Work Trip - Presquile NWR - March 21, 2009

 

 

Presquile NWR - the view from our jon boat on the James River.

 

 

It was a cool spring day in late March of 2009 when nine of us met at the old ferry dock along the James River for a work trip over on Presquile NWR.  The club maintainers had worked on Presquile before, but this was my first trip and I was pretty excited. Both my dad and brother had participated in hunts on Presquile and I'd been hearing about the island for years. They went over on the ferry for their hunts; however, we would be making the trip in a jon boat piloted by Cyrus B., the Wildlife Refuge Specialist.  Fran, our AT trail boss in 2009, had explained that a trip when the water was too cold would require donning a wetsuit, which is why we couldn't go until the latter part of March. Thinking of AT maintainers in wetsuits made me laugh ... until I thought a little harder about trying to squeeze into one myself ......... okay, let's quickly abandon that thought and move on! Fortunately, all we needed this day were life jackets for the trip up the James River to the dock on Presquile.

 

Here is the view we had from the ferry dock on the mainland and across the James River to the ferry dock on Presquile Island (we would be going up the river to a different dock). There is a cable across the river that the ferry runs on. This is also the main channel for boats and barges taking cargo up and down the river. The actual river makes a big bend around Presquile, but to make a 'straighter shot' for the commercial boat/barge traffic, this deep channel was put in.

 

While we were waiting for Cyrus to arrive with the boat, we watched some of the river traffic and since I had not observed this part of the river before, I was somewhat surprised at the size of the ships and barges - much, much larger than I had previously realized. Our observation spot was also near an Osprey nest .... no activity on this particular one while we were there, but we saw Ospreys flying in the distance, carrying branches and nesting material.

 

 

When the jon boat arrived, the first group loaded up for the trip to Presquile -  we had enough people that two trips were necessary so as not to overload the boat. It was a little chilly as the wind blew past, but it was wonderful to be out on the river and taking in the views. Going on a work trip by boat is an experience that most of us don't have all that often, so it certainly added a lot of excitement to our day.

 

At the dock on Presquile, we unloaded all the gear. The sawyers had to bring the chainsaws and their PPE. See that brown bag on the boat seat (left pic) and how carefully Cyrus is handing it up to Fran in the picture on the right? Those are Fran's famous chocolate pecan pies that she makes for special occasions ..... we certainly don't want anything to happen to those pies before lunch! The view up the river (original river, not the boat channel) is just gorgeous from here.

 

 

On Presquile, the first group did some hanging out and looked around at the former caretaker's house where the water had just been turned on so the bathroom was functional (yay!), the equipment sheds, and the scenery in general. The island has a marshy area, but today, we were going to be working on the part that was formerly crop fields and grazing land for cattle.

 

Once the second boatload arrived, the sawyers and other helpers got busy on their project. There are some really huge old trees on this part of the island, around the area where an old house used to be. Quite a few large branches had come down, some that were as big as small trees themselves. The branches were all cut up and load by load, hauled away to a spot in the field. The pile got bigger and bigger as the day went on - quite an impressive looking pile by the time the cleanup was finished.

 

Views of Presquile near the 'lower' end .... open fields, big trees. The fences were still up around two pastures and three of us were tasked with taking down one those fences. The first job was taking off the 'clips' that held the woven wire to the metal fence posts. Lori did that job and worked ahead while Fran and I "jacked" the posts out of the ground. We had quite a little system going ..... I got the metal 'jack' in place on the post and held it while Fran applied the power to the handle. As the post started coming up, I held on to it and when it was finally out, took it to a pile while Fran moved the jack to the next post, I came back and got the jack in place on the post ..... and on it went ... sort of like this:

 

Let me just say that most of those posts weren't as difficult as the second one in the video; however, the hard ones would not have come out of the ground without "Fran Power" on the handle end of the jack .... and I speak from experience!!! 

 

 

The fence ran along a road, so once we got the wire off the posts, we dragged the long sections out into the road bed where there was no long grass to get tangled in it .... this was no small job.   In the pictures above, you can see how long the sections were that we were dealing with (those specks way in the distance - that's us, at the end of the wire section!). The next job was to roll it and to roll it 'tight'. Cyrus said he wanted it tight enough he could pick up the rolls with his front-end loader - I think we exceeded his expectations. The trick to a tight roll was starting it right and keeping it tight from the very beginning .... speed is not your friend here.  We had to keep adjusting the roll to keep the wire straight as we added more and it took two people on the roll itself and one out front, pulling the wire straight and tight. Of course, as the roll got bigger, it got heavier ... much heavier!!

 

So here are pictures at the end of the day for the 'fence crew' ... the guys came by with the front-end loader and picked up the piles of fence posts, putting them in the front bucket for hauling away. Later, Cyrus returned to get those "beautiful" rolls of old woven wire.

 

If I remember correctly, we had hotdogs and hamburgers that day for lunch, along with some Brunswick stew. Being on an island, you can't call for a pizza or sub delivery so Cyrus provided the food and did the grilling (he always feeds the volunteers well!). We also had those wonderful chocolate pecan pies for dessert.  Since we are accustomed to working in the mountains for a full day, we got back to work after lunch and kept on going (lots of fence to come down, lots of branches to cut up and haul). Finally, around four, Cyrus called to us that he was not going to be feeding us supper .... time to pack it up and get off the island, so we wrapped up our projects and got our gear together for the trip home. It had been a gorgeous day and late in the afternoon, we noticed some striking cloud patterns .... beautiful cirrus clouds in a very blue sky that signaled a change in the weather was probably on the way - we were just thankful we had such a wonderful day for our work trip.

 

So, it was back in the jon boat for the return trip(s) down the James and back to the ferry dock on the mainland. This group picture may have been taken before our trip .... but we were all still happy at the end of the day as well.  There's nothing like a day in a special place, doing work that you know makes a difference and working with Cyrus is always a pleasure.

 

One last view down the James River - you can see Shirley Plantation (Virginia's first plantation, founded in 1613).  If you go to this link ...

 

 Shirley Plantation location/Presquile NWR 

 

... you will see Shirley Plantation located on the little map on the right. Use the map control arrows to scroll up (and around) to see Presquile NWR and the boat channel, and also the original river bend around the island.  You can also 'zoom in' and take a look at Presquile ... see the buildings & surrounding large trees on the cleared area of the island, follow the road down to the ferry dock (this is the road along which we took down fence) .... look across the river and see the ferry dock on the mainland.  If you go up the river channel from the ferry and around the island on the right, you will also see the dock where we landed with the jon boat - you can also locate it by finding the biggest shed, then following the dirt track to the left, which leads to the dock.

 

 

~Merlot

 

 

 

Note: Since this is a fairly long post, more info on Presquile NWR itself will be in the 'Partner Preview' post, including a map link so you can see the island, James River, the shipping channel, etc. & with points of interest on Presquile itself, located on the map.

 

(Photos: all photos & video by Lori A.)