In my previous post I described a fun afternoon spent doing volunteer restoration work for the IDNP in the Great Marsh. In order to make sure I would be able to snag a parking spot at the meeting location, I arrived early enough that I was able to get in a short 45 minute photo-hike before hand.
I arrived about 8:30am, and a light misty rain had just ended in the area meaning everything was coated with glistening water droplets as shown in the photograph above.
Last weekend I finally got to try something I’ve been wanting to do for some time, restoration work in the Great Marsh at the Indiana Dunes National Park. There have always been opportunities for park volunteers to help out with restoration work, but usually on weekdays when I have to work. So when saw an opportunity to help plant native sedges in the marsh on a Saturday I immediately signed up. I mean I mean who in their right mind would pass up the chance to lug 10 pound buckets of plant plugs into a marsh, through ankle to upper calf deep mud and water, with the frogs snakes and crawdads. Not me!
The image above shows the GPS track of my work in an area of the marsh that is in the early stages of restoration. Along with about 15 other volunteers and park employees I helped to plant 2,500 native sedge plugs which had been grown from seeds harvested in the park the previous year.
