A Grand Island Adventure with Alice!
Today, I took a hike along the roads and trails of Beaver Island State Park with the Grand Island Rotary Club. Diane Evans was the docent who shared information about the trees and other plants, as well as some of the birds, along the route. My phone, with its “Picture This” app, was the assistant docent. It is really fun to have a smart phone app that can identify plants, as well as give information about those plants. We saw a variety of trees and other plants, including common buckthorn (very invasive), white campion, biennial guara (a species of the evening primrose family), purple loosestrife (very invasive), showy tick-trefoil, silver maple, jewelweed, black locust, fireberry hawthorn, bitternut hockory, boneset, autumn hawkbit, black locust, and eastern cottonwood. Despite the many dead ash trees, Beaver Island still felt alive in plant life.
insects burrow under the stem and produce a gall. This is one of those galls that lasted through the winter. The insect inside the gall, however, has passed away.
It’s the fungus among us!
Diane Evans shows off wildflowers near the entrance to River Lea, the home of the Grand Island Historical Society. Nearby is a small garden of native plants, designed and planted by Eagle Scout Jacob Hamilton.
This is the trail that goes from River Lea to the East River marsh, where kayaks are launched.
The Grand Island Rotary Club has adopted a trail in Beaver Island State Park. Their name is on the plaque. In exchange, they organize several cleanups a year of the section of the Beaver Island State Park and its trails.
