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.