More Than Lock Missing At Gate

Yesterday's discovery of tire ruts and an open gate at the end of First Avenue was the result of hasty inventory. My truck was parked on the other side of the preserve and a thunderstorm was bearing down on me.
It was sunny this afternoon and I went out to take another look.
Someone had also removed the small FWC boundary sign from the gate post.
I took a few photos and nailed a replacement sign to a gate post at the entrance.
This is the first problem I've had with the neighbors on this side other than beer bottles over the fence in awhile.
This incident may merit more attention.

Lake Blue Makes Nature Fest

I was pleased today to be invited to give a tour of Lake Blue as part of next fall's Polk County Nature Fest.
I'll have to do some planning to make this worthwhile.
This place is still relatively unknown to most people even though it's an island of preservation in a sea of development.
It's still mapped for industrial park on the county growth map. Go figure. State didn't want to change it when I asked a few years ago.
Anyway, some of the rare plants will be blooming still in early October, which should be cool for photogs. The lupines will not be among them, unfortunately.
The big educational opportunity will be to talk about the management challenges here, between vandalism and smoke management.
It should be fun.
Hope someone shows up.

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Fence vandalism continues

I stopped by yesterday afternoon to do a quck check on things.

The lumber brought in for the "fort" had been removed.

Some of the fence repairs I had made last week had been undone. The top barbed wire strand had been cut and the hog wire wsa bent over to allow access. I'm out of barbed wire, but still have some of the other fence available.I may use it.

Some kids stopped by to say the guy across the street was responsible, but I haven't seen anyone personally.

Fence cuts and firewood

Things have gotten strange again.

I talked to a kid who wanted some wood for a back yard fire. so I said OK. That was yesterday, But today when I checked back I discovered there had been some wholesale wood removal next to the northern fire lane and there was fence damage from people climbing the fence at another location across a vacant lot where some other problems had occurred.

This may require some law enforcement intervention is this continues.

On the plus side, the wood gathering did reveal some trash piles. I removed three bags of trash and some other debris.

Also, yesterday I found some 4x4s that some of the neighborhood kids had brought in to make a fort. I told one of the other kids that this was not allowed,

I'll need to keep an eye on things.

An old fence cut again

During a check this afternoon and a search for some trash, I found the fence had been cut in the back area near the TECO substation. This section hadn't been cut in a couple of years. I can't figure out the purpose other than simple vandalism.
I did find an electric meter wrapped in an old towlel near the fencel cut. I made a partial fix. I'll come back with extra wire to finish the job.
The biggest trash today was an old car engine head.

No holiday from fence repairs

I stopped by Christmas afternoon to check 0n things and discovered another fence cut had occurred.

It was in back of the vacant lot where the old woman had lived. This time instead of cutting the bottom strands of the barbed wire and the new fence, they cut the top half.

I went out this morning and did a quick fix. I'm beginning to wonder about the wisdom of the double fencing from a maintenance standpoint.It doesn't appear to have kept the dogs out, either.

The older lupine planting appeared to be OK.

I hauled out another bag or so of trash from inside the preserve and the right of way along Hobbs Road. It was starting to look trashy.

New fence, new cut

I had been wondering how long it would be before someone would cut the new double fence around the north tract.

I discovered the cut today behind a lot where someone had been demolishing an old mobile home, which is the dominant housing type on the north boundary.
I'm not sure what the purpose was other than to let dogs in, judging by the partial cut of barbed wire and new fence, which somewhat resembles hogwire.
Anyway, fixed the cut with a couple of fence posts, some fence staples and some concrete debris.

I discovered the fence during a periodic check for litter popping up form the sand. On the way out from the fence repair, I stumbled onto a new subterranean pile. The only clue was a piece of extension cord. I don't know how much of a pile there is. It was getting dark and I left after excavating part of it, but it may be extensive.
I'll know more tomorrow.

Fence problems chronic

I stopped by Friday afternoon and noticed the neighbors had torn through the fence behind the vacant house again.

This is the third time since the holidays this has occurred. I'd define that as chronic.

I also found a somewhat concealed fence cut, which was new, a couple of houses to the east by a cherry laurel tree.

FWC is talking about improving the fence line and possibly even posting the property for public access because of the problems. It may come to that.

Lupine meeting tomorrow

I'm going to sit in on a meeting to get an update on the lupine experiment. The Lake Blue site has been a problem because of the vandalism, which has gone away for now.

I check the planting area yesterday and everything looked good. The flags have been returned.

I like to think my contacts with the neighbors and law enforcement visit helped to cool things down.

Work day Saturday--yahoo!

There's a work day Saturday for Ridge Rangers. I expect a big crowd because there is a group of volunteers that have been enticed with Disney tickets.

I've marked some trails to improve, add or maintain. There's trash to clean up along the expanded fire lane and a pile of roofing materials in the back along one of the trails.

The rain chance has declined. It may be windy. We'll manage.

I haven't had much further vandalism, though a couple of tires have appeared across the fence from Levy's houses and a trash container was tossed into the lupine patch.

The turnout Saturday may send a message.

I learned today that Mike has left and Nicole's in charge for now. Lots of turnover at FWC. Nothing new there.

Tire swing, more vandalism

I stopped by this morning and noticed a tire swing had been put up across from the lupine patch.

The fence to the north had been knocked down again.

The area around the tire swing had been "decorated" with all kinds of debris someone had found or brought in. The swing I had brought in to serve as a bench had been badly damaged. Later in the day I discovered another old bench had been damaged. I removed both.

I also removed a lot of the "decorations"

I fixed the fence where it had been knocked over and added another post there and at another spot where someone had come in.

I talked to some of the children who were using the tire swing and they said the vandalism had been done by someone named Joey.

This afternoon I noticed some of the fence posts had been loosened since this morning. I attribute that perhaps to one of the kids, who appears to be hyperactive and likes to grab things or beat on things.

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A lone moth

Saturday was the only the second day since early January when the temperatures were moderate enough to be enjoyable to be outside.

Yesterday I marked some areas for trail development. Today I picked up a wheelbarrow load of trash from the north fire lane. I also picked up some intelligence. It seems Levi did cut the fence behind his house t get some woods, according to one of the neighbors.

I saw a moth today. That's remarkable because I haven't seen any moths or butterflies anywhere around here since Jan. 2 and I suspect it may be a while before anything emerges. Any adults that were flying a couple of weeks ago are likely dead.

I've got a work day coming in two weeks. Should be able to get a lot of work done.

More vandalism, vandals' hangout

I found a place where the vandals appear to have been hanging out nearby in the edge, which was conveniently across the way from where some the fence had been cut.

There was a cache of pilfered flags, one dead uprooted lupine and other stuff from who knows where.

I don't get it.

I spent part of New Year's Day fixing the fence. The fence cuts were through a yard at a house that had been vacant for five years, according to a neighbor and at the house where the kids with the four-wheelers and a pickup live.

There was also some vandalism of the old swing I brought in, complete with teen graffiti (someone loves someone).

Trouble at the lupine patch

When I stopped by this morning I saw that some more vandalism had occurred around the Scrub Lupine planting. Signs had been uprooted. One of the cages for seedlings had been overturned. At least one surviving lupine had been uprooted and thrown on the ground. Some of the containers had been uprooted, though all contained either dead plants or no plants.

I checked around and saw one set of shoeprints. Judging by the size, it was a young person. Some of the flags had been moved again to mark the path from the woods into the northern fire lane and to wherever they came from along First Avenue.

I'm increasingly convinced that some kind of electronic surveillance is the only solution. I think it's justified because 0f the importance of the project and the amount of time and money that has been involved. This kind of activity cannotbe allowed to continue.

Enough is enough.

A morning of fence repairs

I spent all of Saturday morning and into early afternoon repairing the fence cuts in the south tract and trimming the vegetation that was lying on the fence, so now the fence line is clear.

I put some brush and other debris in the way of access to some of the fence cut locations, though it's hard to say how successful that will be. There are other spots.

Of course I found more trash. I also found a yellow jacket nest underground in one of the windrows and marked it with a yellow flag on a stick. It just occurred that it could be better marked.

I'm heading to the north tract today to check on things.

The folks from Bok have been discouraged by the petty vandalism that has occurred around the lupine plot. I talked to Ryan Kordek, my counterpart at Lake McLeod. He said what worked for him was a visit by a law enforcement officer, who went around the neighborhood knocking on doors and educating people.

Persuasion has to enter into this somehow.

Mischief among the lupines

I stopped by the lupine plot today and discovered that the flags had been used to decorate the trail and a couple of side trails through the woods to the north fire lane.

I also discovered the rain gauge had been stolen.

I suspect it's the inbred neighbor kids, but who knows.

Maybe we need to get some cops involved and get someone's attention.

Fence on south side seems to be intact, per a drive-by this morning.

Fence cut and cut again

I went around the south tract late this afternoon to check to see what additional trash had been turned up by the reclearing of the fire lane and to make sure the hog tracks were no longer in evidence.

I found some trash, no hog tracks (just dogs and opposums), but it wasn't all good.

The fence had been cut in two places by the employment business office on the north side of the tract.

I found some spare barbed wire and halfway fixed one of the breaks, but the other one will require returning with more wire when I have more daylight to deal with it. (It was near dusk when I discovered the breaks).

I'll probably bring some more fence posts in to shore up the fence line. If no further problems develop, I'll let it go. If not, I or someone needs to have a talk with the neighbors.

An open gate

I checked the First Avenue gate for the first time in a while and noticed it was open and the chain and lock were gone. It appeared to be vandalism because no one had come in to ride an ATV or the dump trash, as far as I can tell.

I explored part of the perimeter to make sure.

There was a bonus. I found some more old trash and hauled some of it out. There were to iron posts and some sheet roofing.

I 've started to ferry to broken concrete to the main entrance to line the driveway some more. I may as well make some of the trash earn its keep.

A cut lock, a stuck vehicle

I noticed today that someone had stolen the lock and chain from the southwest gate in the south tract and had opened the gate and tried to drive in.

Judging from the evidence, it doesn't look as though they got very far. There were too deep ruts in the sane just inside the gate and a concrete block and a metal pipe that may have been used to get the vehicle unstuck.

I'll dig around for the chain.

The Lupine Thief

This isn't exactly material for Susan Orlean, but today when we went out to plant the next batch of McFarlin's lupine, we noticed to our horror that someone had dug up some of the plants and taken the identification tags as well.

I don't know whether we'll figure this one out, but it will certainly cause a little more surveillance of this place. Maybe we'll install a webcam.