Category: Landscapes

A Marshy Birthday…

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One week after my first opportunity to do volunteer restoration work in the Great Marsh, another plug planting was scheduled. And as it turns out this one was the day before my Birthday! I considered it a wonderful birthday present to be able to spend another afternoon working and hiking in the marsh. I am learning a lot about what goes into this type of restoration work, and it is a lot of work.

After the plug planting was finished, I popped over to the Great Marsh trail which is very close to the area we were working in. The opportunity to work in an area of the marsh undergoing restoration work and then go and hike in an area which has been largely restored was very rewarding.

This was my second time helping with planting plugs in the marsh. I paid a bit more attention to what we were planting this time. I mostly planted Tussock Sedges and Blue Iris’s. These buckets held ~50 sedge plugs each.
This is a pretty typical patch of ground that I was planting in. The water looks kind of milky because it is reflecting the overcast sky. These “dry” areas are not dry at all. Just below the surface is several inches of watery mud. Very easy to dig out holes for the plugs. Also very easy to discover your boots are being held captive by the mud if you are not careful.
This shows the area of the marsh we were working in. Most of the team was students from a couple of nearby colleges. There were about 25 of us and we worked throughout the area circled in yellow. The tracks you see are leftover from heavy equipment the park used in the earlier stages of the restoration work. They were not really apparent at ground level.

After the restoration work I headed over the Great Marsh trail to enjoy photographing an area that is farther along in the restoration process.

Purple Dead-Nettle, of the mint family, is one of the early risers in the spring. It is pretty, but not native. I am not sure if it is considered invasive however.
I really like capturing the early growth of the grasses, when everything is still close to the ground.
Waterdrops on plants, love em.
The Mayapple is peaking through out the park. Covering big patches of the ground with their umbrella shaped leaves.
The yellow asters are just beginning to unfold.

Yeah, it was a pretty good Birthday!

Tick, Tick, Ticking….

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To the casual observer the Great Marsh at the Indiana Dunes does not look much different from winter. But if you look close, you can see the beginnings of Spring emerging here and there. And if you stand still, quietly looking and listening… you can almost sense the impending spring bloom ticking… soon, very soon, there will be an explosion of colors all over the marsh. On this day, you could feel it.

(Click on any picture to see it full size.)

It had rained the night before I hit this trail. I always look for mosses here, they respond so quickly to the moisture and the way they hold on to the water is always fascinating.
The hairy edged leaves of emergent Lupine hold the water in the form of beautiful droplets.
Pussy Willow blossoms add small touches of intense color to the largely muted pallet of early spring down in the marsh.
Earlier in the year I watched a controlled burn being conducted in this part of the marsh. Now we see the first vibrant shoots of green and orange rising from the burn.
This particular area reminded me of “leafy greens” you buy at the grocery store.
Not everything green is soft and inviting. These things are every bit as nasty as they look, trust me on this.
Earth Star fungi are as beautiful as they are odd. This one has already released its spores and has disconnected from the rest of the fungus.