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Archive - February 2010

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Weed removal efforts DO pay off!

Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 04:03:11 PM

If you have ever owned a garden, volunteered in one, or particpated in a volunteer work day, you may be an experienced weed-puller.  As you yanked weed after weed, did you wonder whether the sweat, sore muscles, and dirty jeans were all for nought?  Maybe you thought "This is impossible!!!"  Well the Fairchild Conservation Team can attest that as long as the project area is retreated for several seasons, weed eradication IS possible, and native vegetation DOES recover.  Persistence pays off.  Our efforts to remove an invasive fern from Miami's Bill Sadowski Park illustrate this point quite nicely.

Non-native Tectaria incisa once dominated the understory in parts of  Bill Sadowski Park.

In 2003, biologists from Fairchild and Miami-Dade County teamed up to remove the invasive, non-native fern Tectaria incisa (incised halberd fern) from Bill Sadowski Park.  Tectaria incisa grew intermixed with rare native fern species, including Tectaria heracleifolia (broad halberd fern)-- a fern in the same genus that looks very similar to the non-native.  Together, we learned to distinguish these two Tectaria species and then trained Fairchild staff, Miami-Dade staff, and volunteers (from both Fairchild and the Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society) to recognize the differences between them.

Native Tectaria heracleifolia, the "broad halberd fern," is on the list of Florida threatened species.

That first year, we held six work days and enlisted the help of several dozen volunteers to hand remove individual ferns.  Since then, we have retreated the area every winter.  The results of our efforts have been dramatic and positive.  Currently, only one or two work mornings per year are needed to maintain the T. incisa at low levels.  Complete eradication is not possible in the near future because new T. incisa plants continue to recruit.  Yet, each year, our workload decreases.

In 2010, we held just one workday to keep the T. incisa in check.  On February 23rd, we were interested to see that the non-native Tectaria was damaged (but not dead) from Miami's record-cold January temperatures, while the native species was unharmed.  It seems even mother nature is pitching in to the efforts now.  Not only did she frost the T. incisa (a native of South America), she has been helping all along, as native species-- many of them rare ferns-- move into the bare areas where T. incisa once grew.

To all the volunteers who helped in these removal efforts, a sincere THANK YOU!  If you would like to visit Bill Sadowski Park (located in Palmetto Bay), click here for more information.

--Jennifer Possley

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Fairchild Researchers Assist in the Hunt for Monsters

Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 04:24:38 PM

by Sam Wright

On January 11th 2010, Fairchild biologists Lisa Krueger, Jennifer Possley, and myself assisted ECISMA (Everglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area) with surveys for the North African rock python (Python sebae). In contrast to its Burmese cousin that now number over 150,000 in the Everglades, the North African rock python is considered to be a more recent introduction, confined to a much smaller area in West Miami-Dade. Information gathered from the surveys will assist the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in assessing the status of the rock python. These pythons and other non-native snakes found their way into the Everglades after being released by irresponsible pet owners that were not able to handle the size of their growing snakes. The snakes are now breeding and their increasing population threatens our native wildlife.

Miami experienced very cold weather the week of the surveys, in fact new record lows seemed to be broken every day. This was very apparent to me and my feet while waiting instruction and orientation the morning of our survey. Although my feet were not enjoying the chilly weather I found comfort in knowing that the possible 20-foot-long snakes that we could be encountering are cold-blooded and would be slow in their movement. In their native habitat, they are known to take down large prey such as gazelles, warthogs and crocodiles! I did not want to be added to the menu.

After a 20 minute briefing covering the background of the snake and how to handle one if encountered, we set out to our designated survey areas. Walking through thick vegetation never really bothered me but this time my heart was beating a little faster than usual with the anticipation of possibly running into a giant snake! After hours of hiking, we turned up nothing but got a phone call that one of the other groups found a 12 footer! The large python was brought back to the staging area for all to see during lunch hour. The snake was so large that its length spread over 1 ½ parking spots! Although appearing dead, the snake was very much alive but definitely showed the effects of the cold weather. It is amazing to see a snake of that size up close up. It’s too bad we had to leave after lunch because a 14 footer was found right after we left. It was definitely exciting to see these snakes in person but knowing that they are breeding and multiplying in the wild is a major concern.

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