Saylorville Lake Rainy 77 Degrees
This is the last mild day for a while. We go right back to mid 90's with high humidity and storms continuing. It is a hot summer by Iowa standards. Random hot days are common this time of year but consistent 90 degree heat with 100 degree heat indexes is usually saved for July through about mid August. I know my friends in Texas are saying "oh whaaa, we have that all summer" After freezing in sub-zero temps all winter, Iowan's acclimate slowly to the heat.
Champ has been busy with natural resources placing water bladders around new trees to provide them with consistent moisture as they get established. (Who knew it would start raining everyday?) The latest project has been planting several hundred prairie plugs. What is a prairie plug? I wish I had a picture. Neal Smith Wild Life Refuge in Prairie City provides them to the Corps for Prairie Restoration projects. They are simply a core root plug of a young prairie flower or bit of native prairie grass. The plug is approximately 1" in diameter and about 6" long. Champ and the rangers take a small auger and make a nice clean hole to drop it in. It is part of the very ambitious restoration work going on at Saylorville, that has included the removal of several hundred invasive tree species, 100's of acres of prescribed burning, planting nearly 1500 native tree saplings and now the flower and grass plugs.
If there is a silver lining to the record rain fall, it is that all the new saplings are getting plenty of moisture to help them get established and thrive in their new home. Flooding is the theme of the month here. Saylorville and the rivers that run through Des Moines headline the evening news and we watch everyday as areas go underwater. Here are some comparison photos to give you an idea of what is going on here. The lake will continue to rise for another 7 or 8 days. Everyone involved is holding their breath and hoping for the best.
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Until tomorrow...
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