We Finally Have Mud Showing; It's Millet Time

I don't know what I like most about this image from Nate: the expanding exposed mud, the hundred or-so egrets
happily feeding in the receding water, or the dragonfly that got caught flying away from the camera lens (click image to zoom)
-- today, I think I have to vote for the mud

Well, we reached two important milestones today: (1) we got to turn our air conditioning off in the house after what seemed like forever (I'm not a big fan of AC, but I have a low threshold for tropical humidity); and, (2) WE FINALLY GOT TO SHUT OFF THE DIESEL PUMP! That's right, the stars finally aligned. Because of truly tireless vigilance on the part of Roy . . . and Nate . . . & neighbors, as needed, the pumps kept running. And despite more than 6" of rain over an 18 day period, we finally brought water levels down enough to expose mud and aerially seed millet.

In truth, the millet won't be flown on till tomorrow or maybe even Sunday -- just because of scheduling conflicts with the pilot. And we may run the pumps (diesel and stationary electric) a bit more over the weekend, just for extra insurance. More thunderstorms are already on the horizon by the end of the weekend.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Libellula pulchella

But what we've pulled off thus far (literally, pulled off) is pretty amazing. I tracked rainfall and water levels very carefully since June 27th. This was the day that we could shift gears from about two months of effort on the neighboring marsh to our own water management. Even using conservative pumping rates (3,000-gal/min, average, combined between both pumps), we are looking at tens of millions of gallons of water moved from a ~140-acre area of our East Marsh in under three weeks. 

To put this volume in perspective, here's a visual. I was fortunate enough to grow up on a 10-acre lake/pond in south Toledo. While there are isolated areas of the pond that are 10-14' deep, most of the basin is more like 8' deep (excluding the side slopes to the bank). If we assume the basin averages 8' deep, which is probably about right, we just conveyed the equivalent of that entire pond, every last drop -- TWICE!

You may be able to sense the exuberance and relief I feel today. Why is this so important? How did two archaic pumps keep up with all this precipitation to set the stage for this? How do these management steps encourage natural processes? 

I go into decent detail in the recap of last year's efforts on a 40-acre unit on our West Marsh. But essentially, this allows for the introduction of a plant that can help reset the clock and re-calibrate a habitat. Because of decades (like 4-5 decades) of suffocating infestations of invasive plants, it will be a challenge. But the introduction of millet should help promptly create micro-habitats, provide a carbohydrate-rich food source, stabilize a water column, introduce a fresh layer of "clean" compost (once dead), and help introduce seeds of desirable aquatic plants (thanks to visitors on the wing) that will put these acres on a much more diverse and productive path moving forward.

This feels like the end of a chapter, and the beginning of another for much of the east side of the property. As with this entire project, time will tell how it is ultimately to be written.

SYRIAN BROWN BEAR -- Animal portraits © Joel Sartore

P.S. I participated in the first of two premiere showings of Rare last evening at Wildwood. My wife joined, and I couldn't agree more with her comment: This is not your typical nature show. It really raises awareness, and stirs a desire to do more for conservation.

We are doing another showing this Sunday afternoon at 2:00 at Wildwood Metropark. It's free and open to the public. See the post from earlier this week to learn more. I will also be participating again in a panel discussion on how to bring conservation to your own backyard. Whether you can make it Sunday or not, please check out the 3-part series on WGTE. You'll be glad you did.

Join Us at Wildwood! -- Collaboration with Public Television Continues

You've got to love YouTube . . . of hundreds of discrete images to choose from in a 4:00+ video segment, this is the one that is selected as a teaser to WGTE's recent production. I look like I've just gotten away with something, but in truth, this was just a candid interview through our UTV's rear view mirror. And it was just a small part of a very enjoyable evening we spent with the public television production crew back on June 15th.

As I explained then, the raw footage may serve a variety of functions. But for now, the several minute segment above will be one of three used to setup a speaking panel that I'll be a part of this Thursday and Sunday at Wildwood Metropark. It is all part of WGTE's premiere of Rare: Creatures of the Photo Ark. These are free events and are open to the public.

Here are some more details and a few of my favorite photos from this unique National Geographic project. Hope you can join us either Thursday night or Sunday afternoon!

DESCRIPTION:

Join WGTE for a special preview of the first episode of the three-part series Rare: Creatures of the Photo Ark, learn more from local experts about how you can create habitats to preserve and conserve our own endangered species, pick up a free packet of native plant seeds, win door prizes and more! Light refreshments will be provided.

Experts from the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Standing Rush, and Metroparks Toledo will be hand to share tips on creating habitats and answer your questions.

Rare is on the mission to save the world, one species at a time, through the lens of renowned National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore. Joel captures intimate portraits of some of the world's most fascinating endangered animals - building a connection between these animals and the people who can save them.

NILE CROCODILE -- Animal portraits © Joel Sartore

DATES/TIMES:

Thu, July 13, 2017
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
or
Sun, July 16, 2017
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

TANZANIAN PINK LEGGED MILLIPEDE -- Animal portraits © Joel Sartore

LOCATION:

Wildwood Park - Ward Pavilion
5100 W. Central Ave.
Toledo, OH 43615
Reservations (free)

PERSIAN LEOPARD -- Animal portraits © Joel Sartore

Rare: Creatures of the Photo Ark airs on WGTE HD July 18, July 25 and August 1 at 9 p.m.

Starting to Sound Like a Broken Record

Hard to figure out where to put the Standing Rush watermark on this image without covering up tools, pieces, and parts;
Roy is a miracle worker

A lot can happen in a few short days -- much less a few long, summer days. Roy returned from a week of vacation late last Thursday night to two pumps running, water levels continuing to drop, and a dry weekend forecast. The stars were finally seeming to align for our second round of millet seeding early this week.

But when he checked on the diesel pump early Friday morning, the motor was running but that was about it. We had thrown a main bearing sometime overnight and the results weren't pretty. Five broken belts lay strewn on the ground, and as a result, there was no water to be found running through the discharge pipe.

Roy and Nate spent all day and some of their evening on Friday taking things apart and tracking down parts. While some good luck and a few well-placed favors got us very close, they couldn't get things going before nightfall. The only good news was (1) that they were very close, and (2) that they had successfully opened a pipe on the other side of the East Marsh that had been stuck (closed) since we took over the property. This newly opened conduit allowed for a much more consistent feed of water to our electric pump, so at least we continued to head in the right direction -- albeit with one pump instead of two.

Amazingly, Roy had the diesel going again by mid-morning on Saturday, and it's still going strong as of today. Unfortunately, so is the rain. After an absolutely picture-perfect weekend of dry, sunny weather, we have had near-constant rain since before sunrise this morning. A large cell of "torrential" rains just passed, with some areas receiving rain at a rate of more than 3" per hour. That's an absolute deluge! It looks like the rain is going to be with us for at least another few hours, so we'll just have to see how it all plays out.

As of this morning, Roy was finally seeing the mudflats we have been working toward for weeks (months). The plan as of 9:00 am was to call for the plane to fly in the millet tomorrow morning. With more than 1" on the ground thus far (according to the electronic rain gauge), I have my doubts . . .

(P.S. Truth be told, we expected this bearing to go out long ago. Roy thought it might only last a couple hours once we got the motor running for the first time. It lasted for a couple weeks. This will be another expensive setback, it time and in dollars. But such is life when operating equipment that has sat idle for years. We just have to keep pressing on.)