Several of the refuge trails have sections of elevated boardwalks because of the wet and high water conditions here at times. These have been in place for many years and have reached the end of their safe use. Kent and I started taking out some at another unit of the refuge last week. There were five sections totaling close to a half of a mile. This is what it looks like before we start.
The first thing we do is pry all of the boards loose. We had another volunteer here make us a couple of specialized pry bars to make this task a little easier. Then we drive along with a tractor with forks on the front to haul out the deck boards.
After the deck boards are removed, we have to cut the stringers loose from the posts with a saw and haul them out. Then we come through with the tractor again and pull the posts and haul them out.
We have to be on the lookout for snakes while we are working here, this one was under a pile of posts that I was picking up to load. Yes, it is a cottonmouth. Luckily we both remained calm and left each other alone.
We finished tearing everything out this week and and while we are waiting for a dumpster to load it into, we are going to start repairing this section of boardwalk that is not going to be torn out yet.
This is a typical sunrise that greets me when I step out the door to go to work in the morning.
