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Nature Center e-newsletter #3

February 24, 2006

The last few weeks have been busy here--so busy that I neglected to take notes for this e-newsletter, which will be an abbreviated edition. Natural world sitings include Spring Queen (Synthyris reniformis) blooming everywhere in the native woods understory, a large flock of swans or cranes flying overhead a few days ago (too high for us to identify positively), a pair of redtail hawks visiting during lunch, robins and song sparrows trading songs with one another, winter wrens singing up storms all by themselves, a stretch of cold, clear weather with nighttime temperatures below twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and many more. Among us humans, daily work in the vegetable gardens has resumed, with the arrival of our first garden intern and other volunteers. The Lost Valley children helped us plant 150 native shrubs and trees in the creek restoration area, of seven species: osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis), red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), tall Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium), salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), vine maple (Acer circinatum), snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), and Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus).

Besides the creek restoration planting, the biggest progress in the development of the Nature Center has been in sign-making. The new engraver has created more than 150 plant species signs. Progress was rapid for the first week of engraving, and then (as can happen) some snags developed--and not of the variety favored by woodpeckers. Something that was supposed to be only mildly sticky (the double-sided tape that held the signs to the engraving table as they were being engraved) turned out to be "stronger than nails" (to replace the original adhesive pad, I'd bought the wrong type of tape, not having been told there was another). As a result, I ended up with one shattered sign (once I finally pried it off the machine) and an engraving table caked with the bottom half of the tape, which could only be removed through extensive scrubbing and the liberal application of Citra-Solv. On the other hand, the material which was supposed to hold the signs to the metal stakes (epoxy paste) more than made up for the excessive strength of the tape by being totally ineffective. The signs snapped off almost instantly when handled. A trip to the hardware store this morning has finally yielded the proper (I hope) combination of materials for mounting the signs, and within a week I expect at least several dozen of those signs to be in place, with many more to follow soon. Less tenacious double-sided tape has also arrived, allowing engraving to resume as well. A future e-newsletter will share our secrets of engraving and sign-mounting success, as well as cautionary tales so that others may be spared the wrong trees toward the summits of which we initially barked.

We're still in the process of determining dates for our first Nature Center open house and subsequent walks and talks. We'll let you know when we've set them. In conjunction with our sign-making, we are also assembling a plant species list and database. We have already noticed some interesting trends when comparing our list to Mount Pisgah Arboretum's plant list. More details will follow in a future newsletter. Meanwhile, thanks again for your support and interest!

Chris
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