Post by meadowview on Apr 7, 2010 18:17:09 GMT
Hi Folks:
Here's a link to our latest volunteer weekend (4/3-4/4). Please reference the pictures in the link for the discussion below.
michaelkevinsmith.com/Joseph-Pines-Preserve-040310.html
Wayne and Melissa Jenski from Cambridge, MA came down for an eco-vacation and spent several days with us working both at Meadowview and Joseph Pines. Mike Smith and his girlfriend Celica helped at the preserve on Saturday. This was a key volunteer event and allowed us to introduce hundreds of native VA S. purpurea and S. flava seedlings. In addition, we peeled sod on the bog edge to reintroduce one of our rarest grasses in Virginia called toothache grass or Ctenium aromaticum. Toothache grass now resides in one native population in VA and is another key associate of pitcher plant wetlands. Our planting will allow the plants to flower and begin a major ramp-up in production of this species (thanks to Nick Haywood and Rebbecca Elliott for helping pot these plants up two years ago)
The sod removal process (actually a peat mat interlaced with roots over mineral soil) is a technique Bill Scholl and I developed. The sod tends to dry out and is not suitable substrate for reintroduction since it blocks access to the moist mineral soil for pioneer bog species. The sod is a relict of decades of succession and when removed is an excellent site for direct planting.
One big find of the weekend. We have a hydrology graduate student starting work at Joseph Pines. One of the cores taken was from the heart of Addison Bog. There are 4 feet of legacy sediment over the original bog! Check out the photo and you can see the overburden of grey mineral soil and then the black organic layer. We're sending the peat sample off for analysis to get a radiocarbon date to see when the bog was buried. The thought is that the first colonists, in stripping the land for agriculture, caused massive erosion into seeps and springs. We did not know that Joseph Pines had suffered this insult but it's hard to argue with the physical evidence. This may explain, in addition to other factors, why no pitcher plants were left at Joseph Pines when we started our work. Lots more to talk about on this subject but I'll save that for another day.
Sincerely,
Phil Sheridan
Meadowview
Here's a link to our latest volunteer weekend (4/3-4/4). Please reference the pictures in the link for the discussion below.
michaelkevinsmith.com/Joseph-Pines-Preserve-040310.html
Wayne and Melissa Jenski from Cambridge, MA came down for an eco-vacation and spent several days with us working both at Meadowview and Joseph Pines. Mike Smith and his girlfriend Celica helped at the preserve on Saturday. This was a key volunteer event and allowed us to introduce hundreds of native VA S. purpurea and S. flava seedlings. In addition, we peeled sod on the bog edge to reintroduce one of our rarest grasses in Virginia called toothache grass or Ctenium aromaticum. Toothache grass now resides in one native population in VA and is another key associate of pitcher plant wetlands. Our planting will allow the plants to flower and begin a major ramp-up in production of this species (thanks to Nick Haywood and Rebbecca Elliott for helping pot these plants up two years ago)
The sod removal process (actually a peat mat interlaced with roots over mineral soil) is a technique Bill Scholl and I developed. The sod tends to dry out and is not suitable substrate for reintroduction since it blocks access to the moist mineral soil for pioneer bog species. The sod is a relict of decades of succession and when removed is an excellent site for direct planting.
One big find of the weekend. We have a hydrology graduate student starting work at Joseph Pines. One of the cores taken was from the heart of Addison Bog. There are 4 feet of legacy sediment over the original bog! Check out the photo and you can see the overburden of grey mineral soil and then the black organic layer. We're sending the peat sample off for analysis to get a radiocarbon date to see when the bog was buried. The thought is that the first colonists, in stripping the land for agriculture, caused massive erosion into seeps and springs. We did not know that Joseph Pines had suffered this insult but it's hard to argue with the physical evidence. This may explain, in addition to other factors, why no pitcher plants were left at Joseph Pines when we started our work. Lots more to talk about on this subject but I'll save that for another day.
Sincerely,
Phil Sheridan
Meadowview
