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Post by sigurdur on Mar 14, 2014 21:07:37 GMT
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Post by strongminded on Mar 15, 2014 1:05:19 GMT
Strong, I think when your weather changes it will do so quickly..... Why? I have no idea, it's a total guess, but it sounds cool so I'm sticking with it. I'm sure you've heard the expression make hay when the sun shines? Well in my humble opinion take advantage of good days as they come and get ready to spring for spring when it springs. I would take advantage of the time now to make an through assessment of the land and plot something out on a program like Microsoft Project. Identify your key people, the methods of removal, the equipment, the time, etc. When you get your window you want to hit the ground running not finding out a hoe is too small or a shovel is too big to be effective. Also make sure you give key people the wiggle room to manage workers in the field in your absence. Debbie Fields of Mrs. Fields cookies said she would have never made it until she learned to let go and let others manage for her. She learned she couldn't be in every cookie store at the same time. Code: I have three great guys that came back for season two of the great Phragmites fight. They are my crew leaders and I have tremendous faith in their abilities to manage men and make the best decisions given the information at hand at the time. They were all actually leaders last year when those hired for the postions failed miserably. I am very comfortable with them. However, I must be on site daily when we get to the time of year when we begin spraying as I am the one with the license and must keep accurate records for the EPA. I love being on-site. It is a beautiful location with man deer, turkeys, and herons. I have a "portable" office that allows me engage with the office while listening to the birds sing. (It is a great job.) I frequently sit myself under a tree somewhere out of the way and do my thing while the guys do theirs. I am also not opposed to picking up the tools and working right along them. That seems to build a great deal of repect, as they realize I am not afraid of hard work either. I have much more responsibility in the office now as we have just recieved notifiation from the EPA that we have been awarded another similar grant that hopefully will keep us all employed through 2016. I will be spending quite a bit of time scouting new locations and reaching out to property owners so that we can continue to work our magic on Phrag. For the record we are being watched rather closely as we are the only group in the Great Lakes area of concern that are doing this much eradication by hand. My guys ROCK and I tell them that every chance I get. I fully agree with Mrs. Fields...I cannot be in every patch of Phrag all over the Black River Area of Concern all day everyday. Hiring good people you can trust is the key. Luckliy this year I got to do the hiring. We will work as hard as we can and will hit the road running as we made certain to begin the tedious work early and be ready when the weather allows. Heck, last year I had a small group of 5 plus myself cutting Phrag in the snow. |
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Post by sigurdur on Mar 15, 2014 1:18:03 GMT
Strongminded:
Can you point me to research indicating what you are doing? Ins't phrag a type of lilly?
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Post by strongminded on Mar 15, 2014 20:45:08 GMT
www.lorainblackriver.com/www.blackriverrap.com/Strongminded: Can you point me to research indicating what you are doing? Ins't phrag a type of lilly? Sig: Phrag is not a lily...it is a reed. It is really quite beautiful. However, it can choke out a harbor area, marina, and plays havoc with road ditches. The plant was brought to this country hundreds of years ago. Was origianlly used for thatching roofs and even today in some areas of Europe is used as livestock feed while it is little. Here (Lorain County, Ohio, Black River Area of Concern) www.lorainblackriver.com/ also see www.blackriverrap.com/ wildlife habitat and the watercourse problems are the biggest problems. The roots of this invasive are a serious concern as the can grow up to eight feet deep and it only takes a tiny bit of root to get a patch going. This makes it really difficult to clean ditches. They also have a seed head....yep the gift that keeps on giving. They are easy to kill...but it takes time. A really light dose of glyphosate (1.5%) will knock them out but it must be done a couple of times and only works when sprayed as they bloom which for us is about the second week of August. Of course the spray must hit the green areas of the plant and that was a huge issue for us last year as most of what we were spraying was 15 to 18 feet tall and even with really tall guys we were unable in many instances to hit the green areas. We are tackling the problem in a different way this year. The first web address is what I have intimate knowledge about. We have worked incredibly hard to bring this river back from the brink. It was actually worse than the Cuyahoga (burning river in Cleveland). Not even 15 years ago it was more than likely that if you braved fishing in the Black you had a better than 50% chance of pulling a fish out of the River with a variety of visible tumors. Now your chance is .5% percent or 1 in 200. Hope that clears up your Phrag question and gives you a bit more background. www.lorainblackriver.com/www.blackriverrap.com/www.michigan.gov/deq/0,4561,7-135-3313_8314-178183--,00.html?CachedSimilar www.invasiveplants.net/phragmites/
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Post by sigurdur on Mar 21, 2014 21:26:06 GMT
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Post by sigurdur on Mar 22, 2014 2:17:25 GMT
That was a firecracker, the ski patrol at a local area let off a 200lb charge last month to loosen a large, potentially massive, slab avalanche and I think I heard 3 maybe 4 echos. That was big. I could feel it in my chest. Meanwhile over at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort they took out a whole ski lift. www.komonews.com/news/local/Video-shows-immediate-aftermath-of-Crystal-Mountain-avalanche-249997661.htmlI was surprised by the accident at Crystal. Paul, head of operations, you can hear his voice on the video, is considered one of the best. I'm guessing the snow pack had a weak hidden layer deep down. Yep.........a wee bit too much........what an avalanche!!!!!! |
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Post by nautonnier on Mar 22, 2014 11:44:22 GMT
That was a firecracker, the ski patrol at a local area let off a 200lb charge last month to loosen a large, potentially massive, slab avalanche and I think I heard 3 maybe 4 echos. That was big. I could feel it in my chest. Meanwhile over at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort they took out a whole ski lift. www.komonews.com/news/local/Video-shows-immediate-aftermath-of-Crystal-Mountain-avalanche-249997661.htmlI was surprised by the accident at Crystal. Paul, head of operations, you can hear his voice on the video, is considered one of the best. I'm guessing the snow pack had a weak hidden layer deep down. I was up on Crystal Mountain during the summer - that is a BIG avalanche, looks like the valley focused the snow. |
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Post by sigurdur on Mar 23, 2014 6:03:40 GMT
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Post by nautonnier on Mar 23, 2014 8:59:28 GMT
As someone pointed out on WUWT the pattern of cold we are seeing has been seen before....  I wonder if the 'Rex blocking pattern' can become a persistent state? |
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Post by sigurdur on Mar 23, 2014 17:16:58 GMT
As someone pointed out on WUWT the pattern of cold we are seeing has been seen before.... I wonder if the 'Rex blocking pattern' can become a persistent state? As long as that pool of warm water sits next to Alaska, which it seems it is prone to do during a cool PDO, the Rex blocking pattern will probably continue. |
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Post by flearider on Mar 24, 2014 0:43:24 GMT
just looked at the forcast for april and part of may temps don't go above 12 deg c .. that's a cold spring in my book ..
lets hope there wrong
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Post by douglavers on May 2, 2014 6:06:11 GMT
First blizzards of this winter forecast for tomorrow in the Australian Alps, snow down to low levels.
Pretty unusual for 3rd May.
Reconsidering a hike in the hills East of Melbourne tomorrow!
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Post by douglavers on May 3, 2014 20:06:31 GMT
I think it was down to about 1200m.
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Post by douglavers on Jul 18, 2014 10:57:17 GMT
Orange Airport, about 150 kms NW of Sydney, closed by snow.
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