The Fall Equinox is here

The Fall Equinox is here, marking another milestone in our celestial cycle. Equal parts night and day. The Sun rising directly east and setting directly west. The Lakefront is the best place to welcome the Sunrise, and Horner Park hill not a bad place to watch it set. Today it will be cloudy and windy, but above the clouds the movement of the Sun goes on. However you mark this day, know that you are linked to billions on earth who recognize it as a unifying moment.

We will be working in the garden today at 5:00. I won’t be there until 6:15, but other garden leaders will be there to direct the work. There are wood chips to carry to the Journeys and Refuge Garden, the area along the Gym that was cleared last week. And we will start installing split rail fencing along the north edge of the north swale. 
It begins to get dark at 7:00 so our time together is getting scrunched.  It has been suggested that we switch to Saturdays for the next month or so. Maybe.

Pete

I also wanted to let you know that there will be a Montrose Point Workday this Saturday. This message from Steward Leslie Borns:

Please join us for our next stewardship workday on Saturday, September 25, from 9 a.m. until noon. We have some exciting activities planned. This date is also National Public Lands Day, when volunteers nationwide go to parks and natural areas to celebrate healthy environments and conservation of public lands by helping to restore and improve them.

On the 25th, our main activity will be translocating Marram Grass (Ammophila breviligulata) from the main beach to the new habitat addition. We don’t often do plantings at Montrose Beach Dunes, so this is an opportunity to have some fun and get your hands deep in the sand. Marram Grass is likely the most important plant species of the dune/swale ecosystem because its vast, lateral root system stabilizes sand and allows more complex vegetation to take hold; this also forms the elevations that create dunes. Marram Grass already exists inside the habitat addition, but we would like to stabilize things further along the rock wall, so we’re introducing more plants at the west end which will eventually grow together. We need all hands on deck for the planting, so I hope many of you can attend!

On the 25th, we meet at the sidewalk next to the handicapped parking lot east of the Montrose Beach House. Weather may be cooler, so please bring a warm layer, plenty of sunscreen, and a wide-brimmed hat. We provide tools, water, sanitizer, and packaged snacks at the basecamp.

Free parking passes are available for the workday, so if you need one drive up to the beach sidewalk and pick one up. Place it on your dashboard and park in the central, fenced lot opposite Montrose Harbor (not in the paid parking spaces along Harbor Drive).

I look forward to seeing you again as we prepare the dunes for the expected return of Monty and Rose next Spring and celebrate National Public Lands Day!