Construction Work Begins

On Monday, October 29th, LJ Construction began working at the Leslie Park Golf Course. They pumped down the north pond.

They made a diversion channel to change the flow of Traver Creek while they work on the north pond.

They started stripping topsoil from the area to the west of #14 tee and stockpiling it for use later. This is an area where spoils from the pond will be moved.

New tee for #10

With the Traver Creek Project set to start at the end of October, we have begun construction of of new forward tee on #10. When Leslie Park opens back up in April, the front half of #10 fairway will be raised to eliminate drainage issues and re-sodded. Until the fairway is able to sustain play, we will use this new tee as the teeing grounds for all play on this hole. It will be around 220 yards long, but because of the creek running in front of the green, staff still thinks it will play as a par 4.

The new tee is on the right side, just after the beginning of the fairway. We stripped the sod and set it out in the parking lot while we built the tee up. The above picture shows the area after we stripped the sod and leveled out the hill that was there. We have just started to put down fill.

The workmen line up to dump the loads of topsoil.

Getting close.

This is pretty close to the final product.

The teeing surface is painted out and lined up.

Sod was taken from the fairway to lay on the tee.

The rough surrounding the tee got a little dry while in the parking lot, but should pull through.

Laying out the tee.

Now it just needs to grow in. It should be ready to go by April 1st.

Turtle Relocation - Status Update Week 3 (Oct. 1 - 5)

Week 3 - Day 1: After a disappointing week of not finding any turtles, spirits were low heading into the third week. That is why we were pleasantly surprised to find turtle tracks in the muck at the north pond. This was a good sign of what was to come. By the end of the day we had caught and relocated 4 turtles! (One large female, two males and one juvenile-all painted turtles). Interestingly enough, there were no turtles in our nets. Instead, they were spotted basking and swimming in both the north and south ponds. Special thanks goes to our super volunteer Sean Zera for wading through the muck and algae in order to rescue these turtles.

Week 3 - Day 2: The second day was almost as eventful as the first! The dynamic duo of David Mifsud and Sean Zera spotted a green frog and another juvenile painted turtle, however both herptiles managed to get away. We also heard a spring peeper calling near the south pond. But   the star of the day was a male snapping turtle that David Mifsud found in the marshy area next to the south pond.  

Week 3 - Day 3: Nothing to report today. Cooler temperatures must have scared the turtles away ...Hoping for better luck tomorrow!

Week 3 - Day 4: NAP's intern, Josh Goldman, found a female snapper in one of our traps at the south pond. Sean Zera bravely wrestled her out of the net-she was a feisty one! Her estimated age is 40 years and she weighs about 20 pounds. In addition, Sean Zera and David Mifsud rescued a beautiful female Butler's garter snake that was trying to cross Traver Road.

Turtle Relocation - Status Update Week 2 (Sept. 24 - 28)

Despite our best efforts, no turtles were found in the south pond during the second week of relocation. The weather was not as pleasant as the first week, so perhaps the turtles were seeking refuge in the muck. However, we did find a bunch of fish and a couple crayfish in our nets.

In addition to searching for turtles in the south pond, a team was sent to draw down the water level in the north pond. We were hoping that a lower water level might encourage turtles to move around more, enabling us to catch them with scoop nets, but this method proved to be unsuccessful.