Phragmites

So, phragmites. They're the super tall wispy wheat-like things in the photo above that are invasive. If you drive down any major interstate you can probably see them lining the roads in huge patches pretty much everywhere. They do so well because they start growing before anything native and continue growing for longer than anything else in the winter. They grow so tall that they steal the light from other plants until they die.

Normally they are left alone because of how widespread they have become but at Wellesley Island State Park they threaten the home of the little endangered guy below, the Blanding's Turtle. They also mess with the egg laying of some fish.

(Not my photo)

So we spent almost two weeks tearing these things down. We mostly used weed whackers except with blades instead of strings. Where the brush was too thick we army crawled through the snow and took them down by hand. They ruined two pairs of my gloves where they cut through and cut my hands. In the end we cleared almost 4 acres. 

The park has been working on getting approval to treat the phragmites with herbicide, or hopefully even better, a controlled burn. But until then, we are just trying to keep the patches from growing.

Signs and Miscellaneous Things!

I haven't been sure what to post, because we have been running around doing all sorts of things! We haven't finished any more projects, just started a couple more! I received my CPR certification and I am now allowed to drive utility task vehicles (UTVs). The first time we tried taking it out?

We got it stuck.... twice before deciding the snow was too deep and we would just have to walk the trails. At least where we got it stuck had a nice view? What were we doing when we got it stuck? Trying to replace all the trail signs at Wellesley Island State Park!

Example of Old Signs

The signs are confusing and each trail goes by multiple names. We will be doing a lot of work here in the summer re-routing trails and putting in more signs! We only replaced a few for now. 

Top is an old sign, bottom is a new sign!

We also went to Akwasasne to help with an Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Delimitation Survey! One of my earlier posts talked about EAB and how it hasn't been found in our region yet. We went to a region known to have EAB and helped strip the bark off samples taken from trees throughout the region in search for evidence of emerald ash borer larvae. This area is home to the Mohawk who uses black ash for basket-making, an important traditional art form. The infection is overtaking the ash trees here quickly. At this point the goal is to reduce the amount of ash trees in the forests and stockpile as much black ash as they can before the EAB spreads. 

But let's end on a happier note. It's really pretty here. 

Team building???

Okay, so it's been awhile since I posted. There's a very good reason for that. We went through the most stressful, demanding, and challenging team building exercise I have experienced. 

We had to build a pergola. 

It we prefabricated so all we had to do was put it together like a giant set of Lincoln Logs right? Easy! Well... when all your wood has sat outside for months in the rain and snow, it kind of warps and things don't fit like they should. We were also fighting the wind and snow every step of the way. I'm not even going to get into the least helpful directions I have ever seen that came with it.

So, we had to chisel every hole and notch so they fit together like they were supposed to in the first place.... We got it together.... upside down. 

And after a lot of work, right-side up!!!!

From there on it was smooth sailing! Well, until we realized that the last team poured the back footers too short. But we decided that was an issue for when it gets warmer! So we just built the rest of the roof, secured the front two posts, and called it good!

(The one on the right is ours.)

Also, shout out to Leo and the team because the skills I learned with you all were invaluable here!

Week Two: Ash Tree Surveying

     We spent five days running around different state parks finding ash trees that are candidates for treatment against emerald ash borer. All while in snowshoes with temperatures no higher than 13 degrees! 

Westcott Beach State Park

     Now what is emerald ash borer? It's a small beetle native to Asia that feeds on ash trees and kills a tree within 10 years. It has been found in over 20 states and threatens to destroy all ash trees in North America. While emerald ash borer hasn't been found in this region yet, it has been found further south in New York. 

Long Point State Park

     Our task has been to go to state parks in the region and identify ash trees that may be worth saving. The preventative treatment is expensive and the tree has to be strong and healthy to get through it so we had to be selective! Once a tree was identified we marked the location with a GPS. When it gets warmer we will be going back out to make sure the trees we marked are still good candidates and to make sure we didn't miss any! 

Robert Wehle State Park

     We snowshoed about two to three miles a day no matter the weather! There was plenty of fun though, including snowball fights. Below is Lake Ontario. Every part of the lake we have seen is frozen as far as we can see. Onward to week three!

Robert Wehle State Park

Week One: Orientation

     Bananagrams, Code Names, Cards Against Humanity, and many other games were played this week as all 21 New York Parks Corps members met up for orientation at Onanda Park. All of us are spread out through upstate New York doing both conservation and environmental education work! There isn't much to say as we spent quite a bit of our time learning about driving safety, making incident reports, weekly reports, the danger of ticks, and many other not very exciting but also important topics. 

     

It might look pretty nice out, but here was our drive home...




   




     Here is the Conservation Stewards crew! Left to right, Carley, Me, Taylor, and Sam. We live and work together! We are the Conservation Stewards crew of the New York Parks Corps program and that is ran by the Student Conservation Association andddddddd our positions are funded by Americorps. Phew, we are part of a ton of different organizations! 

That's it for Orientation! Now it's time to start work!