June 22 monitoring trip to C. R. K. Allen Nature Reserve

TREPA owns the C. R. K. Allen Nature Reserve at the north end of Gilfillan Lake near East Quinan.  The Reserve includes a diversity of threatened Atlantic coastal plains flora, including a major plantation of the Plymouth Gentian along the lake shore.

The public is welcome to visit the reserve, but not on motorized transport, and to take only pictures and leave only footprints.

Here is President Margrit Robinson’s report from a visit she and her husband, Leslie, made this June 22:

On June 22, 2011 Leslie and I visited the CRK Allen Nature Reserve.  On the North side of the track to the reserve, on a tree, is a small plaque saying “Nature Conservancy, Natural Area, Owned and managed for conservation”, a 1-800 number and their website.

The monument is standing and in good condition.  There were fresh ATV tracks and where there is a permanent, deep puddle, a new track has been made around the puddle.  An elderly woman and a girl appeared on an ATV; they were delighted that “they have made a new path around the puddle”.  We talked to her, she was well aware of why the blocks were near the beach but did not seem to understand the bigger concept of conservation/preservation.  She mentioned that she has the pictures of the special flowers and took a photo of the woodfrog we spotted.  She was friendly and invited us to visit her at the cottage on Gilfillen Lake.  She mentioned that more driveways were gated now which would help to prevent people from riding through the brook.  They then rode on the “new path” to the bottom but not onto the spit.

On the shore there were the usual 2 fire pits, a frying pan, a shoe, a burned tent, including fiberglass poles (from last year), fresh fish remnants and we picked up a small amount of garbage.

There were tracks into the stream but no tracks around the spit or along the shore on the other side of the cement blocks.  The water was quite high, too wet to walk along the shore.