RSVP & the Habitat Stewards Program, Spring 2006 Day 3
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My Trips:

After stopping by the RSVP office to pick up the lunches (yes, they trusted me with them!) I headed out to Black Pond. Although I have been to the dunes (Don't ask about getting my MG Midget buried in a dune in the 60's), I have never been that far North. I arrived quite a bit early - it gave me some time to take a few photographs before the tour started. A beautiful location with a wide variety of habitat. Almost no one here - I met a couple of fisherman & a man training his Lab. I wandered up & down the boardwalk & beach enjoying the quiet, the birds & flowers.

Black Pond Wildlife Management Area, Jefferson County, NY	The Start of the Boardwalk	Wild Geranium	Black Pond
Black Pond	Purple Trillium	Yellow Violet	Black Pond Outlet
Some of the Wildlife	Black Pond	Black Pond	Lake Ontario at the Black Pond Outlet

The rest of the class arrived around 11:00. We passed out the lunch, and Sandy Bonanno gave us a wonderful tour of the site. She amazed us all, knowing the names of everything from plant to bird. We saw examples of native as well as invasives - we got to know garlic mustard personally, pulling armfuls from the back side of a couple of dunes. It was interesting to see how the beach area has recovered - much of this area was summer camps with campers, roads & trails before it became a DEC Wildlife Management Area. With the replanting of the dunes & shoreline with beach grass, no ATVs and limited foot traffic the dunes are rebuilding themselves.

Everyone took a bag to pick up trash - we collected quite a pile, but there is still lots of clean up to do. There is a ongoing Dune Stewards program using college student interns & volunteers to work with land owners and visitors to protect Eastern Lake Ontario's 17 mile stretch of barrier beaches and dunes, but it really take the participation of everyone using this wonderful resource.

Lunch!	Signs Along the Boardwalk	Beer Bottle Just Below a Sign - It's Gone Now!	Rare Beach Cherry
Sandy and the Class at the End of the Boardwalk	Cape Grass (Non-native planted to stabilize & build the dunes)	Native Grass	Our Collection of Garbage

Although there was a prediction of rain, it held off for the day, not starting until we returned to our cars for the trip home. If you have not visited the parks and wildlife areas along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, you are missing an unusual and beautiful part of the lake.

Day Four:

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