Working With Wetlands

Last Friday and Saturday we experienced torrential rains as two Pineapple Express Storms blew through the area. I went into town Saturday morning to meet my Ecology team, and was driving down a river of highway flooding. As I went over the bridges, I noticed all the creeks and rivers were spating as well, and knew sample collection would be difficult that day.

We all pulled into the flooded Safeway parking lot and got soaked trying to come up with a rescheduling strategy. With fall wind and rains, we knew plant integrity would continue to decline the longer we waited, so we decided to go out the next day, rain or shine. It turned up to be decent on Sunday, but the marshland had filled up with the 4 inches of rain from the previous two day, and we weren't able to get samples in the marshy area.

It was still a good study, and the good news is that from the samples of juvenile plants in the underbrush, the wetland on my property is recovering. A healthy wetland equals healthy frogs and salamanders in my woods. I've decided to focus on wetlands and frogs for my Ecology final paper, and selective logging and wetlands and streams in my US Environmental Policy class. I can't believe how much I've learned just in the first quarter. I actually feel confident enough in what I know that I could volunteer for a municipality now.

Anyway, here are some pictures from Saturday's study.

Wetland at Fortson Wildlife Area

Salamander Eggs at FWA Wetland

Fungus at FWA Wetland

Cattail at FWA Wetland

Snail on Lichens on my Wetland