A New Lupine Season, Slowly

 

I went out this afternoon for the first survey of 2024 for Scrub Lupine seedlings.

So far, only about half a dozen seedlings have emerged, mostly in the second planting area and generally on the periphery.

I have removed all of the old flags from previous years so there is no confusion about the current distribution. The numbered disks remain in the ground.

The most recent planting area, which still contains some adult plants that may produce more seeds this spring,  was notable by the absence so far of seedlings, The area is extremely overgrown, shaded and covered with leaf litter, the last of which is the only issue over I have any control at the moment.

The ground is more intensively covered with spike moss than it was when the original plantings occurred.  I am not sure how that affects seedling emergence.

Meanwhile, data submitted to iNaturalist indicates there has been a proposed split among Florida lupine species that includes the determination that Lupinus aridorum is now considered a separate species and not a subspecies of L. westianus, which is found in the Florida Panhandle and adjacent areas of the Southeast.

I have not seen a paper redescribing the species and do not know whether the change is being accepted.

 

Old Milwaukee Old Trash

 

While I was wondering through the southern tract earlier this week in a fruitless search for the emergence of Ghost Pipes, I found something else.

\It was a faded aluminum beer can that bore the Old Milwaukee logo.

I find odd single cans like that occasionally.

I also found the head of doll. I have no idea of its origin or provenance.

Later on, I discovered someone had cut the fence on the northern boundary where land has been cleared but never developed a year or so ago.

I came out later to repair the fence and to put the FWC boundary sign on the right side of  the fence and picked some additional trash.

I will check again on the Ghost Pipes later. A wet winter is predicted and that seems to bring them out.

 

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.

   

Fall Discovery, Hogs & Orchids

 I was walking the trails today to discover traces of litter such as pieces of broken glass, metal and plastic from the site's heritage as a dump site.

I  also found some abandoned shell  casings from earlier hunting expeditions and fresher evidence of the need for a hunt.

Most of it was in the small bayhead in the southwest corner of the north tract.

There was obvious hog damage among the Cinnamon Ferns.

But there was more. The orchids are beginning to emerge and  I found a previously undiscovered  fruiting Dahoon Holly after all of  these years here. 

It was a successful expedition.

 

What We Got Heah Is A Failure To Coordinate

 

As I drove by the preserve this week, I noticed something disturbing,

The path around the endangered Scrub Lupine planting area had been disced. (see  Lupine  in taped area at right).

Some of the stakes at the boundary marking the plants had been ground up, but that wasn't the main concern.

One plant next to  this operation had bloomed this year. The seed pods had opened to disperse seeds onto the surrounding ground, The concern, which not be evident until next winter when a new crop of seedlings emerge, is whether this mechanical onslaught resulted in seeds buried so deep into the earth that they will never germinate.

I had discussed this issue with FWC staff and thought I had some understanding of efforts to keep vehicles out of that section of the preserve. 

For whatever reason things didn't work out that way. I put up signs to try to steer vehicles away from this area. The signs were ignored and removed.

Meanwhile, I was supposed to meet with FWC  staff this week to discuss management issues. The guy I was supposed to meet with bailed at the last minute and rescheduled for early June. 

If that meeting occurs, maybe I can make some inroads.in improving the situation out there.

Coordination to protect the lupine plant5ing areas would be at the top of my list, but there are other issues, such as dealing with the tree along  the north fence line and removing a pile of trash that has been sitting by one of the gates for a couple years.

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A Brutal Spring For Lupines

 The hot and dry weather the area has experienced in recent months has taken a toll on the  handful of Scrub Lupine seedlings that emerged this year.

None of the seedlings in the first and third planting areas survived. A few in the second planting area are still hanging on, though they are in more favorable areas with less leaf litter and canopy to affect their growth.

I am trying to get with the FWC folks to discuss improvement management with a view toward next year when what looks like a good crop of seeds has a chance to germinate.

Some areas have some leaf litter and the issue is how to remove/reduce the leaf litter without inadvertently distrurbing the seed bank.

Meanwhile, someone has put out 18 Sand Skink cover boards along the eastern fire lane in the north tract.

I put out between 60 and 70 boards between 2005 and 2007 and verified at the time that Lake Blue Scrub had a pretty healthy population.