Wetland Maintenance

Stopping to look at high water

Last week we had a storm come thru and drop 6 inches of rain in a day. There was some flash flooding and the local wetlands was under water. We have 5 letterboxes there and today we went out to check on them.

Four of the boxes are a series that we planted in April 2011 and the other one was planted in March 2013. We looked for the series first and found 3 of the 4.

Geese hanging out

The one that was missing may actually still be there. In the area of the hiding spot a tree has fallen and someone cut up the limbs and whatnot and dumped them off the trail where our box was. And with the flooding the area was covered with leaves, sticks, and dirt. I dug around with a stick for a while but couldn't find anything. This box has gone missing before so I just retired it.

There were lots of turtles out sunning

Two of the others in this series were wet but in good shape. The last box is never recovered well when I check on it. I know there is a geocache in the area but I don't have a GPS so I don't know where it is. But if it is cachers not covering the box well it is nice that they leave the stamp :)

Lil Ewok loves water

For the last box the tree it is in is visible from the road and for a few days the base was under water. I was really worried about this one. It is actually part a 3 part series that is around town. One of the other boxes in the set has gone missing twice and I was hoping that this one was still there.

When we got to the tree it was clear that the box was gone. I decided to look in the direction the water would have went when it receded but I didn't see anything. I got to thinking that if it was there under the leaves, sticks, and dirt it would be pretty hard to find. After about five minutes the princess declared that she was ready to go. So, I slowly started walking back to the tree and didn't see anything.

Another view of the walkways/building

I was thinking that I should give up but when I got up next to the tree I found the box on the high side about two feet from the tree. I was very excited! I opened it to make sure it was ok and I recovered it well with sticks and leaves. I am thinking about putting a rock on it but I know if this happens again where to look for it :)