Water Sampling and Campfire

Last Friday's Campfire was a blast. I was able to get everything accomplished on time, and although it rained, all of the events were over by the time rain drove the horde away. I believe the cross-cut saw contest ended with two teams tied in victory with a time of 23 seconds.

This week has been water sampling centered. Tuesday were the wells and the tap, and today was the lake. The process of sampling the lake was roughly outlined to me--they take a boat out, divid the lake into three sections, and then test the water at 3 different depths. Generally, the levels of dioxane have been reported as decreasing. I should be getting the report from last years samples shortly.

This morning was stunning. Saginaw has a way of being particularly spectacular when I'm going through a rough time. Whatever mood I wake up with, it dissipates at least temporarily when I head out for morning rounds. The light filtered through the trees in that special way that gives you pause, and the fog over the lake slowly swirled away before my eyes. The witch hazel is looking magnificent, yellow flowers on yellow leaves.

Sometimes I can't believe I live here.

Out in the boat sampling. Chilly morning activity.

Hi, I love you.

You are magnificent.

MAGNIFICENT

Work!

Campfire is coming.

The to-do list is long, and every day I seem to be getting an email requesting information for this or that. Earlier this week, I cut the perfect log for the cross-cut saw competition. Today I kind of ruined that log dragging it to the barn. Idiotically, I did not notice that it was being chipped away by the road. So now the back third of it is a smaller diameter. Alas, it will have to do. What is done is done. And my calves hurt. Many thanks to Bill, Oliver, and Lauren for the help!

Today was a full-on Saginaw day. In addition to the log dragging, I did rounds, attended a Properties Committee meeting, cleaned up the bonfire pit, and mowed down the zen meadow. I'm whipped.

Class use this fall has been extensive. Several ecology classes have been out in the woods, and a few others may be seen floating about the lake. My first year landscape architecture students have made several field trips out here (and will be out again tomorrow). As they research the site for their projects, a lot of interesting photographs and information have become available. One student in particular found some excellent old images at the Bentley Library. So much flannel!

Before.

After

Last weekend I cleared some deadfall from the driveway, and also attended the Native Plant Sale at the botanical gardens. I picked up a hefty load of my favorite perennials to plant around the cabin. My hope is that they will ultimately disperse their seeds throughout the wood. Saginaw, my gift to you.

The big witch hazel by the cabin is already blooming! It is lovely, but much earlier than anticipated.

Spider flowers.

Oh, you pretty.

Girl Scouts in Saginaw Forest

Last weekend, there were a number of girl scouts in Saginaw Forest. The following is from Erin Lane, from SNRE's Teaching and Inspiring Environmental Stewardship (TIES) program:

The name of the event on October 21st was "Saginaw Forest Hiker", and it was an event in which girl scouts could practice hiking skills and play outdoor games to earn their "Hiker" Skill-Building Badge.

This was the first event that TIES has held for girl scouts at Saginaw Forest - the feedback from parents, scouts and troop leaders was outstanding!  Therefore, we will aim to offer the event again next fall.  The troops that attended were numbers 40280 and 60026. In addition, there was a "Juliette" (that's a girl scout term for a participant who does not belong to a troop) who also attended the event.

One of the parents sent a picture of her daughter, Audrey Hertz (she was the "Juliette"), who had just found a snake in the fallen leaves. The person in the photo holding the snake is a U-M undergrad who works for TIES, Veronica Kincaid.

Two summers ago, the TIES program collaborated with the WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) program, and brought a number of female high school students to the forest to learn field research techniques. Hopefully, the TIES program will continue to be able to make use of the property as a teaching space for women and girls of all ages.

Thanks again to Erin and the U-M undergraduates who came out to make this even a great one for both the kids and parents who came out last weekend. It was fun to watch an enthusiastic group of kids, excited parents, and capable group coordinators.

Photos from SNRE's annual Homecoming Campfire

Last Friday, October 12, 2012, was SNRE's annual Homecoming Campfire, and welcoming back of the class of 1962. It was a good turnout this year, with Beet Box providing the food, and the speed at which the food disappeared is a testament to how awesome it was! (It disappeared so fast that - between all the activities I was doing - I wasn't able to take a photo of the spread!)

Anyway, before the Campfire, there was some additional log-splitting that needed doing:

... and I really like that new Fiskars splitting axe that I purchased at the start of the month. It made short work of those ash logs. It's sharp, keeps an great edge, has a perfect wedge for splitting, is well balanced, and is not stupidly heavy.

Prep work also included moving the row boats to a different location:


One can't have people taking pleasure rides in the middle of the night, right? And, also, with all the boats there, it makes it difficult to safely run the wader races:


Happily, we were able to run the wader race early enough in the evening that we didn't have to do the log-sawing competition in the dark:

... looking back through my photos, I think that this was the first time in a number of years that the log sawing was done during daylight hours. Usually, it has been illuminated by the headlamps and flashlights of all the cheering SNREds.

It was a great honor of mine to also take the alumni of the class of 1962 on a tour of the forest; a place that they had come many times 50 years previous, when they were forestry students. They asked many interesting questions, were heartened to know that the property was still being used for research and teaching, were a little discouraged about the consequences of the lack of serious investment in the property, and generally curious about what changes I knew of that had happened between the time of their graduation and last Friday. What was meant to be a 40 minute tour of the lake trail turned into a discussion that was more than an hour long about many different aspects of the history and ecology of the forest. Hopefully, SNRE's alumni relations will help in trying to get these former students to recount some of their memories of the forest.

SNRE Campfire Tonight!

This will be the fourth campfire for which I will be the on-the-ground organizer (you know, because I'm the caretaker). The campfire is part of the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment's Homecoming celebrations. We're expecting to have a handful of 1962 alumni at the event, in addition to the local alums who are interested in showing up and showing how things are done. Events like this always seem to gel at the last minute (much like a good souffle), but since tonight is the night, I haven't any photos from this year's campfire.

However, this is a photo from my first year as caretaker (2009). That year, the Campfire was on October 1, 2009, and - as you can see - the trees on the far side of the lake hadn't quite turned yet.



Hopefully, it will be a great Campfire event.

SNRE Campfire is coming...

This coming Friday, October 12, is the SNRE Campfire. This will be the 106th* celebration of the school out in Saginaw Forest, ever since the celebration of "field days" began in 1906.

In preparation for the event, I cleaned up the base of the fire-pit (removing the dirt and grass that had built up over the years),



had a lot of the ash wood and pine wood that was lying around brought in,



carried over a log for the cross-cut saw competition,



and chopped wood for the campfire.



The deliveries of straw bales, pumpkins, event tent & tables, port-a-johns, and trash cans are due to come later in the week.


* I am making the assumption that the School of Forestry continued the tradition during the US involvement in the two World Wars (i.e., 1917-1918 and 1941-1945).

Forest walk

Prof. Emeritus Charles E. Olson, Jr. - retired professor of forestry and former dean of the School of Natural Resources - led a walking lecture around Saginaw Forest, something that he has done for the last few years.



I was able to join him this year, and learned many more things about the history of the forest. In all, it was a good walk, and he gave me a short history of the founding of Saginaw Forest, which I'll type up later.

Work Day on April 1, 2012 (no joke!)

Spring is coming early this year. Already, there are daffodils pushing up around the forest, and soon the buds will blossom on the trees, and the invasive species will also be getting their growth on.

Sunday, April 1st, 2012 will be a volunteer work day from noon to 4pm at the Saginaw Forest research facility (3900 West Liberty Road).

WORKDAY PRIORITIES:
We will be focusing primarily on honeysuckle removal. Furthermore, thanks to the unusually warm weather, the garlic mustard is coming in strong and will likely be more than ready to pull come April 1, and so we will also be pulling as much garlic mustard as possible.

n.b.: If you happen to like the taste of garlic mustard (and you can find garlic mustard recipes online), feel free to take away as much of it as you wish!

Other activities include raking the trails of leaf litter and picking up trash from along Liberty Road.

TOOL AVAILABILITY:
Due to a limited number of tools out at Saginaw Forest, I am asking volunteers to bring their own gloves and pruning saws and/or loppers.

SITE ACCESS:
On Sunday, April 1st, 2012, the main gate will be open from 11:30am, and volunteers can park along the driveway near the cabin. (Please don't park at the cabin, since there is limited turn-around space.)

INCLEMENT WEATHER NOTICE:
If the weather turns out to be inclement (i.e., rainy or - heaven forfend - snowy and blustery), then this event will be cancelled. (Check this page for updates.)

OTHER INFO:
There will be snacks and drinks on hand, as well as some hamburgers and hot dogs for later (anyone handy with a charcoal grill?).

If you can't come out this time, don't worry: there will be more volunteer activities in the upcoming months. (Buckthorn needs cutting throughout the forest, and if the garlic mustard isn't up on April 1, they'll be up by May.)

Birders and a new dusting of snow

I woke up (very) late today, and a dusting of snow had already settled on Saginaw Forest. I guess we're back in winter again?

In speaking with some people at the U, I know that there are going to be birders out in the forest today. I wonder what they'll find here, and whether the past days of warmer-than-average weather will mean a different assemblage (both here and in the area).

Setting up for SNRE Campfire

This Friday (day after tomorrow) is SNRE's annual Campfire event. On Monday, I mowed the lawn back.

Yesterday, the pumpkins (for carving)

and the straw bales (for sitting around the campfire)

were delivered. Today, water (for drinks), the port-a-johns (for 'evacuation'),

the tent (for covering the food), tables (for placing food upon) and lights (for illumination, of course)

 were all delivered. Tomorrow, the caterer comes at around noon and student volunteers will be showing up at around 1:30 to help with various things that need to be done (including hauling and setting up a log for the saw competition, collecting more wood, and chopping up some of the bigger stuff). I hope that things go as well tomorrow as they have been going so far (knock on wood).

Campfire a seeming success

Although this year's campfire was set two weeks after last years -- and there was much less light -- it actually got off with very little problems. Of course, there was the dock, and everyone having a great time walking around in the still-temperate afternoon/evening air. Of course, too, people were commenting on how nice the new trail to and from the Pall property was.

It was good to see the previous caretakers (H&L) with their baby. It was good, too, to see friends that I hadn't seen for most of the previous year (what with me not taking many classes in SNRE at all now). It was also good to eat a few hotdogs before I had to fulfill my duties as official crier and cross-cut sawing competition manager.

But before that competition was the running of the wadered. The wader races -- like with every event every year with every campfire -- got off without TOO much problems, but this was the first year in very many years in which the Aquatics team didn't manage to win... and which we were the ones that fell into the water. Oh well, we can't win every year, I suppose... Still, it would have been nice, nonetheless.

The food was good, the remaining apples are numerous (I suppose I will start my new apple diet tomorrow -- I wonder how difficult it would be to make pies out of them...), and I might also carve up the five pumpkins (unless I can give them away).

However, without musical entertainment, or perhaps because so many students were away on the quick start to Fall Break (and possibly due to the onset of cold temperatures once the sun set), people all left by 10pm... leaving a silent forest once again, but this time with the detritus of the event. I was half-tempted to go to town with those returning there, to see some more of the evening.

However, I have a forest to tend and a party scene to try and pick up in the still of the night.

Portajohns are here

The somewhat aptly named "John's Sanitation" dropped off two portajohns.



There will remain one more portajohn that was brought in for the use of the contractors building the pathway and dock (they will have to finish up some pieces of work next week, thus necessitating their portajohn until that time). Hopefully, therefore, revelers will have enough choices in where to go for their call-to-nature (and hopefully, therefore, won't actually go to nature to answer the call).

Trash bins are here

The first of the deliveries for tomorrow's campfire event have arrived:

Ramping up for the Campfire

It's is turning out to be a rather slow start to the week out here in the forest. First off: I was half-hoping that the contractors would be out here today, because although the forecast said that there is a chance of rain today, it's been sunny, sunny, sunny, all this morning. (Maybe it's supposed to downpour in the afternoon, though, but in this rising temperature, I'm having my own personal doubts).

It is important that the work on the walkway and the patching of the lawn get done before Thursday, since that's when the deliveries start coming; things that will be difficult to work around once they are in place. (Difficult, but not impossible.)

Also, once the stage has been set with the placement of the tent, I have to then set up the cross-cut sawing competition area: nothing too major, just cumbersome (and I have to ensure that I don't pull out my back while lumbering along with the cumbersome timber). And then mow the lawn one more time (something that I did end up doing yesterday evening, since it was the first day in a couple weeks in which there was no equipment parked on the grass (well... save for two bobcats, one on either end of the lawn).

I'm looking at the bare patches of ground where I pulled out all the saplings and sumac that were encroaching into the lawn and thinking about what sort of seeding mix I should put there: something perhaps that would be nice and thick; discouragement for the sumac and brambles to fill that space back in again. (Well, at least for a summer or two...)

And then there's the question of what I should do with the area around the dock. As it sits, one corner of the end of the dock is not visible from the central front window of the cabin. It would be nice to ensure that all sides of the dock be visible from the cabin, which would mean that I would have to go in along the bank and cut back all the cherry, buckthorn, red osier dogwood, and willow wands that are poking up along the shore. A difficult task, but one that will likely be done after the campfire festivities of this Friday.

Carrying wood

In an effort to get ready for the upcoming SNRE campfire activities, I needed to find some wood for the cross-cut saw competition. Luckily a pine fell near the cabin, so it didn't make for such a long schlep to the campfire circle.



Still, it did end up bruising my shoulder carrying over four logs: