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Note: your instructor will be out of town and away from email May 15-25; field geology begins on May 26.
Blog contribution from Scott Smith: Here are a few pictures taken Sunday evening of the flooding upstream from ESU and on the north side of the Neosho River. Some pictures were taken of the tributaries of the Neosho. Photos © S. Smith.
Blog contribution from Brenda Zabriskie: Found this interesting site that has to do with glacially formed subalpine wetlands in Spain. See Ramsar.
Note: this is the last week for students to submit items for the course blog.
Blog contribution from Nick Zink: The Kansas Wetlands Education Center at Cheyenne Bottoms will have its grand opening (after much delay due to the high water level over the last couple years) this Friday, April 24. This webpage will give you all the additional info--see KWEC.
Blog contribution from Scott Jones: I found out that we just missed the World All-Around Waterfowl Calling Championship that took place April 18, 2009 in Hoisington. There was also an associated event that took place at Cheyenne Bottoms known as the Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlanders Festival. I thought it was pretty neat that the world's best callers came to central Kansas to show their skills. The following link is the information about the contest--go to wetlanders.org.
Meet at the ESU campus north parking lot (north of recreation building) at 1 o'clock Friday afternoon. We should return by 5-6 pm on Saturday. Students should bring a sleeping bag, towel, and toilet kit for our overnight stay at Camp Aldrich. Wear shoes or boots suitable for wet meadows or marshes--mud and puddles. Other items to consider include a notebook, camera, binoculars, hat, sunscreen, insect repellent, and rain jacket. Weather is forecast to be windy and warm--high temperature in low 80s F.
Various food items will be provided for breakfast and lunch on Saturday. Students should be prepared to pay for Friday dinner (likely at Dairy Queen in Hoisington) or bring your own food to eat out. Field trip fee is $25 to cover lodging and food.
Blog contribution from Scott Davis: I found this photographic site of wetlands in the Montana area. The images are really cool with wildlife and the habitat as well. I hope to see this beautiful state sometime. Go to Montana wetland pictures.
Blog contribution from Victoria Engler: This website talks about the Clean Water Act as well as other federal and Texas regulations--see Wetlands.com from Environmental Technical Services Co.
Final list of group projects:
Blog contribution from Scott Davis: I found the beautiful Priest River in Idaho for this week's blog. It to me seems like it draws tourists in to see it. It has a neat history on the website along with some amazing photos.
Our class field trip to Cheyenne Bottoms will take place April 24-25. Students should be ready to depart Friday afternoon and return by 6 pm Saturday. Make arrangements for missing other courses, work, etc. All students in Kansas are expected to participate in this trip. Any students not able to take part must conduct their own personal field trip to a nearby wetland, then submit a short report of where you went and what you saw.
Blog contribution from Jonathan Birney: Here is a site that might be of some interest to some. It pertains to the Baltic Sea region. Go to Baltic wetlands.
Note: Saturday, April 4th, is the annual Glass Blowout at ESU. Glass blowing is a unique program, and this is a major artistic and social event in Emporia each year.
Blog contribution from Gayla Corley, a local student who is auditing the course: I went out scouting for wetlands recently. I photographed areas in Anderson and Coffey counties (east-central Kansas) illustrating some of the characteristics of wetlands.
| Anderson Co. This hole of shallow water is approximately 20-30 feet across and has a brushy tree growing at the upper end. There is an outlet to the hole, but no specific inlet. Water is caught from rainfall and snow and whatever runoff there is from the field. Smartweed (Polygonum lapathifolium) grows at the edge of this hole of water. |
| Anderson Co. A loop in an old river channel cut off when a new bridge and made road improvements were made. Water stands here during wet times and goes dry in the summer. It is heavily shaded by the surrounding trees. |
| Coffey Co. Canada Geese near a small pond. |
| Coffey Co. Mathias Lake is natural and quite shallow; it covers approximately 70 acres. In the summer time it is covered with water lilies and arrowroot. There is some open area out in the center. The diving and dabbling ducks really like it. Geese do not seem to like it as well as the ducks. |
| Coffey Co. Soils map of Mathias Lake vicinity. This is probably an oxbow, old river channel, or a scoured area from the Neosho River flooding a long time ago. The Neosho River is about a quarter mile from the present lake. |
| Your instructor lost a large blue spruce tree (>25 years old) that toppled under the weight of ice in the backyard of his home in Emporia. The roots heaved up saturated soil and the base of the trunk split open. A series of ice storms over the past few years has been exceptionally hard on trees in Kansas! |
This week, Dr. Ellen Hansen (social science) will give a guest lecture on wetland conservation issues. See related readings: conservation.pdf, dams.pdf, s_court.pdf and ca_delta.pdf (download via FTP).
It's time to organize group projects. Students should contact each other (see roster below) with ideas and proposals for possible project subjects. Each group should have 3-4 members. Once a group is formed, let your instructor know the members and subject. Some group projects are underway already.
Blog contribution from Victoria Engler: Here's an interesting website related to our field trip with some other links as well. Go to scenic byway.
Blog contribution from Chris Jung: It has been a few years but when I lived in Alabama I use to participate in the Water Festival. We educated 4th graders on the importance of protecting their watersheds. I know several states have similar programs. See Alabama.
Blog contribution from Peg Martin: Here is a link to an article I noticed in our Winston-Salem, NC newspaper about a new road in southeastern NC that has design features related to the wetland it crosses. Go to North Carolina.
Have a nice spring break!
We are ready to move ahead to human wetland management. See also FW best management and streamside management. The exercise for this week involves EPA showcase watersheds (due week after spring break).
Blog contribution from Sarah Pick: This site explains the classification for salt marshes, the wildlife in them, and what salt marshes do for the environment. Go to South Carolina.
Revised roster of active students (ver. 2.0).
Yesterday Emporia set a new record high temperature of 83°F, which shattered the old record of 72°F from 1991. So, in the interval of just four days, we experienced both record low and high temperatures with a swing of more than 70°F. Even by March standards, that is exceptional!
Blog contribution from Brenda Zabriskie: In doing some research for our exam, I came across this site that I found interesting, as I am from Indiana--see Grand Kankakee Marsh. This second site is from the EPA on wetlands and flooding--go to flooding. Both had good information about the need for wetlands and wetland recovery.
Blog contribution from Jue Jiang: I found the list of threatened and endangered wetland species in Illinois. Here is the link--go to Illinois.
| Blog contribution from Curtis McCaslin: This picture of Canada Geese was taken at a farmpond next to US 50 about 20 miles east of Hutchinson. Photo © C. McCaslin. |
Spring break is only two weeks away!
| The coot swims like a duck, but does not have webbed feet; male and female are alike. Lake Kahola, east-central Kansas; photo © by J.S. Aber. For more info, see Cornell ornithology. |
Blog contribution from Scott Davis: I found this interesting site that contains information about coastal plants and marshes. It also talks about some of the wildlife that lives along the coastline. It has information about thickets as well. See Assateague Naturalist, Virginia.
The short month of February is nearly finished, which means it's time for the mid-term exam, which will be placed online Friday, Feb. 27. Check the course blog or schedule for a link to the exam. The exam will cover course readings, blog entries, and lab assignments through this week. Note: no on-campus class meeting next week, while the exam is in progress.
Blog contribution from Mike Leiws: Virginia's Lake Drummond (see below) is indeed the largest natural lake in Virginia as the only other natural lake in the entire state is 50-acre Mountain Lake. Much of the mid-Atlantic has a paucity of natural lakes because other than the occasional landslide damming a stream, such as the case with Mountain Lake, the natural requirements for creation just did not exist here; not recently glaciated, no karst, and no tectonic rifting. Lake Drummond is the northernmost landlocked "Carolina Bay," an interesting landform of similarly NW-SE oriented shallow oval depressions found throughout the southeastern coastal plains.
Blog contribution from Jue Jiang: I found the website of the Society of Wetland Scientists, "an international organization of about 3500 members dedicated to promoting wetland research, education and management."
| Blog contribution from Victoria Engler: I took these pictures of Canada geese on the road to Allen (few miles north of Emporia). I thought the amount of waterfowl for the small pond was interesting. Photos © V. Engler. |  |
Blog contribution from Peg Martin: I've been finding lots of interesting sites about the Great Dismal Swamp in northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. The swamp is a National Wildlife Refuge containing 111,000 acres of forested wetlands. The refuge includes Lake Drummond, the largest natural lake in Virginia. In addition to its varied plant and animal species, the swamp is important to the cultural history of the region. The swamp has been recognized as a link in the National Underground Railroad network. See Great Dismal Swamp.
Blog contribution from Scott Davis: I found this website in relation to some salt marshes; it has helpful information as well as great photographs of plants and animals. See Spartina salt marshes.
Roster of active students (ver. 1.0).
Blog contribution from Rick Moran: For my blog contribution, I decided to create a running story of the changes in my little wetland behind my house. Since my last blog entry 3 weeks ago the snow is disappearing and the water has begun to flow. See Rick's wetland.
Blog contribution from Nikki Lawson: This is a news article about a state government (in Australia) approving a new residental area that will destroy the wetlands in that area, and how that approval was met with hostility from the local people. Go to government swamped.
Blog contribution from Sarah Pick: This site is mainly about cranberries, and since they are a wetland plant, I figured it would be interesting to learn more about them.
Note: The Forested Wetlands website seems to be off line. Cause of this problem is unknown, so we just have to wait for it to come back.
Reminder: the mid-term exam is coming up; be sure to keep up with reading and lab assignments.
Blog contribution from Mike Lewis: Reading about wetlands constantly brings me back to one of my hobbies, reef keeping. The ammonia cycle of waste—ammonia > nitrite > nitrate—is one of the core considerations in setting up a successful tank. A refugium, seperate from the main tank is kept filled with algae, micro and macro, to utilize free nutrients and de-nitrify the water. We use deep sand beds to create an anaerobic substrate for further de-nitrification of the water. The best tanks actually use a layer of saprist soil in the substrate to promote massive bacterial colonies. The modern marine tank's nutrient export and natural water scrubbing are in many ways similar to a miniature model of a coastal biome transition zone.
Note: Your instructor (JSA) will be out of town and away from email Friday and Saturday this week, Feb. 20-21, for a geological field trip into southwestern Missouri.
| The wetlands area is bounded by the red box to the southeast of Vulcan Chemical. This wetland area may also have been constructed for monitored natural attenuation. Note: city of Haysville downgradient (southeast) of the site. Aerial maps from Google Earth 2009. |  |
The reading materials this week include pdf files (water_plants.pdf, wet_veg.pdf). Students should use FTP to download these files. On-campus students who need some help with this should see Kary Reznicek in the GSA lab (SH 16).
Blog contribution from Victoria Engler: I found an interesting site about wetlands. It seems to be made for a younger age group but it has interesting information, such as wetlands animals (insects and such), as well as information about specific wetlands and tours of wetlands. See MBG.
Blog contribution from Mike Lewis: A canal type that I interact with on an almost daily basis in my work is the Qanat, a canal created through the building of wells and connecting these with a sloping shaft. These usually originate at a mountain slope and go to a settlement or agricultural area. Often they are actually placed in a pre-existing streambed. The purpose of course is to direct the water and preserve it from evaporation in the dry heat of the desert.
| These Qanats are found all over Iran but especially in the eastern part, where they lead up to almost every settlement, which is where these particular satellite images are taken. | 
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Blog contribution from Jonathan Birney: I found this website interesting about the florida wetlands provided by the University of Florida. Thought I would like to share it with anyone who might have an interest or be curious about the Florida wetlands. See Florida.
Blog contribution from Sarah Pick: This website discusses two types of Ireland's peat bogs. Go to Ireland.
This website is pretty cool, it describes the different wetland types and how they work. As it describes the importance of a wetland, there are pictures next to the description that are animated to back up what they are describing. See ThinkQuest.
| Low water crossing. Typically there is no water here across the road; this picture shows it to be 4 feet deep. |
| Erosion on a dike caused by the wind and high water. |
| Looking out across pool 4. |
| Looking north toward Redwing. Pool 2 to left, and pool 3 to right. There is also a low water crossing here (barely visible). |
| Looking south toward KS hwy 156. |
Blog contribution from Gayla Corley: I am interested in playa lakes and the effects loss of these wetlands has had on the Ogallala Aquifer. An interesting website to visit is the Playa Lake Joint Venture--see PLJV. This site has maps covering parts of six states containing 60,000 playa lakes. The PLJV works with wildlife, conservation, and wind-energy groups to encourage conservation of playa lakes, maintaining CRP plantings, and locating wind-energy farms where they do not affect the Lesser Prairie Chicken and migrating and non-migrating birds attracted to the lakes.
Growing up in eastern Kansas, we had pastures and hay meadows containing shallow holes that held water during the rainy seasons and for a short time after the rains stopped. These holes would have wetland grasses and forbs growing. My father always called them “buffalo wallows” as he said they were places where the buffalo would take dust baths. Has anyone else had experience with “buffalo wallows” or can you tell me what caused these depressions if it wasn’t buffalo. Would they be similar to the playa lakes only in the miniature version?
Instructor's note: ES 546 Field Geomorphology will be offered in fall '09. The theme will be geomorphology of playa lakes in central and western Kansas (see Dry Lake below).
Blog contribution from Victoria Engler: I found an interesting site. It has gives links to other sites where one can find a lot about wetlands, for instance geospatial infomation and other facts the goverment has collected. Go to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Blog contribution from Chris Jung: Initially, I was a little discouraged when I started looking for web resources on wetlands in Kentucky. Eventually, I found a guide book entitled Southeastern wetlands: A guide to selected sites in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky by Parke Puterbaugh, which led me to the Daniel Boone National Forest and this website--see DB wetlands. The Daniel Boone has over 850 wetlands managed by the Forest Service.
The second website is a link to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources website. This link takes you to an article on how to construct shallow-water wetlands and how difficult reestablishing this environment can be. Go to shallow-water wetlands.
In addition to World Wetlands Day, Sarah Pick discovered this coming May is the 19th anniversary of American Wetlands month--see AWM.
| Following the course lecture on canals, Scott Jones sent these pictures and explanation: While traveling in Scotland this past summer I had a chance to visit the Falkirk Wheel near Falkirk, Scotland. The wheel is the only rotating boat lift in the world, as it connects the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Union Canal. Photos © S. Jones. See Falkirk Wheel. | 
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Next contribution from Scott Davis: I found out that Ducks Unlimited of Canada is running a campaign on saving the wetlands of Canada. It talks about the purpose of the wetlands and how important it is to take care of them. It's very interesting to see how helping the wetlands even benefits people. See Ducks Unlimited Canada.
| A third contribution from Peg Martin: I pass this site every day on my way to work. It is part of Bethabara Park, the first of three settlements in the Winston-Salem (NC) area founded by German Moravians in the mid 1700s. The park has restored the wetland by reinforcing a beaver dam. For more information, see Bethabara Park. Photo © M. Martin. |
Final item from Rick Moran: For my blog contribution, I decided to create a running story of the changes in my little wetland behind my house. For the first installment, see little wetland.
| Blog contribution from Brenda Zabriskie: I was going through some of my pictures I took a few weeks ago here at Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge (near Emporia). The high water marks are from previous floods (right). I’m not sure of their height, though. In the picture of the sunset, I tried to get the wild geese in the middle of the image, but they don’t show up too well. Photos © B. Zabriskie. |  |
Blog contribution from Sarah Pick: I found this website, Wetlands International, which is about a global organization with the headquarters located in The Netherlands. They are trying to save the wetlands and their resources. They even have a list of all their projects.
Blog contribution from on-campus student, Victoria Engler: I found this news item interesting. Unfortunately it does not have many details. They are building new wetlands to replace the ones they built over--see IndyStar. This is known as a "mitigation" wetland.
| As an introductory example, consider these two views of Dry Lake. Left: lake full of water following heavy winter snow and runoff, May 2007. Right: basin is a wet, salty mudflat in May of 2008. Kite aerial photos by JSA & SWA with assistance of Dave Leiker and Cheryl Unruh. | 
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Note: All students are expected to contribute items for the wetland blog during the semester, as part of your course participation. Send your blog text and images to the instructor via email.
Return to wetlands syllabus.
EB/ES/GE 341 © J.S. Aber (2009).
