480,000 gallons/day Still Not Enough

The tiny blooms of the common bladderwort (Utricularia macrorhiza) may be the size of your pinkie nail,
but they still proved to be a bright spot in an otherwise sobering few days in the marsh

While I signed off earlier in the week with high hopes of large expanses of newly sown millet in our East Marsh, the last couple days have demonstrated how challenging it is to take feet of water off hundreds of acres -- especially when it has to happen fast. This is been an ongoing saga all spring, but now we are truly running out of time (millet needs 60 days to fully mature). Despite the fact that both of our pumps devoted to the east side continue to move water 24 hours per day (at an estimated 480,000 gallons per hour), we just didn't get enough water off our eastern-most unit to give the pilots the green light to come broadcast more seed.

A view of newly exposed mud in our eastern-most unit (the 100-acre "Dinky Track") as of Wednesday afternoon;
while there is a lot more "dry" ground compared to just a few days prior, there is still a good amount of area (80 acres+)
with 4-12" of water remaining

Constant monitoring this week has lead to the conclusion that we have to continue to pump through the holiday weekend -- maybe not through the 4th (next Tuesday), but close. At this point, it all comes down to pumps continuing to run and major thunderstorms continuing to miss the marsh. We got about 0.4" of rain overnight last night. At this point, no rain is best, but we were still able to drop another 4" or so in the last 24 hours. We just have to pray that daytime heat doesn't build to the point that a 2-3" rain falls directly on the site.

I have to admit that it is hard to keep my morale up under these situations. We know that the millet seeding would (will) make for some major improvements if we can get it sown and growing, but we are already thousands of dollars into a contingency budget labeled as the "unexpected," and each day of pumping costs hundreds of dollars more. This is yet another lesson in patience.

P.S. The bladderwort photographed on the top of the page is totally worth its own post. The submerged macrophyte (mostly underwater plant) is carnivorous . . . think Venus flytrap . . . but it does its dirty work under the surface of the water. I will collect more photos next week and provide more detail soon.

Happy 4th of July!

Formal Photodocumentation

What's cooler than capturing this level of detail of a white water lily in bloom from 25 yards?
Realizing after the fact that a fly had a much closer view!

I spent much of the day today tackling a task that I've said I would do for over two years now: I established "permanent" photo locations via 4' oak stakes strategically placed in nineteen locations around the East Marsh. I then labeled each according to a newly created reference map and took a series of photos from each location. The ~55 photos will be printed and assembled in a 3-ring binder for reference so that photos from the exact same location and vantage point can be collected on a regular (e.g. monthly basis). Tomorrow, I will turn my attention to the West Marsh.

We have been informally following this procedure since day one. But the advantage of a more rigid system like this is that we really can visually depict landscape-scale changes through time -- both in the short-term (month-to-month) and over multiple years.

A neighboring lily from a different perspective;
note the detail in the reflection that somehow can't even
be seen in the bloom itself

The photos I took today can largely serve as the baseline for the "before" photos on the East Marsh. While there are certainly areas that have changed dramatically since we took possession of the property in early 2015 (e.g. the Tower Woods and the recently drawn-down Central Unit), much of the east side of the property has been comparably hands-off until now. Our efforts during the 2016 field season were focused largely on the West Marsh. But with Pumpzilla (our recently acquired diesel pump) tagteaming with our stationary pump for more than a week now, water levels are hitting critical new lows, and we should hopefully be able to start a new chapter of active management by the end of this week.

If everything keeps pumping for another 24-36 hours and the weather cooperates (two big "ifs"), we should achieve our primary objective of introducing Japanese millet to as much as 80 acres of newly exposed mudflat. We have 30 complete (Central Unit) and if all the stars stay aligned, we'll have 50 more flown in on Thursday morning.

While Nate and Roy continued to tend to the pumps, I not only established our photodocumentation methodology, I also took the liberty to take in the wildlife. Here's a sampling of what I saw -- through the camera, at least.

Ducklings, like these 2-3 week-old wood ducks, are a fairly common site, but they are skittish and quick,
typically making them difficult to photograph

This critter -- the double-crested cormorant -- probably deserves its own post. But for now, I'll just include it visually. While extremely common in the region and around the marsh, these water birds have also proven to be pretty camera shy. I was pleased to be able to capture this adult (left) and juvenile (right) preening on two clumps of dead loosestrife.

By contrast, this muskrat was uncharacteristically happy to pose for me in the afternoon sunshine;
he almost looked sheepish though, like he knew I didn't approve of him eating so close to the dike

This mature baldy was keeping a pretty watchful eye on me from a dead willow that almost always seems to serve as a perch for eagles;
he did let me get surprisingly close and even capture some cool video of his feathers dancing in the breeze