WDNR employees introduce themselves and the day’s activities to fourth graders from Lincoln Elementary School. Photo by Carolyn Byers/SoWBA
All of us in SoWBA enjoyed the recent newsletter about Citizen Science, with Mickenzee's account of the Lincoln Elementary School's citizen scientists my favorite.
SoWBA and the Southern Wisconsin Chapter of Trout Unlimited recently hosted those 4th graders on their and our annual end of the year field trip. You might remember this is my favorite outdoor experience of the year and it continues to be so.
We always combine DNR Fish and Water Quality biologists electro-shocking a trout stream with some conservation activity. The fish are not harmed and the kids go happily nuts. For many it's their first chance to see and hold a fish.
Three WDNR employees demonstrate to students how electroshocking serves as a method for surveying fish diversity and population levels. Photo by Carolyn Byers/SoWBA
Lincoln Elementary School fourth-graders observe electrofishing from a bridge. Photo by Carolyn Byers/SoWBA
The DNR team of Kyle Olivencia, Kim Kuber, Mitch Trow, and Josh Jonet did a fabulous job of surveying the stream, showing the kids the fish, and answering many, many questions. Kim also managed to find a crayfish in response to many requests. This year we found a site on Black Earth Creek where the kids could line the banks and a bridge so they could see every moment and every fish. Excitement was at a fever pitch. (BTW, if you've never seen a stream survey and have a chance to witness one, you'll be excited too.)
Josie Guiney and the other teachers and staff at Lincoln always teach the kids that we should give as well as take when we are outdoors. Enjoy nature and give something back. This year the conservation activity was planting 10 oak trees along Black Earth Creek. With the changed climate and warming air and water temperatures, many trout streams will benefit from shade to keep their waters cold enough for trout. Bugs and birds really love those oak trees too.
Students plant an oak tree as part of their field trip. Photo by Carolyn Byers/SoWBA
The group learns proper tree planting technique. Photo by Carolyn Byers/SoWBA
Planting the trees became the kids' final citizen science project of the year. DNR Forestry folks are identifying trees native to Wisconsin and at the most northern point of their range. The DNR is beginning to plant some of these trees a bit further north in Wisconsin. Perhaps they'll flourish when some of the current native trees suffer in the warmer climate. Among such trees is the pin oak. The DNR foresters noted this species of oak does well in wet conditions, including land with reed canary grass. That makes it a great prospect to plant along some southern Wisconsin trout streams. So, the DNR gave us 5 swamp white oak, a native Wisconsin oak often planted along trout streams around here, and 5 pin oaks. The kids were careful to plant the swamp white oaks on one side of the bridge and the pin oaks on the other. So, the DNR will easily see how the pin oaks are faring. The experiment has begun.
This was more difficult than the DNR, the wonderful Carolyn Byers and Mickenzee Okon of SoWBA, and I anticipated. The DNR was going to auger the holes so the kids could plant the trees more easily and the dirt would be better prepared. At 8AM the auger would not work. We dug the holes by hand, which made lunch at Culver's taste even better.
Students check out a crawfish that was found in the stream! Photo by Carolyn Byers/SoWBA
The creek, trout, sculpins, suckers, crayfish, oaks, the DNR/SoWBA/SWTU/Lincoln teachers team were wonderful. The kids, though, are the best part of the day. They are bright, engaged, hard working, supportive of one another, and heaps of fun. To be old fashioned, their parents and teachers should be quite proud of them. And they have learned their conservation and environmental lessons well. Kim is probably one of the country's foremost experts on the New Zealand mudsnail, an invasive that now occupies Black Earth Creek. We asked the kids about invasive species and one little boy delivered a 2 minutes discourse that covered the key points really well. Way beyond me when I was in the 4th grade.
Take care,
Topf Wells, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance advocacy committee
BTW: the pin oaks are an example of management that might provoke discussion among different conservation professionals and practitioners. The DNR foresters, wildlife managers, and fish biologists who are moving some of these southern Wisconsin natives carefully, after much thought and with some good reasons. But perhaps some of my friends and managers in SoWBA, TPE, or other southern Wisconsin land trusts might think differently. Often their goal is to preserve or restore habitats, especially the vegetative parts, to pre-European settlement conditions. Not sure what they'll think of moving trees, even native ones, north of their current and historic range.
