Hogs still present

The two hogs that took up residence in the south tract a couple of months ago are still there. I saw one in the fire lane the other day.

They seem to like to rest in the wooded area along the right of way of Avenue Q, but will run into the woods if startled, which doesn't take much.

I haven't been inside to check lately on the amount of damage they've done. At least for now there aren't any more.

Trash pickup progressing

I think I'm actually making some headway cleaning up the trash along the widened fire land along the residential neighborhood in the north parcel.

I've picked up about 10 bags of trash and recyclables as well as a few wheelbarrow loads of scrap over the past couple of weeks.

Eventually, it will be under control, just as the other piles became. It just takes time and patience.

Is it time to expand?

I've been thinking about connections and corridors. I mean more places for lupines, more places for newly discovered potential endangered species. That kind of thing.

What I envision is a corridor of sorts from the two tracts, a kind of L-shaped affair. There are two tracts of land involved. One is privately owned. The other is owned by Winter Haven, but has a CSX easement on it, though that may not matter if there's no railroad line to expand (they ought to spend their money on fixing the Hobbs Road crossing,; it's the one of worst in Polk County).

This will not be cheap, but there isn't much intact scrub left on the Winter Haven Ridge. Maybe they should take anolher look at the Lake Fannie property and maybe they should look at the property on both sides of the tracks in south Winter Haven east of Pollard Road.

Maybe they should look on the south end of Gerber Dairy Road.

Time is running out. The recession will be over some day and the property will be bulldozed forever.

Blue for another reason

I had been seeing quite a few Ceraunus Blue butterflies and wondered what I might encounter if I put some effort into it.
Late this afternoon I tallied 103 Ceraunus Blue (and 1 Cassisus Blue). Amazing. It is Lake Blue.

Looking for white sand

I began clearing the gyrochopping debris from the open areas when I could find them.
The fact is that without digging up some trees, the open areas will remain small because of normal plant succession/regeneration. A more radical approach may eventually be necessary. Perhaps the best time to do it is while the trees are small and the western burn piles are still unburned.
Work stopped while I paused to collect a rather large (55 mm) beetle that came walking into one of the cleared areas. It's a Cerambycid of some sort, I was told. It's in the freezer.

Checking out rain's effects

The one fear I've had about the unseasonable rain was the growth spurt of exotics. I wasn't paranoid. I found quite a bit of Natal grass scattered around the preserve. However, I also encountered a spray crew that was dosing the fire lane to suppress emergent vegetation (Read Cogon grass, Natal grass, Guinea grass, Ceasar weed) exactly as promised by FWC.

Hope it works.

While I was there I also checked out the landscape for the clear patches project. which will involve raking up the gyrochopping debris to provide clear spaces for desirable plants to take root.

It seems I need two things. Enough open spaces where oaks haven't already moved back in and a place to pile the stuff I rake up. It has occured to me the idea dump site might be a punch of oaks.

Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain

The relentless rain that arrived shortly after the McFarlin's lupine planting was just what the plants needed, I guess. The Bok folks seemed to think the moisture was good. I guess once the sun comes out again, perhaps this weekend, there be a respite.

I guess I'm wondering if the rain will give the exotics a head start, too. I need to check soon to find out.

A control program is planned. The only question is whether it will occur in time to provide any effective control.