Looking Up at the Gulf of Mexico

We finally finished the forest transects today, which was great! Yesterday, I thought I was going to get hypothermia, playing in the woods in 42 degree rain. It isn't so bad when you're moving, but when standing still, my joints were all freezing. It was impossible to write, especially while holding a metal clipboard... The seedling area had mushroomed from 24 trees last year to nearly a thousand, and every one had to be identified and measured in the driving rain. What fun! Today dawned gray and dreary, but there was no rain. When we arrived at PICL 8 (Pinus clausus plot 8), we were elated to see that it was so sparse. We finished the plot in three hours, after disturbing this patient woodpecker for the entire time.



Once we finished the plot, I abandoned Jennifer and Angela to do a PIPL (piping plover) survey on Fort Pickens. Drainage ditches from the rain yesterday made parts of the north shore completely impassable, and there were few birds and a dead beaver. I didn't even know we had beavers at Fort Pickens! The biggest adventure was just trying to find a way to drive an ATV down the beach. I failed to find safe passage past the buildings at Fort Pickes, so I had a pretty long walk to finish the survey -- it was a beautiful afternoon for a stroll and the walk helped me thaw a bit :)



I checked out the tree removal in the campgrounds and the trash removal at Battery Worth. The trash pile is just vanishing -- it was great to see the progress! It gives me hope that the park may indeed open again soon.



It's just amazing how much trash a storm throws up on the beach. It makes it very clear how much we consume, and dipose, in this society. There has to be a better way!



When passing by the road, I wondered how they were going to manage it. The surf was fairly large today, but was knocked down by the northerly winds. Even so, I could clearly look up to the Gulf of Mexico while riding along the road about three miles into the park. How can we build a permanent road that's not above sea level? Quite a challenge to maintain that one! It would be better for the turtles and the birds to just leave it as it is.



Riding back, the south beach was loose and wet and my ATV kept getting bogged down, so I decided to try the corridor -- bad choice! I managed to get the ATV sunk to the axle in more loose, wet sand. Eventually, one of the construction workers from the tree/trash removal came to the rescue. I'm a scrappy lady, but I can't pick up an ATV all alone. Next time, I'll stay on the beach!

In all, it was a fun day, though I still can't figure out what this was doing on the North shore...