November 16, 2012:
Workday on Chester Island began with a cool, breezy, and bumpy ride to the island. As usual the crew gathered at Clark’s to meet the boats. Calvin Jackson took part of the crew to the island in his Parker Boat and the rest of the crew went in the Audubon Egret II. Both boats carried supplies and equipment for the dock and planting projects.

Dock Extension: Upon arrival, all of the volunteers helped carry lumber for the dock project to the beach and then unloaded the rest of the supplies. Because of erosion (more rapid then ever), the dock is no longer connected to the island—volunteers fixed that during workday by extending the pier about twenty feet. Jeremy Cecil, Gary Eskelson, and Justin Gage worked on the dock extension project.

Casuarina Trees Planted: Led by Curtis Short with Formosa, forty plus Casuarina trees were planted on the island to provide habitat for the birds. The plants were donated by Formosa Plastics from their Tejano Agricultural & Environmental Research Center. These trees are an evergreen shrub that grows in the tropics and produces small cones. It has slender branches making it look like a wispy conifer. It is frequently planted as wind-break and should provide excellent habitat for the colonial waterbirds that nest on the ground, e.g. gulls, herons, pelicans, terns, and skimmers. Curtis Short, Brenda Eskelson, Jennifer White, Ethan Perry, and Steve Tripp (all veteran volunteers who have planted hundreds of trees on the island) worked on installing the Casuarina trees in their new location.

Besides the dock extension and tree planting, volunteers were also busy with other activities during workday, including:

• Beach cleanup
• Treating the island for fire ants
• Installation of a new “posted” sign to inform the boating public that the island is a bird sanctuary and landing is prohibited.
• Weedeating , fertilizing and watering past tree plantings
• Setting traps around the shed for predators
• And sadly—plugging the water well.

The End of the Windmill: The windmill, a familiar landmark on Chester Island, was installed prior to 2000. The well and windmill was funded by a grant from Ducks Unlimited as part of a Texas Prairie Wetlands Project grant. Between 2000 and 2003 Volunteers installed pipe from the windmill to five different ponds on the island. In 2003, volunteers actually ate their lunch on a grassy slope in front of the windmill. The ponds provided habitat for nesting and migrating birds and helped to sustain various tree plots planted nearby. Many of these trees have survived and are still providing nesting habitat years later. Twelve years later, the location of the windmill has become so eroded that it had to be removed. In April of 2012, when two legs of the windmill were exposed and hanging free, the well man disconnected the well so that the tower could be saved. At the beginning of November Warden Tim Wilkinson and Wayne Ducote removed the pipe from the well two weeks prior to workday. During the the Fall Workday, Calvin Jackson and Ethan Perry finished plugging the water well—the final step in removing the well.

The 2012 Fall Workday volunteers included: W.T. “Dub” Wilkinson, Victoria Fluitt, Jeremy Cecil (front left), Warden Tim Wilkinson, Jennifer White, Steve Tripp, Justin Gage, Gary Eskelson, Ethan Perry, Brenda Eskelson, Curtis Short, Calvin Jackson, and Peggy Wilkinson.

Many thanks to all of our volunteers, to Calvin Jackson who generously provides his boat to take volunteers to the island, and to Formosa Plastic for sponsoring the workday, providing lunch for the volunteers and their efforts in providing new trees for the island.

Be sure to view the photos from the Fall Workday at:
chesterisland.smugmug.com!