Month: September 2018

I just received word from Dr. Joydeep Bhattacharjee that the BioBlitz flooded out last spring has been rescheduled Saturday, Oct. 6! Here’s hoping some Master Naturalists will be able to participate.

The ULM Biological Station, Charles Allen Nature Trail is near Columbia, La. It is a wonderfully diverse habitat ranging from a low-lying cattail pond along the east side bordered by Fischer Road, to high bluffs overlooking the Ouachita River, and down again to very low ground next to the river.

Several ULM faculty members will participate in the BioBlitz. Details are not yet set, but typically hikes begin about 7 a.m. Graduate students will go down the night before to set live traps in the pond.

Birds, trees, herbeceous plants, reptiles, aquatic life and more will be on the agenda. I will be looking for the crane fly orchid locations I marked a couple of years ago! Of course, the orchids are past blooming, but I might be able to locate the sites that still have spent flower stalks.

This will be a great opportunity for a family-fun outing, so bring kids and grandkids who are old enough to do a little hiking. This 100-acre site is a great place to introduce them to the great outdoors, as the trails are wide and relatively easy to walk. Some are a bit steep but not rocky, and you can stay on gentle grades all day if you prefer.

This will be a great opportunity to practice what we’ve been learning in our certification workshops. Not only will we contribute our observations to a BioBlitz Species list, but we can generate one for our group’s observations, and we can add them to the iNaturalist project I started for this location some time ago.

report & photos by Charles Paxton

As the dominant terrestrial species on this planet we naturally have a rather grounded perspective on our environment. We named our home “Earth” despite the fact that about 70% of its surface is covered with water.

Saturday, Sept. 25, 12 members of  Louisiana Master Naturalists – Northeast learned more about the crucial relationship between earth and water in a workshop on Watershed Dynamics delivered by Dr. Bill Patterson, Associate Professor of Forest Soils and Watershed Management at Louisiana Tech University.

We gathered at Louisiana Tech University’s Reese Hall, where we met Prof. Patterson unloading boxes of scientific equipment from a sleek minibus and accompanied him to a classroom for an illustrated presentation and discussion.

He began with a basic introduction to the concept of a watershed, defining the term as any area of land that drains water into lakes and rivers. Watersheds are crucial sources of clean freshwater.

We learned how relatively scarce and precious, clean, fresh, liquid water is on planet Earth. Less than 2.5% of our water is fresh (that is, not saltwater), and of the 2.5%, 68.7% is locked up in glaciers and pack ice. Very little of the remaining surface water is clean enough to be potable.

Here in northern Louisiana we are blessed with, and dependent upon, the Sparta Aquifer — a pressurized body of fresh groundwater which overlays ‘fossil’ saltwater from our marine pre-history.

The forest soil to the northwest of the twin cities in Webster, Bienville and Winn Parishes, with its natural mixture of invertebrates, bacteria, and fungi underlain by porous sandy soil, makes an excellent watershed to feed the Sparta aquifer. Two thirds of our drinking water is organically filtered through forest.

 

Nevertheless, the Sparta Aquifer is stressed. Fifteen to twenty years ago, industrial and commercial activities in the twin cities used more water than domestic households, but now domestic use exceeds industrial use. Overall, we are drawing upon the Sparta at an unsustainable rate; the level is dropping two feet per year.

After soaking up information for two hours, we loaded gear and ourselves into the minibus and headed for Redwine Creek in Grambling. There we waded in, testing water quality and searching for marine life at two checkpoints, one above and one below the water treatment plant.

Some had waterproof chest waders. Others just got soaked when their waders leaked! All in all, it was another glorious certification workshop adventure.

What a treat it was to meet in the Union Parish Library in Farmerville and see the shocking and compelling anti-littering campaign art exhibit produced by Treasurer Stephanie Herrmann and her patrons! It was an eye-opener. As  member of the Ouachita Parish Library Board of Control, I plan to make sure it comes to Monroe after it’s next stint at Black Bayou Lake.

Kim Paxton’s minutes are linked below. I offer here some highlights of the meeting.

>Board of Directors – Suzanne Laird was nominated in absentia and was voted in to a seat on the Board by acclamation, pending the president asking if she was willing to serve. She said “yes”! Thanks, Suzanne. So glad to have you on the Board.

>T-shirts – Kim Paxton is working on designs and Suzanne Laird offered to help with the non-design aspects. Hooray! I hereby appoint Kim and Suzanne to be the t-shirt committee. If anyone else wants to help, please contact them. I will distribute designs via email so everyone can comment.

>Membership dues need to be renewed by the end of the year. A blog post will be devoted to that later this month. It was suggested and approved that we add a button to the website for people to donate an additional $5 when they renew so that we can make a donation to rebuilding the alligator exhibit at Black Bayou Lake.

Our guest speakers, Leslie Albritton and Micha Petty, engaged us thoroughly with their experiences as wildlife rehabilitators. We heard funny stories, heroic stories and sad stories, as not all injured animals can be saved.

The most shocking thing I learned was that wildlife rehabilitators receive no monetary support from the state for the critical work they do–not even to cover direct expenses like vet bills and food. We all need to help when we can. Check out Charles Paxton’s blog for more details.

Here’s a few more links you might want to use:

Leslie Albritton’s FB page

Micha Petty’s Indiegogo fundraiser

LMNaturalists-NE-3rd Quarter Meeting-8.28.18