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Reminder: the Physical Sciences student awards picnic is tomorrow—see signs in Science Hall. All students are welcome!
Note: the final exam is scheduled May 4-8. It may be put online early (May 3) to give students a head start.
| Left: overview toward the north with delta of Deception Creek; kite flyers in lower left corner. Right: closeup view of students on nature trail. Kite line extends up through center of scene. |  |
| Left: looking to the northeast with delta of Deception Creek at scene center. Right: view toward southeast with the state wildlife area in the distance. |  |
| Left: view to the northwest with kite flyers in lower right corner. Note abundant cattail coverage in the marsh. Right: looking westward with Blood Creek visible in upper left corner of scene. |  |
| Left: students on the dam at Walnut Creek where water is diverted into the Cheyenne Bottoms inlet canal. Right: marsh showing abundant waterfowl and well-developed cattails. |  |
| Left: large digging machine engaged in dredging the inlet canal. Right: undredged portion of the canal with sediment fill and vegetation growth. | 
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Quivira National Wildlife Refuge
| The touristic appeal of Quivira NWR is demonstrated by this German caravan (RV) parked in an observation area. |
| Spring life was abundant as shown by this killdeer nest constructed of salt-crust chips on nearly bare ground. Each egg is ~1½ inches long. |
| Death was also evident. Left: we found several empty turtle shells, this one with the skull preserved. Right: fresh remains of a duck, which made a fine meal for a fox or another preditor. |  |
| Oil wells and storage tanks continue in operation in Big Salt Marsh without obvious negative impacts on wetland flora and fauna. | 
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From Renee Wawczak: We had a very good discussion at Quivira on Saturday regarding invasive plant species. I have found an article that shows that no regions of the planet are excluded from the potential of invasive plant species.
Meanwhile, we need to move on to high-altitude and high-latitude wetlands. See textbook chap. 17 as well as subalpine bogs. Also review chap. 18 on wetland sustainability, and continue working on team projects, which are due next week.
From Molly Reardon: Boston Red Sox Fenway Park celebrated its 100th Anniversary on April 20th, 2012. The name "Fenway" refers to the neighborhood in which the baseball stadium was built in 1912. The neighborhood was in close proximity to the "fens" or swampy, saltwater marshland which surrounded the Back Bay area of Boston. An interesting piece of history.
Two positions are available at the Kansas Geological Survey Well Sample Library for Temporary Geology Assistants. The position deadline is Sunday, April 29th. See position description and application.
From Dan Haug: We have had some readings that have touched on global warming and its affects on wetlands. Sometimes we read about the data that has been collected, but we do not really know where the data comes from for these articles. Surprisingly, some of it comes from the Universtiy of Kansas at the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets.
From David Lawrenz: While I was looking for weather, I found this article. Not the most comprehensive, but it highlights some of the bigger water wars going on right now.
Our focus this week is wetlands of the Arkansas drainage basin in Colorado and Kansas; see textbook sections 16.2.1, 2 & 3 as well as Cheyenne Bottoms. Students should continue working on team projects.
The class field trip will take place on April 20-21. Meet at noon on Friday in the ESU north parking lot; north of recreation building next to practice athletic fields. Look for a large white van and trailer. We will stay overnight at Camp Aldrich near Claflin—for details, see Camp Aldrich. Some students still need to pay the $25 fee.
The long-range weather forecast for the trip is favorable with high temperature in the upper 60s to mid-70s °F, partly cloudy to sunny sky, and wind 10-20 mph. We hope to conduct kite/blimp aerial photography at Nature Conservancy marshes, as we have done annually for the past decade—see Cheyenne Bottoms. Following a series of spring storms and unusually warm weather, the marsh pools are likely to be full of water and emergent vegetation well developed.
From Geoff Stillwell: I was at some constructed wetlands at Shaw Nature Reserve (MO) last week. I thought some people may enjoy a view of a garden pond (left), the main pond (center), and some plants from upland edge to wetland edge. Photos © G. Stillwell.
From Alan Peterson: Slow subsidence of Earth's crust beneath the Mississippi Delta.
From this point on, we will look at selected wetlands on a regional basis, beginning this week with low-latitude examples, as covered in textbook chap. 15 (see schedule for short summaries).
We have now completed lab exercises for the course, and students should focus on team projects. Contact your instructor with team membership and topic. The following teams have formed at this point. See below (March 7) for a list of active students.
From Molly Reardon: This article from Texas Tech University is very interesting. A bit outdated (2009), but it talks about potential problems with wind farms located near playas and how they may potentially deter wildlife and water fowl from the area. Go to Texas wind power.
Note: your instructor will attend the Kansas Academy of Science annual meeting tomorrow, where he's giving a poster presentation on the Kansas wind industry. See KAS abstracts.
From Renee Wawczak: Here's a link to an interesting USGS article discussing flood water prediction technology and notifications for water alerts.
Regarding the blog challenge (below), the small stream is Carnero Creek which drains through Hellgate into the San Luis Valley near the tiny settlement of La Garita.
Our subject this week is wetland restoration and governance (chap. 13 & 14). The EPA lab is due this week. All labs are due by the end of March—no exceptions.
| During spring break, the earth science club visited Colorado, and we saw many types of wetlands. Here is a late winter view of wet meadow at a place known as Hellgate. The "gate" is a water gap where the stream has eroded through a massive lava flow. Photo © J.S. Aber. |
Bonus: What is the name of the stream in the foreground? Send your response by noon on Tuesday, March 27th.
No class assignments are scheduled during spring break, but there's always the possibility of participation bonus points!
From Stephanie Trump: The natural world outside Disney World. Thanks to federal law and big developments, central Florida has some impressively preserved natural spots. See Discover Magazine.
The exercise this week is EPA showcase watersheds (due the week after spring break). The abstract for this exercise should be less than one page in length—that is the point of an abstract, to be short.
From Dan Haug: Here is a link to Seney Wildlife Refuge. It is located in the UP of Michigan. I visited there years ago and was impressed. Seney National Wildlife refuge is a good example of a wetland that came very near destruction through logging and a later failed attempt to farm the poor iron rich soils. It is a good example of wetlands reclamtion on a large scale.
From Geoff Stillwell: I went to Pere Marquette State Park over the last weekend. It is ~25 miles NE of St. Louis and on the Illinois River (upstream of the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers). This area is known for Bald Eagles on the Mississippi Flyway in December-February. Here are some "accidental" wetlands I found.
From Cheyenne Acree: Changes to N.B. wetlands strategy announced. Go to New Brunswick from CBC News.
Active wetland students (ver. 1.1).
Students should begin to think about forming into small teams (2 or 3 members) for group projects. Below is a listing of active students in the course; students should contact each other via ESU email accounts (or in person). See teamwork in geosciences.
From Cathryn Mallonee: Here is an article about the government's new program to give financial incentives to farmers to set land aside for wetland restoration.
From Molly Reardon: For years, people have tried growing grapes near the banks of the Rio Grande River between Albuquerque and Las Cruces, NM. However, the crops have been unsuccessful, mainly due to poor soil conditions and too much water. The reason grape growers attempted these areas in the first place, was because they thought the irrigation and/or seasonal wetland conditions from the River would be beneficial. This paper talks about soil conditions for grape growing in New Mexico. I thought it was interesting!
From Brandon Flint: We were talking about invasive species last week and i found this site on them in Canada. Not all are in wetlands but most are. Check out Canadian invasive species.
Note: Pending the mid-term exam (next week), we will have a hiatus for student blog contributions until after the exam is completed.
From Marco Allain: Changes in weather add to shoreline birds' infidelity. Swallows and geese generally stay with the same partner, but some couples “divorce.” Infidelity increases as weather changes what a bird looks for in a potential mate such as a long or short beak. See weather and birds.
From Katie Simmons: Here is an article about snowy owls: how they have been living at Cheyenne Bottoms this winter, and how poachers may be affecting them.
From Brenda Tozer: While working on lab four I came across this article that discusses how one wetland plant protects another inadvertently all the while promoting its own existence. Go to plant association.
From Aaron Wendland: I found this link on the USACE site for the Jacksonville district which includes much of the Everglades. While I was in training we watched a video which talked about all of the projects that the Corps did for water management. It then went into the many unanticipated consequences of trying to modify natural systems. One of the things that the Corps is trying to do to right these wrongs is a large-scale restoration project in southern Florida. Check out USACE. If you click on the link titled "Projects and Studies Overview" on the left side of the page it will show a map with numbered bullets on each of the restoration sites.
Blog challenge: the left image below shows lesser duckweed (Lemna minor) and yellow pond-lily also known as spatterdock (Nuphar luteum) at Conneaut Marsh, northwestern Pennsylvania. The highways signs (right) show the keystone state icon; state routes 66 and 666 connect to U.S. highway 6.
| Participation blog challenge. Identify the two wetland plants in the picture on left. Clue: this site is located in a state where the following highways signs may be seen (right). What state is this? Photos © J.S. Aber. | 
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Bonus: Identify the two hydrophytes and the state. Send your response to the instructor by Monday morning, Feb. 20th.
From Brenda Tozer: This is fun site about New Jersey wetlands. I was at a lecture at a local wetland institute and they had this up on their computer. It is packed with statistics, general information and conservation. There are links to a quiz, facts and an image tour of New Jersey wetlands.
We are moving on to wetland vegetation this week; review textbook chap. 6. Students should begin working on the wetland plants exercise; see also wet_veg.pdf (due next week). The soils exercise is due this week.
From Darrel Drake: Here are two web sites showing peat harvest in Canada. The first is from 1999 and the other 2012. The former shows techniques used for commercial harvesting and statistics for global production. The latter provides an updated overview on production. Go to harvest and peat data.
From Geoff Stillwell: A new age site (to be excused), but really has good info on protozoans, their ecology, and niches: protozoa.
From Renee Wawczak: I'm not sure if this link has been shared yet, but I thought that it may be of some interest to the class: EPA Wetlands.
From Cathryn Mallonee: Here is an article about a former blighted area being turned into an urban wetland environment. Go to LA Times.
From Marco Allain: It appears that extreme cold events are occurring more frequently and they may be more detrimental to coral than temperature increase. Corals: cold or heat from the NYT.
From Molly Reardon: South of the border, Mexico celebrated by adding 3 new wetland sites to the World Heritage Wetlands list. I really liked this article at Prensa Latina.
From Dan Haug: In the introduction to next week's readings is mention of the 1951 flood in Kansas. This flood has a personal meaning to me. Although I was not born, my parents had been married in 1950. 1951 was the first year of farming on their own. The farm was mostly bottomland in Nemaha County. My dad said they only harvested 100 bushels of corn that year. Not the best way to start a marriage. I looked up some of the pictures from the '51 flood.
From Stephanie Trump: Here are some photos from the '93 flood in Emporia. My dad took these. The first one is of the practice field with my brother in the foreground. I think this may have been after the water began to recede a bit. The second one is of the bridge at Soden's Grove.
| Left: Neosho River floodplain on the northern edge of ESU campus. Right: Old "rainbow" bridge over the Cottonwood River south of Emporia. Photos © S. Trump. | 
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From Bambra Johnson: I found a few neat photos of the Cheyenne Bottoms to post on the wetlands blog. Go to pelicans, marsh view and pool view from the Kansas Geological Survey.
At first, the local farmers were not very receptive to the idea. The City of El Paso was contemplating buying up some of the water rights associated with the spring and recharge area. So, in order to preserve the water used for farming, the park service and locals approved the plan for the cienega, which is now protected by the Endangered Species Act.
From Casey Niemiec: The USDA just released an updated version of the plant hardiness zone map. It's possible to click on the map for much more detailed maps zoomed in on each state. Given the amount of discussion about plant life in this course, I thought this might be a relevant reference while learning some of the material.
From Geoff Stillwell: I like hydrology and found some extra sources on wetland hydrology; here is a continuation of the US Forest Service Forested Wetlands Hydrology from 2nd week. The USGS also has a nice coverage in USGS Wetland Hydrology (some figures missing). A nice (but somewhat technical) treatment of measuring components of the hydrological wetland budget can be found at the EPA . Speaking of the EPA, I stumbled on their National Wetlands Assessment (look at the fact sheet) and thought it was an exciting project. Finally, I came across an article on detection of wetlands at Using Aerial Imagery to Assess Wetland Hydrology .
Another from Geoff Stillwell in response to human-made wetlands (Jan. 25): There are a variety of “artificial wetlands” and maybe the compensatory or mitigational versions are problematic. In the case of storm water wetlands, the goals are to eliminate nitrates, phosphorous, reduce run off velocity and store first flush volume at the source. In the preface of the course text, one of the “tipping points” was nitrogen pollution. If you could eliminate nitrogen pollution with systems that sustain themselves, it would be a good thing (stormwater wetlands). My favorite authority on how to reasonably set restoration goals is “Nature By Design” by Eric Higgs. He was a graduate advisor to the first person that made me passionate about it and one of the founding members of SER (Society of Ecological Restoration).
From Jaime Carlos: I came across an interesting article I found on the BBC about magnetic soap. Upon further development, experts say this new magnetic soap could help in oil spill, and waste water clean-ups. Great news for wetlands everywhere!
This week we review scientific methods used to study wetlands (see chap. 3), and we will start the first lab exercise—go to hydrology data resources (due next week).
From Renee Wawczak: In reviewing the article regarding the BP oil clean up and the use of sand berms submitted by Marco Allain, I got to thinking about cost comparison for the clean up and restoration efforts. I have found a recent article posted by "The Guardian" (BP sues Halliburton for Deepwater Horizon oil spill clean-up costs, dated January 3, 2012), that discusses some of the estimated costs that BP has spent to date for the clean up efforts since the spill in 2010.
From Casey Niemiec: Here's a brief video that discusses water conservation and moisture monitoring in the cranberry fields of Wisconsin.
| Participation challenge given last week: Saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis). This stork inhabits fresh, brackish, and saline marshes, wet meadows, and other open wetlands of Africa. Photograph © M. Storm. Additional challenges will by posted on the blog from time to time. |
All distance-learning students must fill out, sign, and return the student agreement for participation in this course (either paper or electronic). On-campus students will do this in class, next week.
To get the blog started, here's a picture from ESU's own Prof. Mel Storm, who is a renowned English scholar and also happens to be an outstanding photographer.
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| A large and wide-ranging African stork; seen here in a marsh of the Okavango River delta region, Botswana. Photograph © M. Storm. |
Return to wetlands syllabus.
EB/ES/GE 341 © J.S. Aber (2012).
Cheyenne Bottoms State Wildlife Area