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Late August - Early September 2006:
Status Update from Monitoring Trent Hall Restoration Site
Beach: Marsh Grasses
The Spartina alterniflora that was planted in limited areas at the beach site is struggling to hang on in a couple of places, but I think we are right on the verge where that material can tolerate energy wise. The beach has gotten extensive use by terrapins nesting this summer, though natural predation by foxes and raccoons can be pretty high. When we were there is July, we able to count over 60 nests in just that day, so undoubtedly there were a lot more than that over the season. The back beach S. patens continues to grow, with good plant height, and we expect lots of seed dispersal to occur this fall, which should really help fill the site in over the next year.
Created Marsh: Wetland Plantings
Back in the created marsh, the S. alterniflora continues to exceed just about anything we've ever seen at any of our restoration sites, in height, shoots, health, and coverage. Many of the plants now have large seed heads, so with additional rhizome growth and seed dispersal this Fall the marsh will likely look even better next spring. The small shrubs that we planted along the berm have done well in some areas, and not so well in others, and it looks like the biggest reason would be that in some areas they really suffered from lack of water (rainfall).
Beach: Underwater Grasses (SAV)
Lastly, it appears that our test plantings of underwater grasses grown in NOAA offices were indeed just that, test plantings. When we visited the site in mid-August, the enclosure was still intact, but all of the plant material inside of it was gone. When Peter Bergstrom checked the water clarity (recall that is principally the limiting factor for SAV in the mid-Patuxent), it was pretty poor that day.
- Click images for a larger view
- Read more about the status update (pdf, 3 pages, 48KB)
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