2nd Annual First Coast Great Air Potato Roundup

The 2nd Annual First Coast Great Air Potato Roundup on March 1, 2008, was a huge success! We collected two and a half large trash bags of potatoes (approximately 300 pounds). Thank you to Barbara Beyerl, Andrew Thornton, Pat Anderson, Larry, Nikki and Taryn Fenwick, Lenore McCullough, Gerry Murphy, and John Mikl0s. Everyone had great fun searching out air potatoes of all shapes and sizes. It was kind of like an Easter egg hunt, only all the eggs were the same color! The largest potato of all roundup sites was found by Andrew Thornton and Barbara Beyerl. It measured 16.5 inches in circumference! Andrew generously let Barbara claim the grand prize of a guided kayak trip for two for half a day from Kayak Amelia.

See you there next year!

Feb. 2 -- Fieldtrip/Workday Report

Our Fieldtrip was a huge success! We had 11 Duval Audubon members out on a beautiful, cool February morning for a bird walk and work session. A big thanks go out to the following members for their help: Patrica Knowles, Duffy Kopriva, Karen Barnum, Melinda Eckert, Rachael Sulkers, Gerald Sim, Pat Anderson, John Miklos, Gerry and Cheryl Murphy! Special thanks to Gerry Murphy, John Miklos, Rachael Sulkers and Gerald Sim for their help installing a Wood Duck nest box (see picture)! Extra special thanks to Pat Anderson, Duffy Kopriva, Cheryl Murphy and Trisha Knowles for pulling a giant bag of weeds from the native plant bed!

The group spotted 25 bird species including such notables as Great Blue Heron, Red-shouldered Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, American Crow, and Black-and-white Warbler. Other evidence of wildlife included white-tailed deer tracks, wild hog tracks, river otter scat and uneaten bowfin skull. The swamp was well inundated with water, which was flowing slowly to the east.

Mark your Calendars for March 1 Air Potato Roundup

2nd Annual First Coast Air Potato Round-Up

We need the help of all NEFL residents to preserve our
natural communities. Volunteers are needed to come help
clean our parks and preserves from Air Potato vine
(Dioscorea bulbifera) and other non-native invasive plants
that overtake our natural areas.

When: March 1, 2008
Time: 9 a.m. to noon
Where: Volunteers encouraged to participate at the Crosby Sanctuary (427 Aquarius Concourse, Orange Park, FL) or you can participate by removing invasive plants from your own yard!

Contact Pete Johnson at 904-536-4806 for more info and directions if necessary

No registration necessary unless you are bringing a large
group and prizes will be given for the largest potato collected!

Visit www.nature.org/floridainvasive or call 904-598-0004 for
more information.

Summer 2007 Update 1

It's been about 6 months since my last post. This has mainly been due to technical difficulties with blogspot and my busy schedule. Blogspot was bought out by google. The Crosby site didn't have a smooth transition and I didn't have much time to devote to dealing with it.

The wonderful young men and women of the FYCA conducted another workday out a Crosby in March. They were led by Scott Davis and did an excellent job of planting 9 native trees (donated by Robert Sanford of Sanford Landscaping), removing air potat0es and vines, as well as picking up trash and debris. They were also able to determine that all of their bird nest boxes appeared to be occupied or showed signs of activity. They also took a walk back through the swamp to just enjoy being outside in natural surroundings. Scott hopes to be able to bring the FYCA group out more often throughout the upcoming school year, as they really love outdoor activities at Crosby.

Prothonotary Warblers have been seen out along the swamp trail. It's likely they nested in one of two nest boxes installed by FYCA. Please go to www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Prothonotary_Warbler_dtl.html for info on these wonderful birds.

Officials with Clay County were given notebooks with information about the sanctuary in May. One notebook was given to Doug Conkey the county commissioner for Crosby. He is interested in helping our process by developing partnerships with the county and funding resources.

The Homeowners Association of Orange Park Golf and Country Club has contacted us about the donating additional land to the northwest part of the sanctuary. I will continue to update on the status and details of this interesting development!

Please feel free to contact me anytime. We need volunteers willing to help out! Especially someone local in Orange Park willing to spend about 1 hour every 2-3 weeks mowing the entrance area.

Pete Johnson
904-536-4806
petejohnson71@bellsouth.net

Successful Air Potato Roundup

The 1st Annual Northeast Florida Great Air Potato Roundup was a huge success! There were : 104 Total volunteers at 6 work sites
almost 400 pounds of Air Potatoes collected

A total of 3 volunteers picked up about 150 pounds of potatoes at the Crosby Sanctuary site!

Please go to the link below for an article in the Clay County Line newspaper.
www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/013107/nec_7644203.shtml

Please be aware that coming up in March is Invasive Awareness month in Northeast Florida.
Find out more at www.nature.org/florida

First Northeast Florida Great Air Potato Round-up

The Duval Audubon Society is sponsoring a clean up site at the Crosby Sanctuary. Please go to http://www.nature.org/florida or call (904) 598-0004 to pre-register for this worthy event. It is necessary to pre-register to guarantee sufficient supplies and prizes. Prizes will be handed out for the largest potatoes collected! Great fun and educational opportunity for kids and the whole family!

Air potato is an exotic vine from Asia that is considered one of Floridas worst invaders of native plant communities. These vines creep over every other plant and smother them out, similar to Kudzu in Georgia and North Carolina. It reproduces by dropping numerous bulbils, which look much like brown potatoes. For more info and pictures please see the previous post on this blog entitled Air Potato.

When: January 20, 2007
Time: 9 am to 12:30 pm
Where: Crosby Sanctuary or other sponsored sites
Meeting Place: Vystar Credit Union parking lot on NW corner of Blanding Blvd and Aurora Blvd in Orange Park (just south of Wells Road/Orange Park Mall)
Contact: Pete Johnson (904) 536-4806

4 December 2006 -- FYCA Workday

The Florida Youth Challenge Academy conducted their third workday at the Crosby Sanctuary on Monday December 4th. A mixed group of these young men and women worked on pulling more air potato vines, collecting air potatos, and mounting several bird nest boxes (see pictures) on trees within the swamp. These FYCA cadets were full of energy to take on the challenge of pulling and collecting air potatos. They did a great job!

The next FYCA workday will be sometime in mid January. They will be collecting more air potatos and helping to prepare test grass kill plots for the landscape demonstration garden site. Our goal is to begin construction/planting in Spring 2007!

9 November 2006 -- Planning Meeting On-site

Several of the parties involved/interested with this project met at around 5:00 PM to look at the site. These parties included: Rhino Johanson of All in One "Integrity Fencing" to estimate project fencing costs; Scott Davis of Florida Youth Challenge Academy; Dan Hays of SJRWMD youth education program; and two of Scott's advisors from the University of Florida Masters Program.

We discussed topics including fencing upgrade options, history of the property, current conditions, landscape garden project, community vegetable garden, exotic vegetation control, connectivity to other natural areas, FYCA projects, water quality monitoring, local drainage area signs to demonstrate connection between neighborhoods and downstream watershed, community involvement, local government involvement, Clay utility company involvement, and potential drainage/stormwater improvements to neighborhood ditches/outfalls.

It was exciting to have such a dynamic group discuss how to utilize the the Crosby Sanctuary to positively engage and educate people!

Pete Johnson