October 2012 Weather Summary

The High Temperature for October 2012 was 76.4 degrees on the 24th. The lowest temperature recorded was 29.2 (11th.)  The average temperature was 51.0. Four days had low temps below 32 degrees.

There was 3.11 inches of rain in the month. The maximum daily rain was 0.83 inches (13th.) There were 17 days with a trace of rain or more. Nine of these days had more than a tenth of an inch. The total rain for the year is 18.36 inches.

The highest sustained wind was 34.0 mph, on the 29th. This was concurrent with "SuperStorm Sandy." The highest wind gust was not recorded, but there were reports of 50+ mph gusts in the area.

Catching Up

October has been a busy month. We have finished aerifying. We have blown out the irrigation. The leaves are falling. The Traver Creek Project begins next week. Some thoughts about what has been going on.

Last week, we had some scuff marks on #11 green one morning. As David was blowing the oak leaves off the green in preperation for mowing, he uncovered a broken deer antler. Apparently, two young bucks were working off some testosterone and one of them had a lot more than the other.

On Tuesday, we got the air compressor we use to empty the water from the irrigation lines so they don't freeze. Click here to read more about the process. This year, after we were done with the compressor, we took it over to Tony at Calderone Farms Golf Club near Grass Lake.

Here is a video I shot today on #9. The leaves on the oak leaves are falling like rain. This might give you some idea of the amount of time we spend in a day to keep the greens and tees clear of leaves. We also try to hit every fairway at least once. It can be frustrating to work for a half-an-hour to clear off a fairway, only to look back later and not tell that you have done anything. The only consolation is knowing that it would have been worse, if we had not blown it off before.

The Traver Creek Project is scheduled to begin on Monday, October 29th. The pond on #17 is being drawn down in order to facilitate dredging. It is about 2 feet below where it was during the height of this summer's drought. You can see the sediment build-up in the center of the pond.

New Forward Tee on #10

With the Traver Creek Project (also see http://travercreekproject.blogspot.com/) 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.

September 2012 Weather Summary

The leaves have started to turn here at Leslie Park Golf Course. Soon, they will be falling off the trees and covering the greens. Until then, come out and enjoy some of the best weather of the year for golf.

The highest temperature recorded at Leslie Park in September was 86.2 degrees (Sept 3rd). The lowest temperature was 36.6 (24th) which was also the first day we had frost. The average for the month was 61.8 degrees. For the month of October, the average high temp on the first is 68. By Halloween, the average high temperature falls down to 55 degrees.

We received 2.22 inches of rain in September. The maximum daily rain was 0.62 inches on the 14th. 13 days had at least a trace of rain while 5 days had over a tenth of an inch. That brings the yearly total to 15.25 inches of rain.

The high wind speed was 24 miles per hour (5th.) Average speed for the month was just 1.6 mph.

Turtle results

The trapping on the pond by #17 green is almost done. We were able to relocate 5 painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) and 4 large snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina.) to the pond by #8 green.

Here are some pictures and videos.

David Mifsud, City of Ann Arbor herpetologist, taking one of the snapping turtles out of the transportation tub.

This guy was estimated to be up to 70 years old.

This smaller female was thought to be 40-50 years old.

Just to clear up some things about this project. This will be a joint undertaking between the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commision, The City of Ann Arbor and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The main point of the project is not enhancement of the golf course, although that will be a secondary benefit, but to reduce phosphorus and sediment flowing into the Huron River and to minimize stream fluctuations after large rain events. 

Funding for the project will come from the City of Ann Arbor Stormwater maintenance fund, with up to 50% loan forgiveness from the State of Michigan because of environmental improvements to the storm drain (Traver Creek.) 

The permit from the MDEQ contains the following "Prior to hibernation, turtles shall be trapped from the north and south detention basins and be relocated to undisturbed sites by a qualified herpetologist."

Turtle Relocation

As part of the Traver Creek Restoration Project through the City of Ann Arbor owned Leslie Park Golf Course, a permit was submitted to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ.) To satisfy the MDEQ permit of the project, turtles and other herptofauna will be relocated from the two inline detention basins (AKA ponds on holes #12 and #17) on Traver Creek in the Golf Course.  This week, barrier fencing was installed around the pond on hole number 8 at the LPGC to receive and retain relocated animals before the construction starts.

The City of Ann Arbor's Natural Area Preservation's (NAP) staff Herpetologist, David Mifsud, will coordinate the relocation efforts with assistance from NAP staff and volunteers. The hope is that we will be able to relocate the majority of the animals from the ponds well within the time needed for them to successfully overwinter in the relocated area.  NAP will document all collected animals and monitor the receiver area(s) in subsequent years to qualitatively assess the results of the relocation.

The turtles will be live trapped with hoop traps baited with sardines. There will be six of each of three different size traps for a total of 18 traps. Here are some pictures of the traps.

The smallest trap. Notice the yellow, foam swim toy (noodle) which will help keep the trap afloat.

Here is the largest size trap.

Putting the traps out.

The traps need to be staked out so they don't float away.

These nets will help direct turtles into the traps. They hit the net and follow it until they get to the trap.

Here is the set up with one of the large nets.

Another perspective of the traps in the water.

This is the pond on #8 where the turtles and other animals will be relocated.

The silt fence will keep the animals from trying to move back to the pond where we are trapping them.

If you have interest in helping with this project please contact Tina Roselle, the Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator for the City of Ann Arbor's Natural Area Preservation at troselle@a2gov.org or call NAP at (734) 794-6627. 

You can also check out the NAP website at www.a2gov.org/nap 

August 2012 Monthly Weather Summary

This summary is a couple of days late, due to the Labor Day weekend and aerification of greens that was completed Tuesday and Wednesday. The practice green was done last week and after 7 days, the holes have almost completely healed. This is great news and I am hopeful that the rest of the greens will have as speedy of a recovery. This is the advantage of aerifying the greens now instead of late October. Later in the fall, the holes may not totally heal and you run the risk of having the aerification holes until the following spring. In a couple of weeks, golfers will be asking when we are going to aerify, since they will (hopefully) not be able to tell that we have already done them.

The high temperature for August was 92.7 degrees Fahrenheit (August 3rd) and the low was 47.3 (Aug 18th.) Compare that with June (98.3 degrees) and July (100.3.) and you can see that the temperatures are starting to come down. There were 3 days with high temperatures above 90.0 degrees. June had 5 and July had 10. The average temperature for the month was 70.1 degrees.

We also got some much needed rain in August with a total rainfall for the moth of 2.81 inches. The maximum rain was 1.18 inches on the 10th. We had 9 days of at least a trace of rain and 4 days where over a tenth of an inch fell. The yearly total rainfall at Leslie Park is 13.14 inches.

The highest wind speed recorded was 33.0 mph on August 4th. The average wind speed was just 1.7 mph.