Hurricane Sandy, Battery Weed

Sea Wall Damage

Sea Wall Damage

for more information see... 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_Weed

Battery Weed, a 19th Century fortification located at Ft. Wadsworth, sustained some minor damage to the outer sea wall during the Hurricane.  

Battery Weed

My Huricane Sandy Experience, Great Kills

On Sunday 11-11-12, I worked at Great Kills Park of Gateway National Recreation Area.  Below you can see me ready to do some Trail work.  You can faintly see the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the background to the left just above Great Kills Harbor.  

I also did some tree-climbing.  The boat "Sonny Boy" ended up under a Mulberry Tree after the Hurricane.  I removed part of the tree so equipment could come in to retrieve the vessel without further damage (see picture of the tree after pruning).  The owner is an interesting retired gentleman with a thick New York Accent.  He was greatly concerned about saving his boat and visited us 3 times throughout the day to make sure we did a good job.

Three boats landed in this immediate area and have likely been removed by now. Great Kills reopened to the public on Friday 11-23-12.  More information about Gateway can be found at...
http://www.nps.gov/gate/index.htm

An Exciting Time for Ballston Pond!

Ballston Pond is about to undergo major renovations.  I visited the site today to check on the journal entries and found that my journal was gone and replaced with the following flyer.

Although I was disappointed to find my journal missing, I was very excited to see a fox from the observation deck (11/4/2012 at 3:00 pm).  It is hard to see.  Look closely in the upper right quadrant of the photo for the light brown creature just below the reeds (Cattails).

I found a wealth of information on the county website regarding Ballston Pond renovations.  Link below.
http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/EnvironmentalServices/Sustainability/page75451.aspx

There is also an official Blog for Ballston Pond.  Link Below.
http://ballstonpond.us/

Aerial View of Ballston Pond using ArcGIS 10.1

Ballston Pond Journal Updates (Anonymous), 9/23/2012-10/17/2012

9/23 8:30am I noticed excessive bubbles coming from the water in the pond.

9/27 4:30pm bubbles continue emanating from water, loud chirping from insects.  A chipmunk was seen just below observation deck.

10/4 6:00pm noticed about ½ dozen frogs jump into pond.  Looks like frogs are bobbing their heads up and down in the water.

10/5 5:12pm unusual foul odor, associated with excessive rain.  Lots of insects

10/6 3:21 pm nothing unusual observed!

10/8 16:02 noticed one large rat (?genus) scampering just below observation deck.  No Beavers to be seen at this time.

10/8 Noticed Rat going toward pond away from deck

10/8 Pen missing, Replaced 10/17/12

Introduction

Below you will find some pictures of the Ballston Beaver Pond.  This pond is located in Arlington, VA.  I am researching the Ballston Beaver Pond as part of my Graduate Studies at Virginia Tech.  Please note on the left side of the observation deck there is an area to record observations.  I welcome and encourage anyone interested to include any observations in the Journal.  More blog updates will be coming soon.

A view of Ballston Pond

Observation Deck

Concrete Dam