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October 04, 2001 - Phragmites: friend and foeThe Suffolk Times • October 4, 2001 Phra ites. 0 friend and foe WE HAVEN'T HAD OUR CAMPER Out since I had both my knees replaced but seeing I'm getting around better now, Barbara and I thought it would be fun to camp at Smith Point County Park on Fire Island for a week. That name Fire Island brings back such fond memories for both of us, since we lived there summers when I worked for the National Seashore. We were soon on the expressway heading west to William Floyd Parkway, where we swung south and drove until we hit the county Focus park with its huge parking field and campground to the ON east. We found a nice spot NATURE overlooking the Great South 1Z Bay where it narrows down to by Paul Smith Point. Stoutenburgh We had arrived late in the afternoon and only had time for a walk around the park, but the next morning we were up early to check on any .birds that might be migrating through. We saw strings of cormorant, heading west. These slender - bodied, dark birds with their long necks and slender, hooked bills migrate in large V-shaped flocks like migrating geese, but are silent when flying. The name cor- morant means "sea crow." Then we saw the strangest thing. Tree swallows that normally use the barrier beach as their feeding grounds as they move westward on their migration were heading east. Evidently there were no flying insects to the west so the word was put out, head east. It actually put them in the opposite direction of their usual migration. Most were tree swallows, the ones with the white bellies. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh One of the colorful shrubs of fall is the staghom sumac with its colorful leaves and cone - shaped seed head of crimson berries. It makes a good wild food that can often last throughout the winter. Some peo- ple make a tea out of Its berries. It was nice to see the park had saved a natural buffer of wild cherry, shad, bayberry, Virginia creeper, sumac, rosa rugosa, high -tide bush and a host of other plants between the campsites and the water. This area was off limits and secured by a four -foot chain -link fence. Along with the various plants was that devilish invader, phragmites, the tall reedlike plant that we find along most wet areas. In the fall its big plume spreads its seeds via little air- borne silken parachutes. This is one reason it has spread so far and wide. These little floating seeds drift everywhere. It's not unusual to see phragmites growing away from the water, along our highways, in fields of just anywhere there's enough moisture for the seeds to germinate. Once germinated they send out underground runners up to 50 feel long on which grow a continuous line of new shoots. It does have some good points, even though it's invaded our salt- and freshwater marshes, and in many places has replaced or almost replaced the native plants that once grew there. Its rootstock is about as dense a system as you can find, and because of this and its invading qualities, phrag- mites can act as a strong deterrent to erosion. In many areas where erosion takes place you'll see clusters of bare roots still holding on along the ' water's edge, even after all the sand and soil parti- cles have washed away. Phragmites also acts as a filtering agent. As a matter of fact, it has been used in critical road runoff areas, specifically to help absorb pollutants and filter the murky water. We have two of these manmade reed beds in our town, one on Skunk Lane in Cutchogue, the other on Boisseau Avenue in Southold. These reed beds are man's way of tak- ing advantage of phragmites' good properties. How to get rid of phragmites? That's a touchy question because usually phragmites is near a marsh area and these marsh areas come under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. So if you're thinking of eliminating it, you should first get permission from the DEC. Phragmites is a tough one to elimi- nate, for no matter now well you work at it, as tim( goes by, it will sneak back in and you'll find your- self fighting the same battle over and over again. And where did all this phragmites come from, you ask. Most can't remember seeing it when they were young. I myself can't remember seeing it whet I was a teenager in any great quantities anywhere in the Town of Southold, but that was a long time ago. Has it just appeared in recent years? We did a little checking and found that years ago Roy Latham, the renowned naturalist of Orient, found the first single small stand of this grass in Orient in 1900. He reported a second stand of a few plants in Cutchogue in 1918 and by 1920 the species had appeared in a number of places on the South Fork, plus new localities on the North Fork. These were all small, insignificant patches. It has been suggested that there is a new strain of phragmites that is more aggressive and persistent than the earlier stands and this might account for the seemingly rapid spread it has had in the past 20 to 30 years. This aggressiveness, coupled with man's disturbance of the land through dredge spoil areas and other activities along the waterfront, has given phragmites the perfect opportunity to spread. As a point of interest, phragmites is known throughout the world in one form or another. Let's get back to our buffer zone along the Manmade reed waterway at the camp- ground at Smith Point. beds take It was good to see the advantage of park had wisely left this belt of green. We saw phragmites' many brown thrashers good properties. and catbirds feeding on the bumper crop of berries this area had to offer. Like all migrating birds, they were waiting for that northwest wind to help them along on their migration route, but see- ing there was no wind that day they were busy refu- eling with berries and insects. It was good to see the brown thrashers, for they seem to have left our woods back home. With my binoculars I could see red - breasted mer- gansers. These diving ducks were feeding just off shore. They had moved in from the north and will probably be with us throughout the winter. These mergansers have long, pointed bills armed with rows of sharp, tooth -like projections that enable them to hold onto the slippery killifish and others that they live on. So remember, if you want to enjoy a short fall outing, head for the William Floyd Parkway. Go south as far as you can and you're at Smith Point County Park with Fire Island National Seashore just to the west. Get out your hiking boots and see this world- renowned barrier beach complex. In these trying times, a little outdoors goes a long way in bringing you back to reality. Take a little time to get out, and your world might just become a bit more stable. Just finding a little space for your- self sometimes helps. In this time of confusion and concern we soon learn there are others with greater problems than our own.