"Out & About" Photo Blog: 2nd Marsh -- April 30th, 2012

I received an email last night saying that about 12 acres of the marsh had been burned so I went down today for a look. It happened Sunday afternoon.

Wilkinson's Pond near the viewing platform by GM HQ.

There's minor damage to the viewing platform. A couple smaller posts were broken out and there's a bit of damage to the support for the display board, leaving little doubt that the fire was caused by vandals. The platform suffered a bit of charring on the south side, but very little.

Looking west from the platform.

Looking south from the platform.

The fire was from the platform, south to Cool Hollow. This is the view north from the platform.

Cormorants

Looking north from just north of Cool Hollow. The path was an effective firebreak. The fire department was called and they stopped the fire at Cool Hollow.

Most of the bush seemed ok, and the Bluebird boxes survived.

Fire can be fickle. A lone plant survived here. It looks like the surrounding earth saved it.

Close to Cool Hollow, looking south-west towards the lake.

Looking north from Cool Hollow.

In Cool Hollow.

Most of the Spruces are ok and have new cones developing.

I've (thankfully) heard fewer cases of vandalism in our area over the last few years but it's always going to be part of any society unfortunately. A few years ago the viewing platform that was near the Beaver Pond was burnt down completely by vandals.

Of course nature will restore the marsh in a surprisingly short time. She often uses fire to renew areas, but she starts the fires, with lightning usually. Controlled burns by humans are quite common too, usually for our purposes though, rather than for nature.

The Friends of Second Marsh web site...