Cove Point Natural Heritage Trust

COVE POINT NATURAL HERITAGE TRUST

The mission of the Cove Point Natural Heritage Trust is to preserve and protect ecologically sensitive sites at Cove Point and vicinity through land conservation, scientific research, and environmental education.

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Cove Point Natural Heritage Trust
11785 Clifton Drive
P.O. Box 336
Lusby, MD 20657
410.394.1300

 

RECENT ACTIVITIES

April 2, 2011 Nature Walk

The winter of 2010-2011 proved to be cold but not as snowy as the previous year. None-the-less the temperatures still hadn’t climbed much for our second seasonal nature walk. This time an audience of five rather than fifty joined me. We headed down Hellen Creek Trail to see what had arrived. Unfortunately, most of the early blooming trees and flowers were just not ready to show themselves. The dogwood was almost there and everything had at least leafed out. This time of nature paints primarily with her pastel pallet and the lighter shades of green prevail.

The usual residential birds announced themselves as we descended the trail toward the creek. Chickadee, titmouse, cardinal, and wrens made up the usual mixed winter flock. White-throated Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers made a good showing for the lingering winter populations. The Opsrey had replaced our Bald Eagle on the creek. These two top predators do not get along all that well. We have a population of resident Canada Geese, but otherwise only the Mallards cruise our section of Hellen Creek.

We finished the day chatting at the office steps while preparing to head out. A Pine Warbler sang in the background and finally came out to investigate the leaf litter under the dogwood. Above in the branches an Eastern Phoebe sang its plaintive “pee oo wee”. Maybe spring was indeed here, just a little late answering the door.

Invasive Removal and Native Planting April 30

I was fortunately to have five women show up for our first invasive removal effort of the year. We headed down to the old home site off of Hellen Creek Trail. Last month my interns helped me pot nearly 100 white turtleheads. This native wildflower is the host for our state butterfly, the Baltimore Checkerspot. For this event we planted two dozen of these and several native shrubs as well.

In the past several years we have removed multiflora rose, wine berry, and tree of heaven from this area. This year we hope to have completed the removal effort by taking out all the daffodils that have been spreading into the woods for the past 15 years. We used an organic product called “Leaf Grow” and spray each plant with a noxious spray called Liquid Fence (yuck) to discourage the deer.

Round two of this effort took place on a sweltering June 11 when another smaller group of volunteers followed up with addition removal and planting. June 13 found us with much better weather and two more volunteers joined me in assaulting the Japanese knotweed along Clifton Drive. This is our third year working on this patch and it will require additional efforts.

The third round this year concentrated on Japanese stilt grass. This one is easy to remove, but very quick spreading. It also produces lots of seed so we may have a battle ahead. Our last volunteer day focused on this plant and we managed to clear it out of most of the woods. Interestingly one of the worst areas was one we had cleared of wine berry several years ago.

Our last two seasonal nature walks combined reached our count of five from the spring. In between those visits I was fortunate to have two high school seniors working with me through the county mentorship program. We explored the Preserve looking for reptiles and amphibians. We visited TNC’s Hemlock Preserve identifying plants and birds. They were very helpful with trail maintenance and native plantings. And I got to visit their schools and help with an Earth Day project.

The storms at the end of August put a halt on, many activities at the Preserve. The remainder of the year has been an effort to restore driveways, trails, and access to and around the property. Thanks to volunteers we have managed to get all of the Preserve open again (although I just saw a small locust down near the end of HCT). The size of some of these trees was really impressive. The assistance I got from volunteers and our hunters made the job much easier than it could have been.

We look forward to 2012. The changes in the landscape should make for some interesting monitoring. I wonder what new plants, birds, and insects will show up. How will it impact the deer population? Will I finally see a coyote? They are here you know.

And we are moving forward to remove the old house at Hilltop Road. This one acre parcel is schedule to be used for a small parking lot. Which should come as good news to our visitors who have used Clifton Drive.

 

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