Lupine Seedling Count Increases Slightly

 I continued the survey of what should be near the end of seedling emergence.

The total as of today was:

First planting area:  85 seedlings.

Second planting area: 12 seedlings.

Third planting area: 4 seedlings.

Today I found one new seedling in each planting area.

As expected, several of the seedlings have died already,

I will follow up at the end of the dry season to check on the survival rate.

I also checked the fence line on the south tract. There is still a cherry laurel blocking the fire lane.

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Lupines Begin To Bloom

 

While I was checking for and finding additional seedlings at the preserve today, I walked by the only mature plant near the first planting area and noticed it was beginning to bloom.

I did not check the plants in the third planting area, but assume they will begin blooming soon.

I left some extra flags to use in the next survey.

After I left that area. I went out to check the north fence line,

I noticed one of the neighbors had a hog pen, complete with hog.

I noticed some hog damage in the fire land nearby, but for now the animal appeared to be securely confined. 

 

FWC Meeting Today Was Encouraging

 I had a cordial meeting today with some FWC staff folks to discuss management issues affecting the Scrub Lupine restoration project.

The takeaways I got was that they would no longer send equipment down the path next the first planting area, would agree to conduct some temporary trimming to reduce the canopy overgrowth in some of the planting areas and will plan a more extensive removal and herbiciding of overgrowth within the next year as the budget allows.

They also said they would like to burn the site again and asked how that would affect the lupines. I referred them to Cheryl Peterson at Bok Jack Stout at UCF, who are much better informed than I am.  

I also briefly mentioned the trash pile near the southwest gate and tree fall along the fence lines.

I also reported recent hog damage and told them that there was probably a lot of background info they might find useful on the site's chronology on this blog.

Hog Damage Is More Extensive

 

While I was out checking trails today, I found a patch of extensive hog rooting along a section of the western fire lane.

The mystery is how the animals are getting in since the new fencing installed a few years ago seems to be a better barrier than strands of barbed wire.

In addition to this, in fire lanes in the scrub areas. there are a lot small excavations that look like maybe exploratory though whether hogs or some other animal is responsible is a mystery. I have never seen anything like it.

One more thing to discuss at next week's meeting with FWC folks.

   

Tree Fall On The Fenceline

 I was out looking for butterflies today when I noticed what appeared to be a Cherry Laurel tree had fallen onto the fence from adjoining property into the northern fire lane.

I plan to go out in the near future and deal with it.

I also noticed today that the Cogongrass infestation at the southeast corner of the north tract has grown. It has never been treated to my knowledge even though other infestations have.

As I was passing the original Scrub Lupine planting area, I noticed a plant that appeared to be about a year old just west of an area that had been roped off to protect a mature plant from overmanagement  by contractors.

It was not flagged but it is hard to believe it was overlooked in the annual survey.

The number of Scrub Liatris along the north-south path seem to be increasing slightly.

Industrial Expansion, Destroyed Fenceline and More

 A small piece of scrub north of the south tract's fence line has dramatically changed recently.

About 100 feet of fence has been heavily damaged as a result of the upturned scrub habitat that's in clear view toward the industrial plant on the other side of the rail spur that serves the property.

The owner is KSW LLC, a corporation registered  in Tampa, but based in Michigan, according to public records.

The most obvious question , which will be up to regulatory officials to answer, is whether there was any attempt to monitor the site for Sand Skinks, a federally protected species. before work began.

This is based on surveys on the site that revealed their presence on our side of the former fence line.

Meanwhile, the lock on a nearby gate was cut. FWC officials  have been notified.

   

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.

Fixing a fence becomes harder

I'm not sure what the thinking was behind the fencing here, but it plays havoc with repairs.

The hog wire or whatever it is they nailed in front of the barbed wire makes it hard to get the barbed wire, which was already hard to get at because it was nailed on the outside, which is in dense growth or private property.

It had been cut for awhile because grass had grown around some of the cut barbed wire. Some had thrown a fire and some beer bottles over the fence near the cut. I gave them back.

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.

Finally, some rain

The December cold fronts were fairly dry. The first front in January dropped 0.8 of an inch, which was welcome because it may aid the germination of seeds put out last year from the first lupine bloom.

The planted areas appear to be in good shape. I checked one of the volunteer lupine sites where the larger plants are located. Both now appear to be in decline. I've seen that with the L. diffusus in the southeast corner, but the cycle seems to be that they come up and either bloom or don't and die, but eventually resprout. That may be the case here.

I checked the fences. They're mostly intact, though bent from being climbed over, it seems. I'm still not sure whether the new fencing solved a problem or created a problem.

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.

Checking the south fence

I visited the neglected south tract this afternoon and found an ear tree had fallen on the fence. There was no other damage. I fixed it by removing the tree and renailing one piece of fence that was down.

In the open areas on the northeast corner, Paronychea was common. This area remains open for some reason, which is good, because it's the only place in the fire lane where I've seen Polygonella basiramia.

There were a few beer b0ttles and cans near the employment office.

The dominant plant in the fire lane appears to be ragweed, though there is Natal grass on the edges and sand spurs, partridge pea and various grasses.

Signs of summer's approach

I walked through the landscape this afternoon.

Ceraunus blue butterflies are finally emerging. A Gulf fritillary was nectaring on the remains of the Nolina blossoms. Yucca is in full bloom, but the recent weather knocked over some of the plants with the tallest flower stalks. I also saw Common buckeye, Barred yellow and possible a Cassius blue.

Asclepias tuberosa and feayi are blooming. Very little Natal grass is blooming except in the fire lanes so far. All of the freeze killed grass is still brown.

The burn piles on the west side are still unburned.

The new hog wire fence has been installed.

Fence fixed, entrance altered

When I stopped by this afternoon after the Ridge Ranger gathering, I found that the fence contractors had been working today.

The fence cuts had been fixed.

The old walk-through entrances had been closed and a new ones created diagonally across from each other at the southeast and northwest corners of the tracts, though the northwest gate on the south tract is still dummy locked. Not really a problem, there's nowhere to go there except the fire lane anyway.

I did notice the walk-through entrance was rather inviting to dirt bikes, though, being in an area where they regularly ride. I brought the no vehicle sign down from the main gate and sunk another post in the middle to discourage them. We'll see what happens.

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.

Fixing the gates

I'm proposing to redesign the walk-through gates if I can get the OK.
It would reduce the chance that people can come in with dirt bikes.

The idea is a V-shaped wooden entrance similar to the EL walk-throughs. It should be simple to install with a couple of volunteers, once we have the design and the materials. It's too easy to get in now.

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.

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.

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.