July Update

View heading into one of our sites

Our July data collecting experience showed us a small bit about the harsh environment of abandoned oil pads. To get a head of the warmth of each day, our team set out at 6am.  Working in the cool of the day was great ~ By about 10 am the dew evaporated and the sites began to warm up quite quickly.  As my science students might remember, sand has a relatively low specific heat, meaning it will warm up quickly!




















This go around the grass and weeds are steadily growing, while the trees are bound to their slow growth making it more of a challenge to find and record their height and health.  Part of our work this month was pulling Spotted knapweed from the areas were our daubenmire frames fell along each transect.  Compared with last year it really is amazing the robustness of this noxious weed. At one site, the plant is 3 feet tall!



Three out of four sampling days topped out with temperatures in the 90's with the final day have a maximum temperature of 60 F!  What a difference a day makes. Not only was it 60F, but there was a heavy midst most of the day ~ there was no complaining though, as we were thankful for the coolness after a very warm week of work.  The biggest challenge was keeping the data sheets dry!

This past week our team has been dedicated to data entry and starting to look for patterns.  Yes, algebra II students, learning to see patterns in numbers is used by many people not just mathematicians.  Now the team will begin to write the story of what the data is revealing.

The past two weeks has also included a fun cherry picking outing, an integration day exploring local food and organic farming, a trip to a local pottery studio, and several evenings of sports (Soccer, frisbee, and volleyball).  There is never a dull moment!

Created and Dominion ~ the great balancing act

"God blessed them and said to them, "be fruitful and increase in number: fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground"" 

Gen 1: 28

Budding Field Ecologists 

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to work it and take care of it" 

Gen 2:15 

Before the manifestations of self-centeredness man was charged to subdue, rule, work and care for the created order.  In the beginning all things created were classified "good".  Man and all of creation were given their being by a "Good" creator.  As stated in Gen 1:26, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground".  In this context, mankind was formed, to be the stewards of all creation.  Stewardship is a "careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care"(Merriam Dictionary).  Management is part of faithful dominion, bringing something under control.  With a proper understanding of position as being created along the rest of creation man can faithfully execute the call to ruling over creation. Before the fall, man was called to work and care for creation.  

Working and caring requires knowledge and understanding of creation.  When is something ready for harvest? How can something be improved or pruned to thus allow for better growth and health.  However, with the introduction of Self-Centeredness the human condition lost focus of being God-Centered. Thus began the daily battle of understanding "to subdue" and "Rule over". The temptation to exploit for personal gain has become the battle ground. 

The creation was made to be fruitful to provide sustenance for all created.  Therefore, learning how ecosystems function should be important to faithful stewardship.  For if knowledge can be gained about the workings of a system, then understanding can be applied to allow creation to experience restoration while still fulfilling its intended purpose.   

Re-generating Jack Pine Stand 

That is part of why working in restoration ecology is so exciting and challenging. Why is part of the creation experiencing less than it's intended purpose? What can be done to assist in the process of restoring this part of creation?  At the core, this is the work of Restoration.  If the implications of sin impact all of creation, why would we doubt the work of Restoration to include all the created order? Stay tuned for more..... 

Highlights from the week:

Turkey Nest - with 12 eggs 

This week it has been all hands on deck assisting the Warbler team with their vegetation work.  It was interesting to not the lack of invasive species such as spotted knapweed and leafy spurge on their sites.  Unlike the oil pad sites, these regenerating Jack Pine stands were forested and not subjected to oil extraction.  They are interesting and at times difficult to navigate with numerous small trees and shrubs.  Additionally, there are aggressive ants that are rather a pain if you step to close to their hills.

The dense brush can also provide habitat for nesting turkey's.  Let's just say getting close to a turkey is an adrenaline producing event ~ especially after seeing many badger holes on the site!   

This weekend marks the migration of a new wave of students and faculty for Summer Session 2 ~ A time of Transition.

Reflection: Excitement and Wonder

With the June Oil Pad data collected it is time for reflection.

On Tuesday our team was blessed with the additional assistance of the Warbler team: Erin and Cory.  They came to learn about how to collect vegetation data and in the process made finding our saplings easier.  They will be utilizing similar techniques on their transects learning about the vegetation in areas near Kirtland Warbler Nesting areas.

Given the rain Monday night and the cloudy start to the day we were rather wet upon laying out our transects (the white tape you see to the left).  However, we quickly had a source of joy in the form of finding our tallest tree thus far! It is a 53 cm tall Jack Pine~ more than half one meter).  Jack Pines are a very common tree in Northern Michigan, as they do not require much in terms of nutrients and they love sandy soils!

As Erin and I walked the transects to collect tree and shrub data we also came upon a rather large Gardner Snake.  Joseph was quick to jump in and pick up the creature for a photo and "rescue" us from the reptile.  As the photo shows we also learned that Rhino Rulers are great for assisting with snake capture and observations. We were thankful he moved the snake out of our plot area.  Notice the animated expressions!

The afternoon was very pleasant. After enjoying our lunch it was back to work to complete our last The photo site of the day.  This is the only location where we might have human caused damage ~ The field is a very enticing spot for snowmobiles accessing other trails.  With the minimal snow cover this winter, there were some broken stakes and saplings. However, several are re-sprouting.

Cookout down by the Lake 

The rest of the week has been dedicated to data analysis and trying to find trends. Underneath this work is a desire to understand how we can help bring restoration to these areas.  Each of us has a part in the reality of the degradation of these sites. Daily choices, whether we realize it or not has a cost on creation.  The balance between dominion and stewardship is a life long journey of understanding ~ There shall be more on this topic... Stay tuned!

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager exceptional for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God" Romans 8:18-21

The Return and Start of the 2016 Oil Pad Research

Orchard Grass

What a blessing it is to be back at AuSable for another summer of Research.  Upon arriving, Wednesday afternoon I was introduced to the 2016 Oil Pad Research and Kirtland's Warbler Team.  What a dedicated group of students.  They have been work very hard to establish the Kirkland's project, and therefore the Oil team began their work Thursday morning.  We left campus at 6AM and were to our site in Ostego County by 645AM ~ here we laid out our transects and quickly got to work collecting survivorship data in the cool of the day.

Back when I was in graduate school I remember fearing that the study would reveal no results.  Likewise heading into Thursday I was a bit concerned the trees would all be dead.  To no great surprise this was not so. Many of the trees are doing quite well in the non fertilized treatments.   What a joy it was to see that they had not all died.

Growing Tree - Surrounded by Poa grass species

After a year away it was wonderful and a great relief how the plant and grass species names flooded back to memory.  The students are very proficient in their identification skills.  We worked steadily finding trees and determining plant coverage.  There is a real sense of community in the work!

At our second site (Shell Oil Road) we found a vesper sparrow nesting right in the midst of a study plot.  She flew off her nest and we were able to mark the nest to ensure we would not step on her eggs.  We worked carefully and she returned to her nest.  As the afternoon wore on we also spotted a Black Billed Cuckoo and Baltimore Oriole.

Badger Hole

Upon finishing our second site, we celebrated with a snickers bar and drove onto our last site of the day(Sand Lake).  Here we ate a quick dinner, and with a little sugar in our system we efficiently set out to complete the site.  This site had a new badger hole and we were surprised to find one of our trees buried in the newly dug dirt ~ We were thankful for our metal detector.  This is a new record of completing three sites in one day! The team arrived home right at 9PM.  Off to bed it was for the tired team.

Goat's Beard

Friday was another early morning ~ this time we headed for the Crooked Lake site.  This one requires a lovely walk from the road through a rolling landscape of bracken ferns, popular stand, and final a northern hardwood forest before being dump into the sandy site.  Here the greatest challenge was finding trees which were alive.  In a survivorship study, things will die, however, this site seems to be struggling the most.

After finishing up two sites near Campus, we headed back in time for dinner and preparing for Monday's work in the Boardman River area.