a short time then I can guess how the rest of the group will be encouraged. Next time I write I need to post the work plan to this blog but I'll have to do that from the office computer;

I'll try to write the results from each week and show the progress we make across the field season. My congratulations to this first work crew which chose wisely and had a terrific first encounter with this great park.

First trip of the new season

September 22 marked the autumnal equinox - end of summer and the beginning of the fall season. You could hardly tell with the heat, the humidity and an evening thunderstorm more typical of July than late September. But Sept. 22 did mark the first of our orientation field trips for new students who will carry on where last year’s groups left off. We had 47 students on this first trip and next week we expect probably just as many. After everyone has seen the preserve in its entirety, we can begin to divide up the tasks and set some goals and timetables for October and November.

Yesterday, even with the above average temperatures in mid-80’s, we covered the area quickly and saw all the highlights -Alley Tidal Creek (at high tide) headwater streams (cold, clear and flowing strong) the ‘secret’ spring (always beautiful) and poison ivy in full bloom - so maybe they can recognize it in the weeks to come. I think the students were suitably impressed and I was glad to share the day with co-leaders Frank Cantelmo and Paula Lazrus. I think we work together well and I think the students appreciate that too.

The trails are completely passable (generally good to excellent but with a couple of rough spots). Sometimes its easy to forget that when we are out with people for the first time, they can’t really anticipate what we are asking of them. One unfortunate student ran into a real problem with footwear. Those elevated platform heals just weren’t going to work on earthen trails. We did give fair warning about the walking conditions and proper dress and footwear but when you are working with rookies this is something to look out for before we step out into the preserve.

I hope next week is a bit cooler but just as beautiful and just as successful.

We shall see.

READY…SET…GO!!!

Our fall field work in the preserve is about to start. We have two orientation field trips for the starting students on schedule for Sept. 22 and 29. There are three trip leaders (Paula Lazrus, Frank Cantelmo and myself) and there will be a large number of first year students. The results should be outstanding.

Before the APEC board meeting last night, I went out into the park and walked some of the most challenging sections of the trail. I just had to ease my mind that we could make our way without too much trouble. What a great night! All the trails were dry, firm and very passable. They certainly need all the TLC we can give them but they are in great starting shape.

Reflecting back to our starting position last year I can now see exactly how far we have come; last year at this time we were only beginning to plan for this trail project; we had installed none of the marker blocks and trail distances and the last third of the trail was all but impassable. We could get to the hidden spring and parts of trails were soft, wet and blocked by trees pulled down by choking vines; We freed the trees, drained the worst trail spots and put the marking blocks in on almost two thirds of the trail. We finished cutting the trails by the end of this summer and so it is READY… SET… and…GO for this next generation of stewards.

I'm really looking forward to their reaction next week when they visit the preserve for the first time; I can only imagine all of the progress they will make this season.

Welcome to September

Weather is still the worst but the trails conditions are improving remarkably. Summer heat in the preserve is really unbearable. Drains you of all energy. We are also on the edge of Hurricane Earl and can only hope it doesn't hit the east coast but it should be out of here by tomorrow night.

In spite of the dogs days of summer we are making progress and are back to campus for a week now. Trails in the preserve are open and passable which is more than we had at the start of last year. Great starting group of students this year and I expect they will do remarkable service in the preserve this semester and in the future. I finished buying some of the tools, gloves and equipment they will use this term and it should be in soon.

Next big step is to give all of these enthusiastic and idealistic young people a great tour of the preserve and a clear idea of what they can do. Human energy and creativity is a true 'resource' and I really believe we have a vast new pool we can tap.