Stewards of Kleinstuck

We had a nice turnout for the frog walk on Friday night withabout a dozen adults and 8-10 kids (they kept moving and were hard to count). Thanks Cari for helping me out with the laminated frog cards – they werea big hit.  The dry weather made the frogs a bit quiet and the peepers andchorus frogs didn’t start singing until dusk was underway at 9:00.  Nextyear let’s remember to do this a bit earlier to take advantage of it notbeing light so late.  Oh, and make it rain in the afternoon beforehand.

The flower walk was soggy and not well attended.  Just fourof us poking around looking at the plants.

After acknowledging our insanity, Paul joined Jeff and I inleading another fellow and a dad with three boys out to do some garlic mustardmop up in sections 5A & 5C.  Aside from a few spots of privet, those areasare looking pretty good.  Lots of bloodroot, trout lily, may apples, cutleaf toothwort,and a handful of spring beauties.  The transplants looked happy to have therain and the trillium have survived their first week in the Deer Salad Bowl(a.k.a. Kleinstuck Preserve).

-Nate

In section 6 B and 5 C , seven lumberjacks downed numerous Norway maples, while one wood nymph flitted about daubing. No pictures taken, no warm liquids to replenish us, Nate entertained us with about Paw Paw tree identification and natural history.

Special thanks to Nate's father, visiting from Illinois, who slaved along-side his son.

Liga

We were 9 volunteers, worked in Section 6 cutting trees and bushes. Two new volunteers: Dan Steffler and son Brendon!

Nate marked good trees with green paint andalso sprayed large trees to mark boundary at which we stop clearing soas not to aggravate neighbors who wish the have a buffer of woodsbehind their backyards.

Most everything that was cut was also daubed with herbicide.

We also had hot cider, thanks to Jack and Jacquelyn.

Liga

We were 13 - working Sokers this Sunday July 26th, 2009, that cleaned

out Section 5A with primary focus on Norway maples, Bittersweet,

Honeysuckle and Winged wahoo. The area was dramatically changed

from clearing out the thick understory. Nate marked all the native

trees with green paint (dogwoods, hawthorns) to protect them from our

aggresive onslaught. He hopes that next spring we will see them

flowering from the path. We also had a visitation from our youngest

SoK member Theo Fuller, as well as young worker from Latvia, Zane

Ramane.

After the work event, Paul held a short seminar about methods used to

control invasives, instructed us on herbicide use and toxicity

principles, and demonstrated how to make dabbers for herbicide

application. We made 2 dabbers from parts donated by DNR and Paul.

These have designated for SoK.

Liga

July 12th, 6 people worked to clear section 13 A,B of Bittersweetroots and new shoots.  13 A still a a large section of large roots wecould not penetrate. 

There were 8 of us today at SoK event. Gorgeous day, sunny and relatively warm. Even though we were a small group we were industrious and cleared most of the lower half of 2B. The last 2 piles of cut invasivess were placed next to the path for future pick up. See photo gallery for pictures from this work day and others during this winter.

SoK work event Sunday Jan 25.

15 adults worked for 1 1/2 hrs, East of Kazoo school path, section 2B cutting privet, honeysuckle, buckthorn (ad nauseum) trudging in the deep snow wishing for a fire to burn away these ugly invasives.

It was great to have some yongsters amongst us, Ava and Will Keller, who helped with bush dragging and hot chocolate drinking. Too much was left over, so we did not have enough drinkers. 

Special note:  Chris Bartley mentioned an article she is writing for the ""Seedlings"" about the importance of small strips of land such as yards and right of ways, connecting the numerous preserves and the benefit derived from each native plant connection.  In other word, every small strip or plot matters.

Soggy, melting snow and humid 40 degree weather was the scene for our Sunday workday.  The slopes were slippery and the privet stems were likewise, but fresh air, honest work, bright faces and a short lesson on Lativan History kept the afternoon more pleasure than work for the 5 of us who greeted the early winter day in Kleinstuck Preserve.

We met under heavy grey skies, a brisk wind and temperatures in the high 30s.  Not auspicious conditions and we thought (hoped!) that we'd have a "no-show" and get to go back to our warm houses.  But, as ever, the intrepid nature of our volunteers came through!  Twelve of us pulled privet on the hill behind the Kazoo school, working from the bottom, up the hill.  Our work was accompanied by icy sleet but warmed by the lilting of Latvian chatter, since Liga and Yanis pull many from the Latvian community in to Kleinstuck for workdays.  We can boast international members in our local organization!  Not bad for our first year!