Just when you thought it was safe to quit looking for tires

I was raking to unearth some shallowly, I thought, buried trash near the First Avenue gate when I hit something large and hard. It was a tire (on a rim, of course) that was buried in the wind row. I hauled out two bags as well, one of which contained mostly recyclables. I'm recycling as much of the trash as I can.

1,000 hours!

I went to the Ridge Rangers appreciation event today at Bok Tower. I learned my hours altogether had topped 1,000. I know I've probably spent at least 700 hours at Lake Blue, but I do try to help at other places when I can. I got a new post-hole digger and a book for my trouble, which was pretty cool.

Where's the property line?

I ran into an anomaly this week when I was researching the property records for a growth map change request. I discovered that the property line and the fence line along the west side do not match. I'm talking about a 130-foot to 150-foot gap. I alerted FWC.

If you look closely in the northwest corner, you will see the property boundary and the location of the fire lane are seperated by a wooded area.

After thinking about it, I was wondering whether this portion of the fence line was done as a matter of convenience or whether there was just a miscommuncation somewhtre. The corner post where the fence line was supposed to go west is still there, 150 feet from the other corner. The adjacent property is owned by TECO.

I talked with FWC folks and found out that this happens from time to time. In the overall scheme of things it's not that big a deal. I guess the longer you stay here, the more you notice.

Some deferred cleanup work

I returned to the nothwest section of the north tract today to begin some serious trash cleanup and exotic removal. This place is not next to the key habitat areas, so it was a low priority in previous years. I dug a trench into the windrow, hoping nature and rain will uncover more than a lot of digging would do. We'll see.

I carried out two bags of roofing materials and some other stuff. I have a feeling this is only the beginning. This will be a really trahsy corner of the preserve, and I suspect I know why.

More Lygodium appears

I found a few Lygodium vines in the north tract today inside near an area where roofing material was dumped (I should say near ONE of the areas where roofing materials had been dumped). I quickly got a shovel and dug up the plants, bagged them and removed them. It was japonica, which seems to be most of what we get in this part of the county. The Lygodium was near some newly sprouted cogon grass, which had come up in the dirt clinging to the roots of a downed tree. As they say, any disturbed soil. It was removed, too.

This is only the second time I've found Lygodium here. I need to be more alert for it, I suppose.

Air potatoes and ground trash

We had a successful work day on Saturday. The air potato seed bank has been depleted. I also found a lot of trash and found clues for finding more in the windrows. I'll check it out later. No one's going to remove it for me.

In the p.m. I took my kayak over to the beach at the federal preserve on Lake McLeod and piled up quite a bit of stuff before the sun got too low.