[To see stories and photos from other years, see the links on the main Wetland page.]
The biggest event in the wetland this year was the flash flood on August 11th. We had 6 inches of rain overnight, and one of the flood control dams upstream gave way, so all that water came rushing down the valley.
1/2/2016
2/5/2016
5/25/2016
5/29/2016 Several new culverts were put in along the road and I got permission to plant prairie seeds to repair the roadsides, instead of the DOT mix.
5/31/2016 The beavers have built a dam just north of our culvert, so the creek just south of the culvert is slower, and watercress has filled in the edges. The trout don’t seem to mind – they hide under the floating mats of watercress.
6/15/2016
6/15/2016 A big patch of Wild Iris is growing west of the driveway.
6/28/2016 Mike mowed some big patches of the wetland – partly to control Wild Parsnip, and in this case, because I’m planning to spray this area for Reed Canary Grass next spring.
6/28/2016 More Wild Parsnip mowing
6/29/2016 The big field west of the driveway is looking better every year – with less Parsnip, and more natives.
7/2/2016 Mike also mowed some of the very degraded wetland below Sumac Prairie. This is mostly thick Reed Canary Grass and Parsnip. My plan is to spray it next year and plant it with natives.
7/16/2016 Field just east of the driveway with Swamp Hemlock, Joe Pye Weed and Common Milkweed.
7/24/2016 Field west of the driveway with lots of natives.
7/24/2016 West of the driveway with Joe Pye Weed.
7/27/2016 This year I pulled Parsnip along the creek past Willow Bend and all the way to our western property line. I’d never spent much time here before. It’s pretty weedy – mostly with Reed Canary Grass, and our only infestation of Crown Vetch. But there are natives too.
7/27/2016 More of the creek near Willow Bend
8/11/2016 The flood – rushing past the trail camera at the culvert.
8/11/2016 The creek filled about half the valley.
8/11/2016
8/11/2016
8/11/2016 After the flood went down, we could walk across the creek, but not drive across.
8/12/2016 So Mike went to work with the tractor.
8/12/2016 He fixed it enough that we could drive the car out. We finally got the driveway really fixed late in the summer.
8/19/2016
8/19/2016 Giant Swallowtail on Swamp Thistle
9/3/2016
9/3/2016 Tall Sunflowers
9/3/2016 Along the driveway, looking at Pine Point in the distance
9/3/2016 Monarch on Tall Sunflower
9/26/2016 Another big project was resurfacing the road that goes by our land.
10/2/2016 It looks much better than it used to!
10/16/2016
10/16/2016
11/4/2016
