March 2021: Thawing Out (Fast)

As abruptly as "real winter" came, it went. We went from 6-8" of solid ice on Sandusky Bay in late February (with some starting to venture out onto the hardwater of the big lake) to completely open water in a matter of a week. All 31 days of the month held highs above freezing and temps soared into the 70s on a couple occasions. 

Nate's research has transitioned from trapping/tagging northern pike (2020) to tracking them (2021) using a portable receiver and multiple receivers scattered throughout the nearshore waters of the Western Basin. 

We are fortunate to have helped secure funding for three submerged tag receivers at Standing Rush (thank you, Office of Coastal Management!): one in the estuary (behind Nate in the image above), one in our Rest Pond (just on the marsh side of Structure 1), and one in our main West Marsh ("upstream" of Structure 2). These devices were deployed ahead of active spawning (late February) and will monitor and record any pike that swims by with an implanted tag. Each tag is fish-specific, so Nate will be able to see who swam by, when, and how often. 

This data will not be available until he retrieves the receivers in May, but his handheld unit gives him a glimpse into what may be going on beneath the surface of the water. It was a thrilling day in March when he detected a very large, tagged female that had made her way through Structure 1 and into the Rest Pond. Based on her movements, it was highly probable that she was spawning -- a practical victory that helps to justify all our efforts to get this new and improved water control structure installed.

It will be very interesting to see the balance of Nate's data and to continue to watch his research evolve. The plan is to deploy the receivers again next year, at least, so we will be able to continue to watch how northern pike are utilizing Standing Rush in the spring.

The spring thaw couldn't be all fun (chasing fish); but my hunch is Roy gets some annual satisfaction out of our selective prescribed burns -- nothing like watching a mass of invasive species disappear before your very eyes. (NOTE: We are very proactive with our local fire departments. They are always informed before we plan to burn, and they are generally very supportive of our efforts.)

A decent "before" (right) and "after" (left) showing the instant impact of burning the narrow ribbons of Phragmites that grow along many of our dikes. Again, we do this selectively, mainly to assess the condition of the dike slope and to improve visibility within and across management units.

Burning Phrag looks dramatic, but it tends to burn itself out fast, particularly when there is only one year's worth of "fuel" (dead stalks and stems). The key is picking the day when the humidity, ground moisture, and wind are all right. Clearly, this is not to be attempted without training and experience.

Aerial Spraying: A Critical Tool in Our Toolbox

A "bluebird sky" and next to no wind made for pretty much ideal spraying conditions

Earlier this week Standing Rush was visited by the single most important tool in our fight against Phragmites australis: a specialized helicopter equipped to mist low concentrations of herbicide onto dense stands of the noxious, invasive plant. In less than an hour we were able to effectively treat more than 90 acres of Phragmites monoculture. Because the reed grows so aggressively ("mono" = one; "culture" = plant), we can efficiently target the "bad" (invasive species) with minimal collateral damage to the "good" (desirable native plants).

Unless framed by a dark background (e.g., trees above), it is often very hard to even see the herbicide as it is being applied

Lots of research has gone into what and when to spray for maximum efficacy. A generic cocktail of Rodeo® herbicide (a commonly utilized glyphosphate used in aquatic settings) and water is applied at a 5% solution. While this mix could be considered relatively "hot" (concentrated), the combination of the misting applicator and the circulation of the helicopter blades allows for effective treatment at surprisingly low total volumes. 

Late summer/early fall spraying has proven to be the most effective time of year when targeting Phragmites. There are a couple key benefits to this timing:
(1) the target plants are actively pulling moisture from their above-ground stems and leaves in preparation for winter dormancy (thereby effectively transporting the herbicide throughout the plant and roots), and
(2) if sprayed late enough in the season (as we hope to have this year) any desirable, native vegetation -- on the fringes of spray zones or when less frequently interspersed within the Phrag -- can either be given time to drop viable seed (for future colonization) or be spared completely (due to earlier dormancy).

Most of the work on our end ties back to preparation for spraying day. While we weren't able to fully implement our drone reconnaissance this year, we did manage to establish detailed maps for the pilot to direct both he and his aircraft to the specific areas we wanted sprayed. We ended up reviewing last year's aerial imagery and then ground-truthed and refined our guestimates to establish several dozen discrete "polygons" -- or shapes formed by actual GPS coordinates. By downloading the shape files, the pilot can then let his instrumentation dictate when and where to spray. And all we have to do is sit back and watch!

More Phragmites can get sprayed in this ~30 second video (and often with better accuracy) 

than we could possibly hope to accomplish in an entire day spraying from the ground

Special thanks to a collaboration between the USFWS, the Ohio Division of Wildlife, and Winous Point Marsh Conservancy for allowing this important work to get accomplished. Standing Rush was one of just a handful of properties selected for spraying through the program this year. Not only did we benefit from cost-sharing to defray management costs, the spraying also helped to set the stage for a healthier vegetative community next season and for years to come.

A Different Type of "Quad" (This Ain't No MULE!)

Pause the video above a few times as the drone gains elevation (particularly between 0:07 and 0:37). The color contrast in the vegetation below is not only neat to see, it's valuable from a management perspective.

Since very early on in this restoration project, I saw the value of a bird's eye perspective on the marsh. All the way back in July 2015 -- just after taking possession of the property -- a friend and neighbor of one of my brothers (who happens to be a professional videographer and drone enthusiast) offered to come "fly the property." The fifty or so photos and couple dozen short videos that we captured that calm Saturday morning were eye-popping then . . . and have been unbelievably useful ever since.

The raw footage above is one of my favorites. I particularly love the ~30 seconds of footage that starts at or about 0:07. Not only is the marsh incredibly beautiful when looking straight down starting from about 25-feet, the story that unfolds is extremely useful from a technical perspective. If you pause the video at 0:10, you start to see why I get so excited.

Bryan Ellis of TPS getting acclimated on our main West dike
(pun very much intended) with the school's drone --
equipped with a thermal imaging camera

The individual sprig of mint green among the sea of dark green is a hint. (Sorry, I'm a guy, so my color palette is a bit more limited than an Eddie Bauer catalog. I digress . . .)

As the drone gains elevation and the color contrast becomes more apparent, a trained eye can not only easily differentiate the color, it can also identify the plants! In this simplified case: dark green = broadleaf cattail (a desirable cornerstone plant in our region) and mint green = Phragmites (a monstrous invasive we are tirelessly trying to fight back). So in one ~1:30 video, we confirmed an initial hunch: drones can help confirm what we are seeing on the ground and offer a unique perspective to provide valuable management direction.

All of this makes a lot more sense when you realize that one of our primary tasks each summer is to "map" vegetative cover -- essentially, determine what's growing, where. This is important for a whole host of reasons. It can be done (and very effectively, I might add) the old fashion ways -- in the brain (through on-the-ground, in the wader, or in the punt boat) observation . . . that can then be transcribed to crude pencil sketches and field notes. And it can also be done in much more technical ways.

Yesterday, I hosted an instructor and friend from Toledo Public School's Natural Science Technology Center -- an established component of the new Aerospace & Natural Science Academy of Toledo (ANSAT). First and foremost, Bryan is an extremely passionate and enthusiastic person (which I love). He is also extremely talented and knowledgeable in a wide array of subjects that are very relevant to what we do at the marsh. One of his many talents: a drone pilot. So yesterday, we set two goals. First, we wanted to give Bryan a basic tour (somehow, this was the first time we were able to lure him out!), and secondly, we wanted to get the bugs worked out so that we could try using their program's extremely hi-tech "quad" to prepare a thermal fingerprint of the entire property. Each color will theoretically help us map individual plant species.

Vegetative polygons overlayed atop an aerial of the marsh;
in this case, red would mean spray and green would mean don't spray

I am running low on steam myself right now, so I'll have to elaborate on this on a future post. But the punchline is we need to prepare a visual similar to the one above within the next few weeks. Each shaded "polygon" will correlate to a unique string of coordinates that can then be uploaded into an on-board computer to guide a helicopter as it systematically sprays only the areas we shade and tell the computer (and linked sprayer) to mist with herbicide. The areas could be a couple hundred square feet up to several acres in size over the 500+ acre site.

We did this back in 2015 (combining my brother's friend's traditional drone images and the old fashion ground-truthing techniques) and it worked pretty darn well. We're going to see if we can improve on things with this fall's spraying campaign via our collaboration with TPS. Thank you, Bryan! Should be fun!!

Combating an Aerial Assault: Phragmites Seed

A sea of Phragmites (about 20 acres worth) beneath an awe-inspiring blue October sky;
plants propagate quickly by rhizome (rooted expansion), but the broom-like seed heads also set new pioneers by wind

With raindrops steadily falling for the second day in a row, winds howling, temperatures nose-diving, and the possibility of snow showers in the extended forecast for the first time this season, I thought an image of last week's blue sky might be warranted. But for as beautiful as the top of the image above feels, the bottom is pretty ugly. This is an overview taken from the south side of one of our outlying parcels ("Parcel 2") facing northwest toward Sandusky Bay (which is just beyond the cottonwoods in the middle of the image).

Late last week, Phrag seed literally blanketed much of the
downwind vegetation; this dogwood is hardly recognizable
(click to enlarge)

The view encompasses about 20 acres (~20 football fields), but there isn't much visible other than the highly invasive thorn in the marsh community's proverbial side: Phragmites australis. I've spoken on this subject plenty already, but this plant truly is a menace. It can grow from nothing to 16' tall in a single season. It can produce an astounding 200 discrete stems in ONE SQUARE YARD! And as the image above demonstrates, it can make a monoculture out of a marsh in no time flat.

Dry conditions a year ago literally about sucked the life out of this stand. As of last fall, only a few smaller pockets of lush green sustained the dwindling Phrag, and it looked like more upland competition might actually win out. This is not something we are used to seeing. It looked like good fortune.

But note that I said the dry conditions about sucked the life out of the stand. This year's historically high water levels in the lake and bay meant an influx of new moisture, and the Phragmites got the upper hand . . . and then some.

This is our largest wetland area where we do NOT have the ability to manipulate water levels. If the water goes way down, a more upland mix may take root. If the water level goes up, a sea of Phragmites ensues.

Parking lot planter

This is a case not just for the ongoing funding of the aerial Phragmites spraying program (which we participated in back in 2015 but regionally lost funding for in 2017). It is also a case for the merits of marsh management within an earthen levy system (aka diked marshes). Water drives all life; and even an inch or two can make the difference between rich habitat and a virtual vegetative dessert in a wetland setting.

Seed dispersal like we are seeing at present at the marsh is disheartening on one hand, but the good news is we have learned how to minimize the negative impacts by keeping high water on adjacent habitats at this time of year and during the early couple months of next spring/summer. But make no mistake, as the photo-op from a recent visit to a Detroit Airport parking lot makes clear (see right), even the slightest opportunity can be made good by a strategically placed, opportunistic Phragmites seed. Like it or not (and I don't), it's one amazing plant.

[I have consciously decided not to include images taken off-site of the marsh, but this one was just too good -- or bad -- to pass up. Be sure to click to enlarge.]

More Than a Simple Mow

An interior dike in the West Marsh before the first mow of the season (note broadleaf poison hemlock on left
and Phragmites on right and down the center).

Somehow, Memorial Day is already behind us and we're knocking on the door of June. June! Hard to believe, until you consider that kids are finishing (or finished with) school  . . . or until you look at the grass growing -- because you can literally watch it grow this time of year. With the regular cycles of rain and sunshine we've been experiencing, it's easy to feel like you need to mow your lawn every 3-4 days. In the marsh, we try to mow about four times per season, so each cut matters.

The "before" photo taken above illustrates the challenge at hand with routine dike maintenance -- especially if the levee is built such that the "crown" (top) is too narrow to safely navigate with a tractor and 4-5' mower deck (standard equipment on broader dikes).

Honestly, I would have welcomed the view above last year. This ~2,000 linear foot dike (~0.4 mi) serves as our southwestern property boundary, and it also served as the "last frontier" as we regained access to a property that had been largely left untouched for the two years before we took possession. As of last spring, it was the last area of the property where we had yet to re-establish walking -- much less driving -- access. The Phragmites was growing 10'+ high and so densely that I literally could not walk through it.

Our initial efforts to regain access began in April 2016 and involved ramming down the narrow and often winding dike with the MULE. With water on each side, I have to admit it was a bit touch-and-go. We then set fire to the previous year's growth to see what we were really up against and to expose any cavities or voids created by muskrats or groundhogs. (These holes are next to impossible to see with Phrag growing, and can be treacherous to a vehicle and a driver.)

These fires tend to burn hot, high (10-20'+), and fast. They are gratifying for the first week or two where the ground is black and barren and the newly emerging Phrag appears sparse and stunted. But the ash actually serves as a fertilizer and ultimately jump-starts unbelievably rapid and dense growth.

The upside was that we were able to make a good number of structural repairs to the dike and eliminate any woody growth. The bad news was the non-woody vegetation came back with such vengeance that we literally couldn't keep up with a mower last year. The other bad news was that the plants that had the competitive advantage to lay claim to the new real estate were good ol' Phragmites (never killed in the first place) and another invasive new to this story and apparently somewhat new to our area -- poison hemlock. More on that interesting invader to come . . .

This "after" photo taken late last week shows the results from a couple passes with a walk-behind brush mower and cleanup work with a Stihl weedwhip on steroids. 2000' of dike took two of us the better part of an entire day to clear.

P.S. If you are looking for the right tool for this kind of job, consider the Stihl FS110. I was reluctant to pay $1,000 or more for a bike-handle trimmer, so I opted for a slightly "lighter" option. It's still pretty darn beefy, and so far, so good. We purchased it late last summer. Coupled with their brush knife and a body harness, it gets a ton of work done without too much wear and tear on your body. It easily handles everything from Phragmites to bunch grasses, burdock to hemlock, and even smaller (<1") woody dogwoods and willows. Always be careful with this type of equipment. But used properly, they are just plain awesome!

An Invitation to "Get Into the Weeds" and Make Suggestions

As the spring rain returns and April snow lurks in the forecast, here's another taste of summer. The raw footage above was taken via drone in July 2015 -- just a few months after we took possession of the property -- by a brother's friend and neighbor who happens to be a videographer for public television.

While each snippet he took that day was more exciting to view than the last, this is one of my favorites. As the camera pans down and then gains altitude over the first 30 seconds, the distinction between individual stems of light green Phragmites and dark green cattail (a more desirable) is clearly evident. (More on the cattail story later . . .)

This visual distinction ended up being an incredibly helpful realization from a management perspective as we first delineated vegetative cover over the entire 600-acre site. Once we had the Phrag identified by air, we could compare it to the most recent Google Earth flyover, compare that to our ground-truthing in the field, and then confirm discrete areas that were infested with a monoculture of the noxious reed. I can say with a good deal of confidence that 90%+ of the Phragmites stems that appear in the video above were safely and efficiently sprayed and killed just a couple months after this footage was recorded. Pretty stinkin' awesome. Again, more on that later . . .

This video came to mind this morning for two reasons: (1) it helps provide some visual context of large portions of the West Marsh at least, and (2) I love how it feels like it puts the viewer "in the weeds" -- meaning, "into the details."

It was almost spontaneous, but yesterday marked the day that I introduced this online journal to a broader audience. I stepped beyond family and friends to begin to try to share it with a wider circle (largely via Facebook, LinkedIn, and a couple specific email groups). As we get further "in the weeds" together, I really want to know what you want to read more about. I have lots of ideas, literally dozens and dozens of short stories, I'd like to share with a photo or two and a few words. And I know our time in the field will offer a constant barrage of additional, currently unforeseen and spontaneous opportunities to share.

But I want to get a feel for what you are most interested in. If you have ideas, feel free to include them by clicking "Post a comment" below, or if you are more comfortable, I'm happy to receive feedback via email (see "Contact Us"). Thanks in advance for the suggestions!

The Fiercest Invader Yet

What may appear on first blush to be tranquil and serene now amounts to the single largest vegetative management challenge on Lake Erie coastal marshes (and beyond). It may present the biggest management challenge, period.

So, let's recap a bit. A bug can create problems (emerald ash borer) and a bug can solve problems (loosestrife beetles), but one common thread and nearly universal truth already developing is that invasive species tend to be a major problem with far-reaching negative consequences. Therefore, invasive species, particularly plant species, are central to both the marsh landscape and the management of the landscape. To continue the tale then, we move to the next chapter.

Just as researchers and managers on the ground were starting to make headway via the Galerucella beetle and purple loosestrife was starting to show a chink in the armor (late 1990s in the Western Basin), yet another aggressor, Phragmites australis, or "Phrag" as it is affectionately referred to by many, was on deck as the next big invader.

To understand why this invasive was poised to fill any void, the role of water levels should be briefly explained. One common refrain that I'll do my best not to repeat ad nauseum is that water levels -- and the timing and extent of water level fluctuations -- are the engine that drives most all other living things in the marsh. Even an inch or two more or less can mean all the difference as to what plants grow (or don't grow) . . . and the resulting plant diversity (or monoculture) has a profound domino effect on everything else that might visit or rely on the resulting vegetative community.

It is also important to understand that Lake Erie -- and all the Great Lakes, for that matter -- have historically undergone cyclical swings in basin-wide water levels, typically measured over decades. The southwestern Lake Erie region had undergone a significant spike aptly referred to as "high water years" in the early 1970s, but by 2000, Great Lakes water levels had returned to long-term averages. As water levels continued to drop, the table was set for "Common Reed" (P. australis) to become entirely too common.

While there is (or at least was) a native taxa, the Phrag that quickly began forming dense thickets of vegetation unsuitable for any other native fauna was another Eurasian import. The unusually broad growth tolerances in terms of water levels (moist soils to water depths of more than 3' -- unheard of by native species) along with the rapid expansion of above ground biomass (up to 20' horizontally per year) -- meant that Phrag could block light to other plants in an evolutionary instant and convert a broad range of wetland habitats into a Phragmites monoculture very quickly.

And convert it did. Consider further that Phrag can grow up to 20' tall (8-12' on average in Bay View) and so thick that a grown adult is hard-pressed to walk through it, and it becomes clear why Phrag quickly became a force to be reckoned with. At it's worst, Phragmites may have covered 25% of Standing Rush property. The only reason it didn't press further was (1) it was in a turf war with loosestrife early on, and (2) water levels could be intentionally kept high enough, long enough, that Phrag could only go so far.

This is a chapter with many subplots, so more on the oh-so COMMON reed will most certainly follow.