Hypothesis

I propose some potential research: Deer Flies actually get a high off of DEET. That is why it doesn't work on them.

Someone needs to research that.

Casual rare

That picture over there is an American Avocet. I saw one on the beach last evening. Very cool since according to Aves.net it is uncommon to see them as they migrate through in the spring time. I identified it with the help of my intern-mates, Lindsay and John, who are doing a bird study here. They went out and got some video of it. It's usually seen on the east coast or in the western third of the US.

I also got to look at some water fleas today under the microscope. Some of you are probably thinking, "Wow. Water fleas. That's reeeeeeaaaalllly exciting." I, however, have not gotten to see too many under the scope and was wondering what all the swimming grains of sand were out by the beach. That's one of the great things about doing this intern stuff, you get to learn so much more than what's in your job description.

So what have I been doing the past few days. Well, the Division of Wildlife Information and Education department from the various districts came up for a meeting. I got to meet them and sit in on their meeting. I found out that there will be meetings coming up to help correlate Project Learning Tree, Wet, and Wild, and also Healthy Water and Healthy People, to the Social Studies standards. I may not be able to actively help, but I might attend a future session just to see how the process works.

I learned that the Environmental Education Council of Ohio is having a confrfence in April and that Becoming an Outdoor Woman is having a workshop at the end of September. I'll go to that if I can manage. (Here's the organization's main site if you're interested.) I got a groovy pin for the Passport to Fishing. Dad and I would have totally been involved in this if it were around when I was a kid. I can still go through this if I want to now and I have every intention on joining the ODNR folks who put this on.

For those of you in the Columbus, OH and surrounding area, there's going to be an osprey banding at Alum Creek on July 3rd.

That's just a sampling of what went on. Everyone there was very nice and very passionate about community education. We watched a live broadcast on diversity in regards to public recruitment. Not everyone may have liked it but it got them talking. I learned a little more about the ins and outs of doing things on a state level. (Loving the FoodGate jokes. OSU faculty and staff will appreciate that one.)

Through looking up this link stuff, I found the site for Discover a Watershed, which I may be able to use for my independant project. Speaking of which....I've not told you guys about my independant project!

Topic is watersheds. With the start up of the Firelands Coastal Tributaries Watershed Action Plan, and with much brain-picking at Old Woman Creek, I have determined a need for Watershed education. Most people don't realize that they live in a watershed, even if they can't see any water from where they are. They also don't realize that there are things that they do (or don't do) that affect the cleanliness of that watershed and that it may affect things like drinking water.

My goal for this summer is, firstly, to make a map of Old Woman Creek watershed. I will also be driving around to the various tributaries of this watershed and take pictures so that folks know what places, like say Cranberry Creek, look like. I'll have these pictures in their appropriate locations all over the map. The map will also have some basic questions answered like "What is a watershed?" and "Do I live in a watershed?" This map can be placed in libraries and other public locations for folks to look at. My plan is to make it colorful and very easy to read.

To go along with the map, which can be used in classrooms, it to have lesson plans. I'd like to have at least 4 that are easily adapable to different age groups and have the grade correlations listed so there's no questions about that. I'm already grabbing one lesson from Project Wet.

I want something that can apply to not only Old Woman Creek's watershed educational goals, but something that can be used by the education committee for the Firelands Coastal Tributaries Coordinator. If I can get things set for OWD, I'm going to do a map for Pipe Creek as well. I'll keep you updated on how things are going and if anything changes.

Speaking of Breann, the OWC watershed coordinator, I got to go canoeing with her and a group from the US EPA. We even had our Region 5 director there. It was a nice trip. I got to hear some different things than I usually hear about Old Woman Creek. More along the scientific and community conservation/outreach side. They're back in the confrence room now doing confrence room stuff.

I'm beat though. I got a canoe to myself, which was cool, but the wind was blowing me allll over the place. At one point, I spent some time paddling myself backwards because I couldn't turn around. Only got stuck twice on submerged logs. I skipped Curves this morning but I definately got my workout for the day. I lagged behind the group a bit but I took advantage of some of the off course blowing to check out some of the lotus.

So, yeah, this entry is a little light on my pictures but I'm too tired to grab my thumb drive. I'll make up for it next time. Till then.....

Reading Material

A meme to illustrate some of the things one can read while on an internship.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4-7 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest (unless it's too troublesome to reach and is really heavy. Then go back to step 1).


"In Michgan pools Daphnia ephemeralis appeared in early season and was later replaced with D. pulex, with some overlap.

Although fairy shrimp and clam shrimp occur in the same vernal pools, the fairy shrimp tend to hatch earlier and to complete their develpment before the peak in clam shrimp populations. Mature clam shrimp remain in vernal pools after fairy shrimp have disappeard and appear to be less sensitive to predation. Cladocerans such as D. pulex also remain in pools well into the summer, declining only as the pool dies.

In most vernal pools where fairy shrimp have been studied, only a single species has been reported, but there are records of pools containing two, three, or four species. Co-occuring species of Eubranchipus include E. neglectus and E. bundyi in Ohio and Michigan; E. neglectus and E. holmani in Ohio; E. vernalis and E. holmani on Long Island, New York; E. serratus and E. neglectus in Illinois; E. serratus and E. bumdyi in Illinois; and E. vernalis and E. intricatus in Massachusetts. Usually one species is dominant and the other is present in relatively low numbers, commonly reflecting the broader distribution patterns."

Colburn, Elizabeth A. Vernal Pools: Natural History and Conservation. The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company. Blacksburg, VA, 2004.

Hello! It's been a few days and a few things have been going on. I was able to help out with a high school class that came in to do some sampling and look at things under microscopes. Here's a picture of me explaining the spine that catfish have on their dorsal fin. These guys were fun. Of course you had a boys teasing the girls about gross stuff and dissecting fish. It brought back memories.

On Friday, Phoebe and I went to Crane Creek and the Sportsman's Migratory Bird Center. We were there to plan out an Project Wild Aquatic and Civics and Science workshop for teachers in July. (I get to attend that, yay!) It sounds like it'll be a great workshop. I also love how the Project Wild/Wet/Learning Tree/etc. has really fun lessons in them and they tell you exactly which educational standards they work with.

I've been wanting to take training sessions on these programs for a few years now because I do not understand these standards at all. I'm just beinging to scratch the surface now. I'm hoping I can compile for myself as time goes on what all the standards are and if and how they inter-relate. Maybe it'll help my confusion and frustration with them and make me a better informal educator.

After the meeting, Phoebe walked me around the Migratory Bird Center. They have an awsome collection of taxidermy birds. I love the musical bird keyboard. You press a key and the picture of the bird will light up and you can listen to is call. As you can tell by the name of the place, they have a thing for birds and it is a phenominal place to go birdwatching. I may have to take a trip out there just to walk the trails. They have some great sounding programs there too thanks to the Friends of Magee Marsh. I had visited Magee Marsh last summer but we never made it far back enough to see the center. We were obsessed with plants though so it was all good.

Saturday, I tagged along on a Trees on Trails walk through Old Woman Creek. Zach Rinkes, of Erie OSU Extension (sorry, before I thought he was Huron), lead the walk and told us all about trees and how to identify them. He told the crowd about the hairs on the ends of oak leaves and MADBuc (Maple, Ash, Dogwood, and Buckeye) as having opposite leaves. He gave us a rundown of the Emerald Ash Borer problem and told us about Extension's guide to Ash alternatives (warning: big PDF file). He also told us about other invasives. Overall it was a great walk-n-talk. Good job, Zach! I'm totally going to buy your book now.

So, yeah, it was actually a busy week. I have also pinned down wht I'm going to do for my independent "major" project. I'll fill you in on that later. I also got a heads up on another internship opportunity up here. (Have I mentioned yet that internships are a great way to get to know people and network and find out other opportunities?) I'm heading home tonight to get some more books and folders because I'm not organized enough. I've talked enough now though.

Here's some random pictures: more of me working, pretty flowers in the prairie, another milkweed, more mayflies, the Great Blue Heron.

They're baaaaaack

Yes, the Mayflies have arrived. They were all over the street at about 2AM this morning I was told. It was good timing too because I had just finished some info sheets that are a part of my "minor" projects for the summer. I had made one on Hexagenia. It is now laminated and put in the display case outside. I will be putting one down at the display area by the beach tonight.

Speaking of the beach, there's been some pretty cool changes in the last 2 days. We had a nice storm yesterday. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the post storm mouth but here's a pic from Monday night. I could have walked through this without getting my knees wet. It was only about 3 feet across and about a foot deep.

The next morning, it was still about 3 feet across but it was about 2-2.5 feet deep. The water was running faster as the storm moved in upstream.

Then it stormed pretty nicely for a while in the afternoon. After it cleared up I went down to the beach, sans camera, to check things out and watch the storm drift east. The mouth of the creek was now about 8 feet across and gushing. The creek's current was easily pushing out about 20 yards into the lake. You could see the churning water and the brown sediment-filled water was going even further. I couldn't see the bottom any more but considering how it was moving sand earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if it had gotten to about 5 ft deep again. All that change in just a few hours!

So, anyway, in other intern-y type stuff, I got to sit in on a staff meeting and listen to how things get organized. We talked about a new brochure to have here on site about OWC. We discussed things like content and potential layout. Today, some of us sat and refined what we talked about yesterday. I think we did pretty well. The other summer intern, Laura, is working on this. I'm happy to be able to provide feedback on things and see how this stuff comes into being.

Today, I also worked with Phoebe to set up for a class she's doing today. It's a group of kids K-5. Tomorrow, she's getting a group of High Schoolers and I'm going to be active in helping with that. They're going to be sampling and looking at things under microscopes. Friday, I get to go to Crane Creek. I'm looking forward to seeing what that park is like. Magee Marsh is there. It's a great place to go see the migratory birds.

Sooo, I must now go be productive. I'll have more Mayfly pics later. Cheers!

Designing a Greener Building

I'm back on a nice quiet Saturday morning to tell you about another cool feature of Old Woman Creek NERR & SNP: the vistor center.

When you walk up to the door, look down. The paving stones are shaped like interlocking frogs. They’re like the symmetry pictures by M.C. Escher. When you go in the first set of doors, to the left is a room where you can find sorts of good dirt like program schedules, trail maps, and fishing regs. (You only get to catch 30 yellow perch per day this year on Lake Erie!)

On the right is a window display of a cut-away wetland. You can see above and below the water. The display continues on the other side of the next set of doors. Look closely and see if you can spot the insects. I am a little short so it was kinda hard for some of them. (Hint! Hint!)

When you go into the main area, there are all sorts of displays about estuaries and the history of the area and NERR There’s a window where you can look out at bird feeders and a small pond. This is another place to keep your eyes peeled because there are a couple of Eastern Fox Snakes that hang out there. If you go back toward the classroom area, there's another window to look out of. Both windows have binoculars and bird guides. I saw some birds that either were female goldfinches or Prothonotary Warblers. I couldn't see if they had any white on their wings. They were gone by the time I grabbed the binoculars.

This place is pretty cool. It’s a green building. Not as in it’s painted green but as in it’s good for the environment. There is geothermal heating and cooling, recycled steel nails, recycled wallpaper made of phonebooks (look close and you'll see the print), and part of the parking lot is this neat plastic grid called Grasspave2. You can read about what else they did here. You can download the PDF here.

Out front, there's a weather station that NOAA uses to help track national weather. I just found out this morning that, even though we've not had any rain, there was 4 inches of dew recorded. I didn't know that you could record dew! There is a TV in one of the labs that shows what information is being recieved like temperature and radar. It seems that the temp is stuck but I know thy're working on it.

Speaking of labs, we are a research facility and there's at least 4 labs in the back that I'm sure most visitors don't realize are there. There's a wet lab, hot lab, microscope lab, etc. The folks at Crane Creek will often bring their otters and other research material here to work on in the wet lab.

In the back, by the classroom, there's a phenominal little library. I'm reading a book right now about Dr. Edwin Mosely from Bowling Green State Normal College (now B.G. State University) written by Dr. Ronald L. Stuckey (of Ohio State/Stone Lab fame!) and Relda E. Niederhofer (of Firelands, BGSU). You can also find all sorts of guides to mammals, insects, birds, plants, geology, and more. There's lots of ecology books and limnology books. Anything that a researcher could need is in there including copies of all the research papers that have been done here.

This is a groovy little spot on the Lake Erie coast. You should come visit.

Triumphant music here

I got my act together and now have pictures I can put up for you! They'll be scattered about the entry so click on any links you come across. :D

So, a few things have happened since I posted last. On Wednesday, I got to meet Breann, the Old Woman Creek Watershed Coordinator. That's her picture over there. She's just been assigned the position so she's working from the ground up on making a management plan. Once she gets that done, I guess she'll go to work on Pipe Creek.

This leads me to what I got to do yesterday afternoon which was attend the education committee meeting for the Fireland Coastal Tributaries Watershed. Breann was there, along with Phoebe, the Education Specialist at Old Woman Creek, and there were reps from a local school, Erie SWCD, and more. The tasks for that meeting were to make some goals for outreach, see what kind of educational resources the committee members had available to them, and plot some ideas for the newsletter. It was really neat listening to them because they are litterally starting from scratch. Granted, education is a small portion of a watershed action plan, but it's an important part. I'll get to see how this forms over the next few months and I even got to throw a few ideas out there.

That night, I got to go on a public canoe trip into the estuary. We started out in "my" backyard. There were quite a few people and Frank tells me that these fill up quickly. It was a beautiful night to be doing this. The estuary was very calm. We paused at the start and Frank told us about estuaries. As we went along a looked at the growing lotus I saw some Great Egrets hanging out. There was a Great Blue Heron as well but he was sneaky and kept flying away before I could get a picture of him.

Frank pointed out the differences in depth as we cruised along. At one point, we were sliding along the mud to get into deeper water. He took us over toward where the eagles nest and we moved on upstream past the train bridge and up to where the Minehonto Oak was blocking us from going any further. He told us the story of how Old Woman Creek got it's name and "dismissed class."

It was really a lovely evening. We got everyone back on land (a little challenging due to the wind once we got on the lake side of the Rte.6 bridge) and cleaned up. Breann, who came with us on the trip, asked if I'd like to come and help plant some "plugs" at Pipe Creek and I, of course, said yes.

I met her and a few others, including Celine of Erie SWCD, bright and early this morning at the creek in Sandusky. She had brought two types of sedges and some Blue Vervain. She also showed me how they planted some Sandbar Willow. Apparently you can cut two foot sections of this tree, with one end at an angle, and soak it overnight. Then, you hammer it into the ground, like a stake, and let it grow. They'll root to their little hearts content and grow. The one's they did are sprouting away. Very neat! Anyway, while planting, we cleared away some of the overgorwn grass and other undesired plants. This was the first time I've done any restoration-type work like this.

Other things that I've learned over the last day or two: a brief history of the Firelands. I got to see a Passenger Pigeon. I learned that they used to use arsenic when they stuffed critters. Allegedly, the Youngstown mob used to dump their bodies in OWC. Never ask Dave to spell anything. Curves is a great place to find out about local events and then some. People like to give me things to read.

With that, it's time for me to go! Peace out!

On the Lake again

I have arrived! My trip up was uneventful and filled with pleasant scenery. I met my supervisor, Frank Lopez, Reserve Manager, and got a quick lowdown on what was up here. I then moved into my marvelous dorm. It's quite posh.

I spent my first two, full days "off" as the visitor center is closed on Monday and Tuesday so I used those days to get familiar with the area. Huron is a lovely little place full of homes and friendly people. I have yet to visit the Boat Basin and the Huron Pier because I coudln't figure out how to get there. I rectified that on Tuesday when I met some of the previously mentioned friendly people who told me how to get there and where to fish and swim. They also mentioned that on Saturday nights, the Huron Boat Basin has a thing where people can come out and socialize. I am definately planning on checking that out. I've since found out that the Boat Basin and the Pier are great fishing spots.

Monday, however, I drove all the way to Sandusky (a whole whopping 10 minute drive) and found the Meijers grocery, all the restaurants, and Cedar Point. I knew on some level it was close but gosh golly geepers!

I went to the Sandusky harbour and looked around at all the cute closed-on-Monday shops. I have one wee picture because my batteries died on me. I'll get that and my barrier beach pictures up soon for you. After leaving there, I somehow ended up on Vermillion. I'll figure it out eventually right?

My dorm mates are John and Lindsey, both students of the university at California, Pennsylvania. They're here studying wildlife use of Phragmities after it's sprayed with herbicide. (That about all that will take it out once it's established.) They track birds and muskrats and also the growth rate of other plants. I'm thinking I might ask to go out with them some morning or evening just to see what they do.

Sooo, today is Wednesday, my first day in at "the office" and my first full blown orientation. I have lots of stuff to read about management plans and Old Woman Creek ecology profiles. In just a bit, I'll meet Heather, the education guru on site. I'll spend this week getting to know the Reserve grounds and on Thursday I get to go on my first canoe/kayack trip around the estuary. My camera will of course be with me.

Way cool ecological event of the week so far: Midges! (The non-biting ones.) We stood outside the dorms for a bit last night watching them whirl above the trees. It was quite cool because it looked like the tree tops had columns of smoke coming from them. I tried to get a good picture but it just wasn't happening. I'll try again tonight.

Until next time!

Here she goes again!

Wow. In about 12.5 hours I'll be hitting the road for my first internship! Lemme tell you, I am NERVOUS.

So, first of all, let me tell you where I'm interning. My location is going to be in Huron, Ohio (right on Lake Erie again!) at Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve and State Nature Preserve. There's a long name to put on a resume, eh? I'm going to get to work with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, the National Estaurine Research Reserve System (NERRS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This is a pretty special place as it's currently the US's only NERRS station on a fresh water lake.

What I'll be doing there falls under "Environmental Education." Pretty convienient since my major is Environmental Ed and Communication and all. Right now, I know that I'll be helping with visitor stuff, educational classes, and field work. I know that I have to put together an independent project of some sort. I'll give you more dirt on that when I find out more specifics. Right now, I'm just totally pumped to be back on Lake Erie. This time, I get to be here ALL SUMMER!

So like I said, I'm totally nervous. It's still sinking in that this is actually happening. I really am so lucky to have gotten this internship in so many ways. Let's just say that I'm second string on this and I'll explain why.

Internship can be defined as any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession: an internship for management trainees. (Thanks Dictionary.com) It is suggested that a student who is looking for a summer internship start looking during winter quarter. Once you get to spring quarter, pickings get a little slim. As you get to mid-spring quarter, you're scraping the bottom of the intership barrel.

This particular internship was posted during winter quarter (if I recall correctly) and I passed on it. I had so many reasons why I just couldn't leave Columbus for an internship this summer. Most of it was finacial excuses since I'm a "non-traditional student" and have a bit more debt than the average 20-22 yr old. Well, I say most of it, but that's not even true. I didn't think I could do it. There you go. I said it. I didn't think I knew enough to even attempt this position. That's why I didn't apply the first time.

I spent most of winter quarter and most of spring quarter churning my brain about what I should do this summer. Try to find something in town, or in Delaware, OH which is a short drive, or just work at my current job? The whole time I was telling myself that I didn't have enough classwork or skills to do any of this stuff. I also had some misconceptions about what internships were. I thought most of them weren't paid at all and, if they were, not very well. (See above financial concerns.) Thanks to some Q&A with Trish and Renee in the career office and that got cleared up.

One day, about mid spring quarter, I saw the Old Woman Creek post again. It seems that they still needed someone. My heart skipped for about a week as I went through the same "do I know enough" concerns and finally, thank God, I forced myself to apply. And, obviously, the rest is history in the making! I'm even getting a pretty good paycheck with it!

Why did I tell you about this drama? Well, I'm sure I'm not the only student that goes into internships with a lot of trepedation. Maybe I can be worse than others but it's OK to be nervous. It's alright to think you may not know enough. That's part of the reason internships are there. These guys know we are beginners and they're willing to work with us and help us learn more and realize what we do and do not want to do with our careers. Maybe you go into an Entemology internship and you find that you HATE insects. You thought you liked them but now you realize that you don't. However, in the process, you find that you really dig on the birds that eat the insects. That is part what internships help you find out.

Yeah, I'm still nervous. I'm still hoping I can do these guys proud. I'm very much looking forward to this experience because I know I'll get to work with a lot of professionals and I'll learn a lot too. I can't wait to get up there and start taking pictures. (Let's hope this camera doesn't get eaten by Lake Erie.) I'll post more about what happens as time goes on so check back and I'll do my best to have something cool to read about.