October 2019
That’s Fearless Annie sitting on the base of a downed tree reviewing my sloppy notes; I clambered up a ways to measure a smaller tree that had been crushed by this big one. We are about one third of the way down the 150 foot ravine, a slightly level spot before it drops off steeply below us.
For background on Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve please go here TNC — ABRP. Annie gets contracted for a lot of field work at ABRP. This one is a research project started a couple decades ago where this small ravine was laid out with 10 meter squares, rebar stakes at the corners, and every tree measured at DBH, tagged and noted with species and x y z references.
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The researcher had last checked this ravine in 2007 so any flagging on rebar or trees is long gone. With a tornado in 2014 and Hurricane Michael in 2018, most of the trees are damaged and half are down. When the researcher realized he had good long-term comparison data for a study of the impact of these 2 storms, the project was reborn.
Hot in full sun at noon, muggy from recent rain, thickets of downed trees with grape and greenbrier rampant in the opened canopy — yeah it was hellish. We spent a lot of time looking for rebar corners and checking tags in or out of the current plot. Squares were laid out in N-S E-W pattern but often a square is at an angle across the slope that is near vertical at 70º (Wiki definition) and starts to look like a disorienting diamond.
Chrysopsis or Goldenaster stands out.
Agalinis — different than what grows on my side of the county. Notes the reddish stems...
More Yankeeweed —
Sorghastrum or Lopsided Indiangrass — very late flowering; note the yellow anthers
Calamint — most were past flowering
Scattered around the edges of the ravine in the sunny spots was this spiderwort.
The delicate Blue Curls also on the edges, the ecotone as some call it.
Dicerandra from my yard just cause they look and smell so lovely...
Shoot — I published without saving last photos and a paragraph or 2, and I hate rewriting…. so short closing now — thanks for stopping by and see ya in the comments.
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