Crow’s Nest: It’s not all plowing and shoveling

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager

While plowing and shoveling took a bite out of the week, we’ve got other projects going on. Winter is when we monitor our conservation easements, check in on our unstaffed preserves, and maintain equipment. We didn’t get out to do much in the way of invasive plant management or winter pruning this week but we did get outside.

This upturned beech beauty is at our Iron Bridge Preserve. (I photographed the same root mass in 2007 from the other side.)

Among the conserved lands I monitor is a field undergoing succession to forest; the landowners have made these beautiful paths through the cedars and maples. Which path should I take?

We also spend some time in the workshop, as here we are struggling to replace a torn tie rod dust boot that is no longer available. Thanks to David Casteneda and Sean Quinn for getting us this far. And thanks to Aubrey Smith who is taking over the annual maintenance of the major equipment.

The cold doesn’t deter the kids. Even with school closed by the snow we held all of our WebWalker, WebWanderer, and WebWiggler programs at the preserve this week. The kids went sledding and didn’t complain about the cold. Many thanks to Educator Molly Smyrl and several volunteers for making these programs possible no matter what the weather (photo below by Molly Smyrl).

For the latest information about the activities our our kids’ programs check out Crow’s Nest Preserve on Facebook.