Crow’s Nest: Getting to summer

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager

It’s been a busy late spring with some incredibly beautiful weather (except for just a couple days, it has been low humidity and not too hot) punctuated by some dramatic storms. Our trails have suffered from the abundance of rain. We installed a new plank bridge over the pond dam spillway (above) and another (below) to cross a drainage ditch that crosses the Creek Trail. It used to be easy to step across but the mud has grown too wide.

The rain means the grass has been growing especially fast, and we’ve been plagued by equipment problems. The diesel lawnmower was out for ten days and is still not right. (At Crow’s Nest, it’s never more than a mile to walk home if you break down; at Green Hills the stakes are a little higher as we have to load the running mower on the trailer to get it home.) We had two flat tires—one on the small lawnmower and another on a trailer. Plus we’ve had the normal parts replacement of the small equipment expected at the height of the busiest season.

This week Natural Lands Trust Arborist Tom Kershner came over to Crow’s Nest and Green Hills for a productive day. He removed five hazard trees at Green Hills Preserve (dead trees along the roadside) and helped identify five more for the inventory at Crow’s Nest—more work for fall or winter. At Crow’s Nest he scaled a de-accessioned utility pole recently turned over to us by the power company and hung a kestrel box there.