Our time at Aransas flew by. It is already time for us to say goodbye to the familiar staff and the new group of volunteers that we have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know. It looks like we may cross paths with several of them in our 2016 travels…it should make for some fun reunions.
We are lending a hand to a local group, Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island National Refuge. They have some pretty ambitious plans for a native plant pollinator garden. The first steps include clearing and applying stone to a pathway, running irrigation lines, and building fence to keep feral hogs out. It is some pretty serious shovel work but things are shaping up.
Ready for the Plants
When they get to the planting phase it is out of my hands. I can’t tell plantings from weeds!
The concept of Friends groups that support federal and state lands is amazingly widespread. They seem to be grassroots local groups that raise money, advocate for and provide volunteer resources to support operations and special projects. I suppose it is a sign of the funding priorities of both levels of government. It’s not all bad though. Involvement of locals is certainly a healthy thing for all of these properties. Perhaps one day when we settle somewhere….
Benches to provide seating for naturalist classes and to create storage for those ubiquitous gulf coast home décor items, hurricane shutters. 
We built and installed them on the second floor porch of the visitor center here at Aransas. They aren’t exactly fine furniture but not too bad looking!
A bunch of us checked out the view from the tower in the light of the huge full moon…after we chased off the vultures from their nightly roost.
It is a very different looking place under that shimmery glow. Cold too, we had our parkas on!
We shared an enjoyable dinner catching up with Shauna and Glen. They volunteered here at Aransas last year at the same time as we did and are back in the area. Facebook is an ok way to keep in touch but a real live get together is really more fun. It gave us a chance to spend some time off the clock with Dave (Wanda was there too of course), that’s always fun too.
Here it is, 
the much awaited rail trail bridge. Not too bad I’d say.
Off days, Holidays and some wet weather are delaying bridge construction. The span is at about ¾ across so we ought to finish this next week. Kent has been sidelined with a nasty chest cold and ear infection. He is resting lots and choking down antibiotic and yummy cough medicine. We are looking forward to him being back on the job when the whole team returns on Tuesday.
The resident flock meandered through camp. Now I am just waiting to see the javalina family. Coolish weather has kept alligator sightings down but deer and feral hogs appear regularly. Whooping cranes can be seen most any day with just a little effort.
Day one of work on the bridge brought only a tiny water moccasin and a rather brazen raccoon, no alligators. Both approaches had already been cleared and the deck removed from the old bridge so we got right to it. There was a bit of construction-start head scratching but six of us toiled all day and made decent progress.
We are back in Texas at the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. Much of today was spent setting up camp and checking in with some of the 2016 locals. We found enough time to stroll the closest trail and check out the planned project worksite. If the weather holds (ie no rain) we start work tomorrow.