Wednesday, December 28, 2016

New moth light, work days

It has been a busy week at the preserve.
I have finished removing the dumped concrete debris from the fire lane. It has been used for the main entrance and for bolstering the entrance road at another preserve that has some issues from truck traffic.
Meanwhile, the First Street gate was the first test for my new moth light set up. I added some new species for the county as well as some new species for the site.
I was able to deal with some of the larger concrete pieces--pieces I could not lift into my truck--by breaking them up with a sledge hammer.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Duke Energy proposes power line through preserve

I just learned today that Duke Energy wants to get approval to construct a 230 kilovolt power line whose route would include sections of the north and south tracts of Lake Blue Scrub.
The map I saw today depicts a route along the southern fire lane of the north tract and the northern fire lane of the south tract. The latter runs through the largest patch of Polygonella basiramia, an endangered species, that I know of at the site.
The concern is that this will set a precedent for similar facilities in other conservation lands and could be a slippery slope for further encroachments.
For Duke, it looks as though this an easy out. The other clear corridor would run through CSX property. CSX is known to be a tough negotiator on any property deal.
This proposal is still in the preliminary stages and I expect there will be public meetings.
At one time these facilities received planning review, but no longer.
Once word gets out about this proposal, expect a fight.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Concrete & Glass

I went to the preserve over the weekend with a goal of culling some of the Ceasarweed, but got distracted with the work next to the fire lane near the First Avenue gate.
I ended up digging up a large amount of concrete debris as well as some carpet and other household trash and related debris.
I did pile up some Ceasarweed and found another batch of Corona beer bottles.
While I was tossing the bottles into the edge of the fire lane I was approached by one of the neighbors.
He told me the bottles were coming from weekend parties held by his neighbors.
Meanwhile, while I was excavating the debris I encountered another Eastern Glass
Snake Lizard, minus part of its tail tip, which will generate. It stayed for a few moments before disappearing into the surrounding habitat.