A Warm Winter Day

On Sunday, I went straight to the bike path after church. It was a warm, delightful day, with a high temperature at nearly 60 degrees. The snow had melted days ago, and it was time for a delightful January thaw. Earlier in the morning, the day didn't look quite as promising, with rain and even a little wind. But, by the time I left church, the rain had stopped.
So I walked down the bike path and met people and dogs. I met energetic dogs and tired dogs and dogs looking for a treat in the ground. I met friendly dogs and reserved dogs. It was a fun walk. It was all about the trees of winter and the dogs.
Here are some pictures:

No more drought conditions! Water doesn't absorb well in the clay soil.  This is a common sight in Grand Island.

People enjoying a warm winter day on the linear bike path.

Lots of water. After last summer, with the terrible drought, this is a lovely sight!

Close up view of a tree trunk. The texture is fascinating.

Buckhorn Island State Park

Thanksgiving at Buckhorn Island State Park

Thanksgiving Day was warm and sunny, a good day to take a walk before settling down to the Big Job at hand (eating lots of food with family). I chose to walk down Grand Island's linear bike path and into Buckhorn Island State Park.
Buckhorn Island State Park is a restored wetland that is comprised of both swamps and marshes. It is also home to a variety of migratory birds and songbirds, as well as a few endangered species, such as the sedge wren and the least bittern. There are paths but few amenities in Buckhorn Island State Park. It is a wonderfully wild place for humans to experience what much of the Niagara Frontier was like before industry and housing developments took over and filled in much of the wetlands.

Bruce, Bentley, and their human dad.

The park was a delightful place, with people and dogs enjoying the warm air and the day off from their jobs, school, or from... um... doggie day care (?). I met dogs of all ages and a number of breeds, including golden retrievers, beagles, mixed breeds, etc. I walked for a short distance with a family that included a father, two daughters named Jolie and Jenna, and two golden retrievers named Bentley and Bruce. Everyone admired the two very friendly golden retrievers, including other dogs. In fact, these two dogs managed to develop quite a following as they happily ran around the park and introduced themselves to people and dogs. One of the dogs that they met was a large dog who was drooling with great gusto. He was happy to sniff Bruce and Bentley. This big dog was described as "juicy" by his owner, who looked as happy as the dog.
Later on in my walk, I met a man named Kevin and his very energetic dog who apparently was in need of a stint in obedience school. This dog, Koto, ran here, there, and everywhere as soon as he was let off of his leash. He walked to the water and splashed around in the river. He ran to ending point of the park, a spot where there are only two choices: turn around and walk back or swim to Niagara Falls. He ran in circles. He is a mixed breed dog. Kevin said that he is part lab and part something else... maybe pointer, but he wasn't sure. Eventually, Kevin caught the dog long enough to put his leash back on him. The two of them started jogging away and, before long, had disappeared.
I continued on my walk and, by the time that I returned to my sister's house, three happy hours had passed.

Bridge to Niagara Falls

Another view of the Niagara River

Niagara Falls industry

View of Niagara Falls from Buckhorn Island State Park

One view of the restored wetlands

A second view of the restored wetlands

The cycle of life in the woods

Trees and flowers

It has been a glorious autumn. I've been out walking and taking pictures of flowers that have hung on to their beauty well into October and even November. It is such a treat to have color and light at a time of year when nighttime is getting longer and longer and daytime seems as if it is retreating.
On the seventh of November, I went to Veterans Park to help with the tree planting. This time, we planted twenty trees. It was a beautiful and sunshiny day for tree planting. As you can see from the condition of my boot (pictured above), it was also a very muddy day. Having to move all of that mud with a shovel made tree planting into quite the aerobic exercise! The mud was heavy and sticky! Grand Island is well known for its clay soil. As I was shoveling mud on top of the tree root, I was thinking about all of the nice pottery I could design from that clay! Not being a potter seemed like only a minor impediment to this plot that I was hatching.
Nevertheless, the trees got planted quickly. A good number of the volunteers who came to Veterans Park were well experienced in the art of tree planting. We have been well trained in our new skill by Rochelle Smith, who is a certified arborist and a horticulture instructor at Genesee Community College. Each time we plant, we learn something new about both planting and caring for trees.
The new thing that we learned this time is that the trunks of new trees have to be wrapped. We wrapped our new trees in cardboard. The reason for this is that, when the deer come out in the spring, they have the urge to get rid of all of that velvety stuff that grows on their antlers during the winter. The way that they do that is by rubbing their antlers on trees. Unfortunately, some of the trees that they choose are delicate baby trees. This action causes the trees to be stripped of their bark. As a result, the baby trees die. Rochelle said that we learned about this problem through experience. Some of our trees died for that reason. So we have learned to wrap the trees to protect the bark.
Rochelle also told me that we planted both flowering trees and shade trees. The plan is for Veterans Park to have shady areas for people who sit down and watch the Little League baseball games. Also, having a whole bunch of trees planted closely together will mean less lawn mowing for the people who work at the park.
More trees will make the park prettier and they are good for the environment, too!
The next tree planting will be in early May and I'll have more tree stories and pictures then.

Planting Trees in Grand Island

November 10 was tree planting day in Grand Island. The town had received grant money to purchase the trees, and the town's Conservation Commission had spent a good amount of time discussing what kind of trees should be planted and where the trees should go. The main stipulation that was given was that the trees had to be planted on public property. One of the members of the Conservation Commission, Rochelle Smith, had recommended that the town use the "bare root" method in planting trees. Rochelle knows a good deal about this because she is an expert in planting trees. She teaches horticulture at Finger Lakes Community College and she is a certified arborist.
The bare root method is a technique of planting trees that anyone can use. You don't need to have heavy machinery to dig up and lift gigantic root balls. You don't need to have crews of city employees to use the heavy machinery. All that you need are a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers and someone, such as Rochelle, who is an expert, to give instructions.
For more information about the bare root method, take a look at http://www.hort.cornell.edu/UHI/outreach/pdfs/bareroot.pdf
This is a big, eighteen-page document that tells you everything that you might want to know about the bare root method of planting a tree.
In a nutshell, here is the abridged version. The young tree is dug up and all of the dirt is shaken off of the roots. Then the roots are soaked in a gel-like substance, called a hydrogel dip. This helps the roots stay moist, which is essential to keeping the tree alive. The tree must be planted in the ground within seven to ten days of being dug up and its roots soaked in the hydrogel dip. This is the main disadvantage of the bare root method. If the weather turns frightening or if something happens that prevents the planting from occurring, the trees could die. But this method definitely has its advantages. The tree is light enough for small people to carry, unlike trees that are transplanted by the "ball and burlap" method. This is the traditional method of transplanting trees. A machine, called a tree spade, is used to dig up the tree. Unfortunately, this often results in damage to the young root system. With the bare root method, there is much less damage to the roots when the tree is dug. Once the tree spade digs up the tree, the root ball is wrapped in burlap. There is a good deal of dirt around the root system, which results in the tree weighing anywhere from 100 to 300 pounds!
Well, that's a good deal of weight! I was looking forward to fun tree planting, not to weight training with excessive weights! But, generally, the "ball and burlap" method can be used only by city crews with heavy machinery and lots of equipment. But, because these roots are sitting in a lot of dirt, they can sit around for long periods of time if untoward weather conditions occur.
Fortunately, no unpleasant weather conditions occurred on November 10, when the tree planting was scheduled.
In all, sixty trees were planted in Grand Island. These included crab apple trees, Japanese Tree Lilacs, white oaks, and others. They were chosen because they could survive in Grand Island's clay soil. The white oaks were chosen because of Grand Island's history of white oak trees. In the nineteenth century, Grand Island was a heavily wooded area, with many white oak trees. Unfortunately, by the end of the nineteenth century, the white oak trees had all been cut down. Much of the lumber was sold to ship builders, who built clipper ships, some of the lumber was used to make wine barrels. The Whitehaven Road Sawmill was where the wine barrels were made. These wine barrels went all over the world.
It was Mary Cooke, the town board liaison to the Conservation Commission, who told me about the clipper ships and Nicole Gerber, a volunteer at the tree planting event, who told me about the wine barrels. I wonder if any of the wine barrels or clipper ships are still around because it would be interesting to see them.
Mary Cooke and Rochelle Smith told me that they were very happy with how the day's tree planting went and that they are looking forward to future tree plantings. The next tree planting should be held early in the spring, while the trees are still dormant. Rochelle told me that trees have to be planted while they are dormant, which means when the leaves are off them. That way, you get the best results. And the best results are important to Mary, who told me that Grand Island planted 150 trees during its sesquicentennial five years ago, but that forty of them died. She said that, this time, she is hoping that the trees "survive and thrive, as opposed to hang out and die."