Today was the last Wetland Plant ID class, covering Juncaeae.  I am sure everyone felt full of knowledge by the end of class! 🙂 Meanwhile, the Sprigging Crew worked on the Lizard’s Tail that had been collected on-site a couple weeks ago.  We welcomed a new volunteer, Mr. Bob Miller, to our illustrious group.  By the end of the morning we had enough pots to fill the little spaces that were open in the above-ground ponds.  The Lizard’s Tail were definitely requiring some soil as most of the… Read More →

Well, we are destined for some scorchers now, but it is August, and this type of weather is expected.  Nonetheless, the crew (John E., Chatt, Gail and Sue) travelled out to Pond Cormorant to get a good variety of plants in the ground.  We did get enough rain this past week for the ponds to be soft enough to get a dibble in. Meanwhile, the class continued studying a new family group:  Poaceae.  You can see everyone furiously writing notes and trying to keep up with Andy’s instruction…. Read More →

  We are still in the middle of the class AND still managing to do productive work out in the field too. Plant ID Class focused on Cyperaceae, which I have to admit, is really tough. (Yay to Glenn, Ray, Gail and Marilyn for sticking it out!)  Meanwhile, the intrepid Kelly Norrid, park ranger, took our little band of diggers (John E., Chatt and I)  to an on-site collection spot for Lizard Tail, Saururus spp.   The work was impossibly hot as there was not a breath of… Read More →

So, we headed out to Phase 3 and finished our touchups out there and actually called Phase 3 complete today!  Yay….only took us 3 months.  🙂  Once that was done, we travelled over to Pond 8 in Phase 2.  This pond was so overrunned with vaseygrass that we decided to try the boom on the heaviest vegetated sections.  We will have to wait to see how effective the boom worked. The plant ID course continues on at the regional office with Andy instructing on Alismataceae this week.  Go… Read More →

We started our Wetland Plant ID course this week and as usual, Charriss totally wowed the students with some impressive botany!  I think everyone got at least a brainful of knowledge.  On the other side of the park, Cullen worked with John and Chatt to hit up more vaseygrass for extermination…hehehehehehehehe.  Both Team volunteers got to enjoy the Hulk (our new multi-person gator).  🙂

We continue with our non-planting workday as there is no water in the wetland ponds—which means transplanting, bumping up and invasive control.  Our sprigging crew (Ray, Dick, Gail and Mary) were joined by Conrad and Modesto to continue the Spartina transplanting.  Meanwhile, Chatt, Cullen, Glenn and John Egan made short order of the herbicide and treated more Vassey grass in Phase 3.

We finally got some rain…thank goodness.  Means that the ground should be (and was) soft enough to plant the Pickerel Weed we collected back in June (yikes!).  Planting crew (Glenn, John E., Marilyn) traipsed out to Pond 10 and deposited all 603 Pickerel weed sprigs.  Meanwhile, the sprigging crew (Ray, Dick and guest: Modesto, Chantal, Conrad) worked on the Spartina sprigs.  These sprigs are special—we are having a harder time finding Spartina spartinae in the field and close to the Park.  This is a measure to ensure that… Read More →

Today, we took a much-needed break and just enjoyed a good meal together and some great conversation at Pappasitos.  I think everyone was stuffed but still managed to eat a piece of the Key Lime Pie I made.  LOL. Thanks to everyone for all their hard work this summer!!!

Our Team split up again:  Glenn, Chatt and John Harrell went off-site with Cullen to collect Spartina spartinae.  These plants will strictly be for repotting and grow-out.  Meanwhile, the Spriggers worked over all the seeds Cullen collected this spring–so that we are now prepped for the students this fall.  🙂

We are on a streak for dry conditions in the field–which means we are relegated to “tidying” up our grow-out ponds.  There are a fair number of the ponds that are overgrown with weeds.  The Team (Chatt, Sue, Glenn and John) removed sections at a time and fill buckets for proper disposal.  Meanwhile the sprigging crew (Dick, Diane, Gail, Ray and Barbara) worked on the (endless) seedlings.  Grow, babies, grow.