Mowing the Sand Prairie

Posted on July 31, 2013 by paulmozina

My thoughts about the Sand Prairie are finally coming together into a restoration strategy. Slowly mowing the weeds with my brush cutter affords ample time to carefully observe and ponder both the forest (prairie) and the trees (plants). I see them both.

The weeds are obvious to me now; I recognize them from my childhood, playing at new home construction sites, and by their names: fleabane, knapweed, ragweed etc…. Jason Dare helped me connect the micro and macro perspectives when we talked last Saturday evening and I feel a lot more confident that I’m going in the right direction. DNR Trail Boss, Don Dane, is going to meet me at The Springs on Tuesday, August 6th, at 8:00am (where westbound Hwy ZZ meets Hwy 67 in a “T”) to walk the trails, identify invasive species threats and prioritize the efforts. We’ll also be integrating the results of Jason’s invasive species survey; a very timely commission by the DNR. You are welcome to join us and learn about the restoration!

I enjoyed a fine day at The Springs yesterday, spraying black locust saplings in the morning and then brush cutting weeds on the sand prairie. I would consider using a brush mower next year, but for now, I prefer the finer control of a weed whacker, as it gives me the opportunity to work slowly, identify what I’m seeing, and avoid cutting high quality native plants as much as possible.

The Wisconsin DNR Sand Prairie website includes this summary:

Sand prairie is a dry native grassland community dominated by grasses such as little bluestem, J junegrass, panic grasses, and poverty-oat grass. Common herbaceous associates are sand cress, field sage-wort, western ragweed, several sedges (e.g., Carex muhlenbergii, Cyperus filiculmis, and Cyperus schweinitzii), flowering spurge, frostweed, round-headed bush-clover, western sunflower, false-heather, long-bearded hawkweed, stiff goldenrod, horsebalm, and spiderwort. Drought-adapted fungi, lichens, and mosses are significant components of sand prairie communities.

One of the next steps is going to be to see how many of these plants are currently established at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail’s sand prairie. Then we’ll need to consider how we want to reintroduce the plants that are missing and if other native plants that are not listed above can also be included. I’m looking forward to working with the new Naturalist for the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest once that person is hired. We are a long way from the restoration ideals of John J. Ewel’s “Restoration is the ultimate test of ecological theory”, but I think we are headed in the right direction.

See you at The Springs!

The Trivium

Posted on July 28, 2013 by paulmozina

I had a “gut check” on the way home from The Springs last night. Jason Dare, the real deal when it comes to ecosystem management, met me by coincidence on the trail near the Hillside Springs, and, in the fading light, he helped me see a new approach to “gardening” at The Springs. As I drove home, I questioned whether or not I had made some mistakes, used the wrong poison in the wrong place at the wrong time, or missed golden opportunities to repel nascent invasive species. I faced the challenge of integrating new information that contradicted what I thought I new, and was putting into practice; I was confused!

Fortunately there is a way to dispel confusion — the liberating art of critical thinking known as The Trivium Method. As I reviewed what Jason said I recognized: The Grammar i.e., the knowledge of objects in the real world; The Logic, or process of non-contradictory identification that leads to understanding and answers the question why; and The Rhetoric, manifest in Jason’s wisdom and ability to explain the how to me. Just listen for yourself!

Armed with the trivium, I’m learning the phenology of the varied plant communities, the biology and the proper use of herbicide. I’m encouraged by people like Jason Dare, who is going to give me a list of the weeds he was inventorying for the DNR (and strategies for attacking them), and Ron Kurowski, who is going to give me a survey of native plants, and I hope other knowledgeable nature lovers will contribute as well. It seems like ever since the Native Americans were kicked out of the area in the late 1820s, people have viewed The Springs with and eye to make a buck. Now we are changing that and it is a wonderful opportunity to do something for the shear joy of it. I hope you will consider contributing your time and talents to this effort. Persistence is the key!

Had I known when I arrived yesterday morning what I know now, I would not have sprayed buckthorn seedlings and re-sprouts at the trailhead. Jason explained why October-November is the only time he will spray buckthorn seedlings and how a mix of Garlon 3a and Escort would be the least toxic approach, given the sensitivity of the area. Summer is time to focus on herbaceous weeds and that is what we plan to do from now on. Sound advice from someone with a lot of experience managing ecosystems. The knowledge, understanding and wisdom is sinking in!

Just as I finished spraying, I got a trail update from a veteran birder named Tom, who said the north end of the trail was getting really overgrown. This is buckthorn alley and I confess that I have not walked this stretch of trail since the burn. I got after it with my brush cutter.

I had intended to pile brush in an area 100 yards or so down the main trail, where the first views of the prairie open up, and resumed that objective after sweeping buckthorn alley.

Here is how it looked after a couple hours. In light of my conversation with Jason, I’m rethinking the plan mentioned at the end of this video.

It was cool and breezy all day but the darn mosquitoes came out in force as evening progressed.

Ron mentioned in his last visit that oak wilt was attacking the black oaks and here is example along the river.

A last river view before heading home

See you at The Springs!

The Poison Paradigm

Posted on July 25, 2013 by paulmozina

In a broadly defined sense a paradigm is : a philosophical or theoretical framework of any kind. I’ve been contemplating John J. Ewel’s definition of “restoration” all week trying to resolve the cognitive dissonance in my head regarding the use of poison to wage a “war on weeds”. We know how the “war on drugs” and the “war on poverty” turned out. Can we poison our way out of this invasive species mess? Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

My metaphor only works if you view invasive species as a kind of environmental poison. The work of The Creator was “altered”, by the White European invasive species, and now we confront the reality. Do we simply let nature run its course and allow a new equilibrium amongst the invasive and native plants to emerge? Or, do we intervene, as if in some kind of archaic revival, and try to “restore” an ideal?

Any gardener worth his/her salt has walked and knows every square foot of their vegetative domain and I aim to garden the Sand Prairie. I intervened at the square foot level the past two days deciding with my brush cutter emphatically that, NO, I won’t let nature run its course; these weeds must be stopped! My work at The Springs is like a castle made of sand so long as people believe we can address the invasive species issue with poison and assume that others, i.e. the government, or some crazed Don Quixote volunteer, is handling it. Nope, unless we have a raising of consciousness, and people prioritize the land and natural law over profits and war, we’ll be poisoning invasive plants forever.

I had the pleasure of meeting two consciousness raising educators and their group of 18 aspiring photographers at The Springs this past Tuesday morning. Listen to John Hallagan, 4rth grade teacher at Magee Elementary School and Pete “Laser” Nielsen, Biology teacher at Kettle Moraine High School, describe their awareness altering adventure.

I invite John and his students to post their Scuppernong Springs slide show right here, and I sincerely hope that I can persuade Pete to allow me to post his pictures of the Scuppernong Springs Hotel here as well.

My agenda on both Tuesday and Wednesday, July 23-24 was the same i.e., spray buckthorn and other invasive plants along the cut-off trail in the morning, and then brush cut weeds on the sand prairie.

Good Morning Springs!

I thoroughly enjoyed the day!

Check out this Blandings turtle catching some dinner below the marl pit bridge.

The north breezes began to wain as evening fell and the skeeters were thick around my bug net as I watched the sun go down at Ottawa Lake.

Wednesday was almost a carbon copy of Tuesday and I managed to cover almost the entire sand prairie whacking weeds as well as cherry, oak, hickory, buckthorn, honeysuckle and sumac brush. This is not what Ewel would call a “sustainable” restoration but, nevertheless, I do aspire to the sand prairie ideal.

I’m sorry to say that I hit and killed my first deer on the way home Wednesday night. I swear to god, I remarked to myself proudly, as I was getting in my truck to drive home, that I had never hit a deer!

See you at The Springs!

Bluff Creek West

Posted on July 22, 2013 by paulmozina

If you want to explore some hidden treasures in Wisconsin consider participating in the State Natural Areas Volunteer Program. Ginny Coburn is organizing volunteers on a regular basis to work with DNR Conservation Biologist and Wildlife Technician, Jared Urban, at uniquely beautiful locations in the South Kettle Moraine Forest just north and east of Whitewater. Back in May we girdled aspen at the Lone Tree Bluff Scenic Overlook and I visited the springs that originate Bluff Creek.

Jared is a careful phenologist, optimizing every volunteer hour to the max. Last Saturday, July 20, our mission, dictated by dynamic biological phenomena, took us to the Bluff Creek “west” (of Hwy P that is) State Natural Area to a secluded prairie where we cut white sweet-clover and wild parsnip. I knew this was going to be good as I rode on the back of the 4-wheeler Jared was driving, holding down brush cutters and other gear, as we left the paved road behind us. I think the black line coming north off of Hi-Lo Road approximates where we entered the prairie and the black dots show where we cut weeds.

The view from on top the ATV.

Jared explained how the DNR has been cutting brush and burning in this prairie for years and the results of their tender loving care were evident in the diversity of plants in this high quality prairie. Zach, Ginny, Jared, Diane and I had a wonderful morning doing what we love!

I’m becoming a bit of a phenologist myself, or maybe its just hard not to notice the spotted knapweed and buckthorn resprouts/seedlings that are growing at phenomenal rates at The Springs. I had a few hours to spare before the Waukesha/Milwaukee chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance was to have their summer gathering, and I headed over to Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail. There were two trees down across the cut-off trail, and another down across the river just upstream from the gaging station. Sometimes trees grow faster than they can handle, and that appeared to be the case here. After cutting them out of the way, I started spraying weeds and brush seedlings on the cut-off trail. In many places both sides of the trail are literally carpets of new buckthorn and prickly ash seedlings. This is a perfect time to spray these plants as they are still small and there will be minimal collateral damage.

This week I’m planning to cut spotted knapweed on the Sand Prairie and continue spraying buckthorn along the cut-off trail.

See you at The Springs!

Prince’s Point Wildlife Area

Posted on July 19, 2013 by paulmozina

Our Journey Down the Scuppernong River continues as we take a closer look at the Prince’s Point Wildlife Area. I got over the shock and dismay at the fate of the river once it crossed Hwy 106 and I’ve been learning more about the area and its history.

Large scale agricultural farming in natural wetland areas requires major land alterations to control water levels and it is doubtful that the changes wrought by the mud farmers along this stretch of the Scuppernong River would have been allowed under current environmental regulations. In 1952 Dean Kincaid (rest in peace) diverted the river from its natural meander into a ditch that facilitates managing the water level on this huge mud farm, which sits between Hwy 106 and Prince’s Point and is now run by his son Gary, and his son Corey. Other farmers, on what is now the west side of Prince’s Point Wildlife Area, did similar things to control Spring Creek and Steel Brook, which enter the basin here, and drained these wetlands for farming (see map below). Thus the land was “altered” and a new reality created

On July 17th I had the pleasure of getting a guided tour of Prince’s Point from Charlie Kilian, the recently retired property manager for almost 25 years, and Bret Owsley, the Wildlife Supervisor responsible for the area. Charlie is a mineral salt of the earth kind of guy with weathered face and hands, a quick smile, lots of stories and intimate knowledge of land, water, flora and fauna. Bret loves working with his “constituents” and I really appreciated him setting up the date with Charlie and bringing the maps that proved so useful. They picked me up at the boat dock on the west side of the wildlife area and Charlie told the first of many great stories. When he arrived on the scene the area was referred to as Princess Point, named after an “Indian” Princess. Charlie caught hell for pointing out that Native Americans didn’t have “princesses” and for changing the spelling of the name to Prince’s Point, after a man with the surname Prince, who ran a ferry service over the Bark River at this location.

I mentioned that I wanted to collect a water sample from the Scuppernong River and Charlie thought of a route we could take with the DNR truck to get very close. We entered the wildlife area on a DNR “2-track” access road off of Hwy P, that had not been mowed yet this year, eventually arriving at a very wet point where we changed plans and headed up to some high ground. This viewpoint is mark VP on the map below and the impoundments are numbered 1-4 per the order they are introduced in the discussion. The brown shaded areas #3 and #4 comprise around 106 acres that were originally part of the Kincaid farm and transitioned, first to Wetland Reserve Program lands, and then around 2000 the DNR acquired full title.

Charlie and Bret do a great job explaining their management strategies for the Prince’s Point Wildlife Area in this video.

The video ends prematurely and accidentally as I was asking Bret about his role as a Wildlife Supervisor (I should have simply started another recording session). He went on to explain what motivates him — his passion for managing the land for the best balance possible given the “altered” conditions we have inherited; it’s always on his mind. As we parted Charlie shared his experience with lymes disease, something that still affects him, and how the “state” fought him tooth and nail to deny that his infection was work related, even though any rational person, honestly looking at the evidence, would recognize it was. Ah,”the state”, it’s a figment of our imaginations. It’s people who implement the mental conception we refer to as “the state” and it’s a shame those with the power to do so did not treat Charlie right after his many years of dedicated service. Charlie was pretty stoic about it. It bugs me.

I stopped at the intersection of the Scuppernong River and Hwy 106 on the way back to The Springs and I walked out about 1/2 mile along the ditch past the third pumping station to get my water sample (the other sample was taken from the Scuppernong Spring and I will compare and post the results when they come back). I recently talked to Gary Kincaid about how they manage surface water on their mud farm and he explained that it is filtered vertically through 4-5′ feet of organic soil, i.e. peat moss, and as much as 25 feet horizontally, to where it is captured in clay or plastic drain tiles. The drain tiles are spaced approximately every 50 feet and run the length of the fields emptying into canals at the perimeters, from which it is pumped into the river when necessary. Gary emphasized that, given the high cost of fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides, they use the bare minimum on their farms.

There are no comprehensive programs to test this nonpoint source pollution; it is done on a case by case basis.

Back at The Springs, I sprayed Milestone on the buckthorn resprouts on the steep hillside below Hwy 67. The burn this past spring only top-killed the heartier saplings and they already have 2-3′ of new growth. Then I spent some time studying weeds on the sand prairie and decided to make a date with Ron Kurowski, the retired DNR Naturalist who lead the Scuppernong River Habitat Area restoration, and whose shoes the DNR has yet to fill, and he generously agreed to meet me the next day.

It was plenty hot and buggy out there and I was baked when I got these storm cloud shots before heading for home.

See you at The Springs!

Summertime at The Springs

Posted on July 15, 2013 by paulmozina

Summer has arrived buzzing with life and heat. Whew, it was hot yesterday as I pulled spotted knapweed at the sand prairie (see white shaded area in the map below). At least there was some breeze and beautiful, billowing, clouds to entertain me and it seemed like a better option than piling brush amongst the mosquitoes and poison ivy in the woods. This is a perfect time to get after knapweed, it’s the nail with its pink head sticking up the highest. The art is to get a diversity of native plants to return and fill the voids left after we pull weeds; this is where knowledgeable volunteers could really make a contribution. I’m envisioning the sand prairie in all its natural glory!

I started the day with a little walk around and saw that the Transline I sprayed on the young black locust trees at the south end of the loop trail was very effective.

The Scuppernong Spring

Michigan Lilies at the Indian Spring

The Scuppernong Prairie

There are three projects that would really improve the nature trail: build a bridge over the ditch where the cut-off trail joins the main loop trail at the marl pit factory, rebuild the observation deck at the Indian Spring, and fix the trail junction where the spur to the Indian Spring joins the mail loop trail. Check out this video to see what I mean.

I started the day spraying Milestone on a variety of weeds and buckthorn seedlings on the south end of the loop trail. Then I headed to the sand prairie to pull spotted knapweed.

There is an unofficial, well established, trail that leads down the sand prairie from sign post #6 towards the channel that carries the outflow of the “Indian” Springs. At the bottom of the hill the trail was overgrown with wild raspberry, nettle and other plants, making it nearly impassable, so I brush cut this to complete a little loop trail over to the Indian Spring.

I returned to the Scuppernong Spring to cool off, get out of the sun and meditate and found a team of engineers hard at work creating a dam to hold back the flow. They succeeded in raising the water level 3-4″ and I couldn’t resist taking a dip! One of those righteous dudes left an excellent “Alaska Denali Park” cap behind and can claim it by contacting me.

Amanda, Melanie and their crew of volunteers have been hard at work completing he installation of new sign posts #10, 11 and 12.

The view down river from the old barn site

Looking upstream from the stream gaging station

And a few parting shots from the marl pit bridge

See you at The Springs!

Freedom

Posted on July 5, 2013 by paulmozina

I’m celebrating true freedom from the mental chains of law and government! I was recently introduced to the work of Marc Stevens, who stands tall on the shoulders of people like: Lysander Spooner, author of No Treason (audio here), Frederic Bastiat, author of The Law (audio here), and Etienne de la Boetie, author of The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude.

Marc’s book, Adventures In Legal Land,

is an evolution of the principals of true freedom espoused by the aforementioned authors applied to our current political, legal systems. Don’t go to court without reading this book! I have been studying history and philosophy searching for the truth, which is the key to happiness according to Aristotle, and now I finally understand. Our Political “law” is nothing but the arbitrary WILL OF MEN and WOMEN. Government exists to direct and control our minds; the “State” is a figment of our collective imaginations. The Constitution is a “written instrument” that was only witnessed, not signed. It is not a binding contract (which must include an offer, acceptance, a meeting of the minds and consideration) on ME.

If the Catholic Church declared that my home was located in a “parish” that the pope drew on a map and that I must pay tithes to support their god works, I would laugh at them. Government is no different; it’s based on belief, faith and, ultimately, on violence and coercion. What facts and evidence do government bureaucrats have to prove that they have jurisdiction i.e., control, over me, and that their codes apply to me? They will point to the “law”, the arbitrary will of men, as if that were evidence that the laws apply to me. Shame on these sophists and their fallacious circular reasoning! I don’t believe in their “state” and their “laws”. They’re noth’in but a badge and a gun! Free your mind!

Those were my thoughts on Independence Day as I worked the brush cutter at the Hartland Marsh and later, The Springs. I had to visit the “grandfather” oak before I got started. Here is the trail leading from the Waukesha County Land Conservancy property to the junction of the Village of Hartland and Ice Age Trail properties.

The Mystery Island

The Patriarch

Back at the Parker Brothers’ homesite

Looks like a job for the “river rats”

Here is the trail on the Village of Hartland property just below the gazebo on Cottonwood Ave.

A couple video perspectives

Out on the boardwalk, which I was trimming.

After finishing the trail maintenance for this year at the Marsh, I went to The Springs to pull some weeds. I thought the white clover at the marl pit bridge would pull right out, like the hoary alyssum on the sand prairie, but it was quickly evident that I’d need the brush cutter again.

Crown vetch

I’m adjusting my game plan regarding scheduling work and what to focus on to recognize when the best time to strike at the weeds may be. The goal is to reduce the invasive species, using as little poison as possible, by preventing them from going to seed whether by pulling or cutting. Buckthorn alley will have to wait.

Pati peddled her bike out from Milwaukee and we had a picnic dinner at Ottawa Lake followed by fireworks at Pewaukee Lake; a very nice day. I’ll be back around the 15th.

See you at The Springs!

A Little KP at The Springs

Posted on June 20, 2013 by paulmozina

The Springs are luxuriantly green in harmonious sympathy with the summer solstice.

I’m a little worse for wear — might be all the tick bites. Pati gave me this great site for info about lymes disease and we’re investigating and getting advice from people who have had it, like our good friend Karen Ande.

Yesterday it was absolutely gorgeous all day long at The Springs and I was eager to try out my new camera. The picture auto-focus and high definition video are great. Now, if I could just learn to hold the camera steady when taking videos, especially the first few seconds.

The view from the Scuppernong Spring, where I drew some water for the day.

I sprayed 8 gallons of very dilute (.2oz/gal) Milestone/aminopyralid on first year garlic mustard and huge patches of burdock on the south end of the trail and I must confess that I’m sorely conflicted about my continued use of herbicide on the land. Per this Mother Earth News story, there are issues with Milestone. The DNR reassured me that there is no problem given the low concentration they recommend, but I’m having doubts.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was not going to use Habitat/imazapyr anywhere in the river valley and I recently returned my supply to the DNR. This article in Natural News, persuaded me to return my Glyphosate as well. I’m still using Tahoe/triclopyr for buckthorn stumps, Transline/clopyralid for Black Locust and Milestone/aminopyralid for broad-leaf weeds.

In an ideal world, the DNR would have the resources to Burn The Scuppernong on a more regular basis; interspersing fall and spring fires per, the available fuel, and the status of the weeds. If that were the case, it would be conceivable to eliminate the use of all poisonous chemicals on the land. I feel a rant coming on… but, instead, I’ll do what I can to work toward that goal.

I brought my brush cutter out to tidy up the place. Here are before and after shots of the DNR 2-track we use to access a parking area at the south end of the loop trail.

Then I made my way to the hillside springs at the first embankment/bridge below the Scuppernong Spring.

The second bridge down, before and after.

Then, on to the boardwalk that leads to the Emerald Spring. I sprayed this area with Habitat a few weeks ago and there was no effect. I miss the wise console of my good friend Lindsay Knudsvig, who would have undoubtebly warned me that it was “too early dude!”

I’m a little concerned about the algae that is blooming in the river and speculating that it might be caused by the removal of the layer of water cress that covered the river last year, and the burn this spring, which, together, significantly increased the amount of sunlight hitting the river bed. Warm temperatures spawn algae growth and so does stirring up muck in old river beds, which we did a lot of last year. This year’s DNR fish count, coming in July, will be very interesting. In any case, my further interventions with the river going forward will be minimal.

I cut cattails and willow resprouts at the Hatching House Springs and reed canary grass and buckthorn resprouts by the old hotel and barn sites. Jon Bradley mentioned in the last post that his expedition did not venture onto the cut-off trail because he “couldn’t see a definitive trail”. Indeed, a lot of aspen, buckthorn, honeysuckle and prickly ash has quickly sprouted so I went through the entire trail with the brush cutter to make it more evident. You can pick up the cut-off trail (aka, The Lost Trail) on your left as you walk along the main trail just past the long, tall, marl pit factory wall, on your right. Look for 4 logs laying parallel crossing a little drainage ditch and take this trail!

Here is a view from the gaging station bridge…

and the barn site followed by a Smooth Solomon’s Seal.

I really enjoyed the near solstice sunset out on the marl pit.

See you at The Springs!

Scuppernong Safari

Posted on June 18, 2013 by paulmozina

Come along as Jon Bradley takes us on his recent amazing adventure at the Scuppernong Springs!

If you are receiving this post via email by subscribing to this site, you can click, or double click, the pictures to display them full screen; well worth it for Jon’s beautiful photographs. If you hover your mouse over a picture and a youtube link appears, follow it.

The last time out, I was taking sunset photos from the marl pit canal and noticed someone hanging out on the bridge; it was Jon…

I had a blast at The Springs this past Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday morning. I hit the trail 5 times but only went through the whole thing once, I mostly stuck around the Marl Pits. Admittedly, I wanted to check out the new cut-off trail but couldn’t see a definitive trail.

As you saw, I installed the Tree Swallow house on Thursday afternoon. I saw a ton of Tree Swallows around that area, so it was definitely a fantastic place to put it. (Just an FYI there is a loose nail on the left side of the front, which can be pulled out to swing open the front if it ever needs to be cleaned out. It’s something I never really knew about before but read it online and figured I’d install it on that one since it’ll be at the trail, hopefully for many years to come.)

During sunset I saw this Snapping Turtle and Blandings Turtle on each side of the Marl Pit Bridge.

These Spiderwort plants were everywhere. They sure do have a nice color to them, don’t they?

I’ve never actually been to The Springs during sunset before, it was definitely worth seeing, and thankfully the mosquitoes weren’t too bad around the Marl Pit area, compared to to the first stretch of trail where they were swarming.

Friday morning at the Springs was fantastic. I hit the whole trail and enjoyed watching the springs from quite a few locations along the trail. It was a quiet day with no one on the trail and not too much traffic going by so it was a pretty relaxing stroll.

This muskrat was working all day long on its den in the largest Marl Pit.

I always have a good time hanging around the main spring, though the mosquitoes were so thick around it, I chose to continue on after a minute or two.

A few other photos I took at the trail include Sandhill Cranes at the entrance, another large Snapping Turtle in a Marl Pit (it’s markings seem to match up with the one I saw on the previous day), and a tiny Painted Turtle in the large Marl Pit.

I also got a few interesting photos at Ottawa Lake. I just missed out on this Snapping Turtle laying her eggs by the pier.

During one last bike ride around the park, I found this small Snapper by the beach parking lot and saved it from getting run over. Hopefully it headed straight back to the lake.

I’m already looking forward to my next trip out there!

(ed. note,

Just in, here is a great video tour of The Springs that Jon put together.

See you at The Springs!)

Spring Reflections

Posted on June 14, 2013 by paulmozina

You have to walk a ways down south along the marl pit canal to get a good angle on the sun as it sets farther and farther north on the horizon. The rate of change in the amount of daylight increases as we approach the summer solstice and it is dramatically evident in the big sky country at The Springs. The trees, grasses, flowers and weeds, have responded luxuriantly to the sun and rain and the land is vibrant with myriad shades of lush greens. The Burn back on May 6th was definitely the highlight; a dramatically pivotal punctuation to Spring, 2013.

The Scuppernong Springs are a “world class site”, per former DNR Naturalist Ron Kurowski, and getting more and more well deserved love and attention these days. Spring Lover, Jon Bradley recently erected this beautiful, custom built, tree swallow house near the marl pit bridge.

Thanks Jon! It should be occupied in no time.

Amanda, Melanie and their crew of volunteers continued to install the new interpretive signs that Don Dane made. They look pretty darn good!

I was out at The Springs yesterday and sprayed some spotted knapweed on the Sauk Campground and some garlic mustard, creeping charlie and burdock between the old hotel and barn sites. “What is a weed? A Plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (more good weed quotes here). Rich Csavoy taught me another weed, white cockle, which is in full bloom on the Sauk Campground. Reed Canarygrass is already going to seed amongst the many springs in the river valley. Isn’t it ironic that Cannabis Sativa, one of the most versatile plants on earth, goes by the nickname “weed”?

It was a beautiful afternoon with a refreshing north breeze, deep blue skies and cauliflower clouds sailing by. I cut a curtain of buckthorn and prickly ash between the cut-off trail and the river on a little peninsula where Carl Baumann took some serious cuts last winter. Here is how it looked when I got there.