Morgan's Restoration Reflection

Start of the trip!

At the start of the trip we would learn that buckthorn and a few other species weren't native to the environment. They were brought into this enivronment by people. The ecologist that we worked with would then tell us that this whole area we were in over 3500 acres used to be farm land. The agriculture that would take place before the conservationists took charge of the land had ruined the ecosystems that previously existed. Not to mention that the distruction of the habitats for the animals that lived in the area pushed all the animals away. It was only up until recently that some of the old inhabitants would come back to their previous homes. Like the badgers that had recently returned to the area. The most important thing that was learned from this part of the trip waas that if you restore the environment that the organisms that lived there before it was ruined would return.

 

The next part of the trip was probably the most fun and exciting! We would be removing the plants that were not native to the area. We were making room for those native plants that didn't stand a chance with the over populus non-native plants. In our group we would cut down 4 trees and a large amount of brush that covered the forrest floor. All while leaving the multiple oaks alone. We also created a burn pile because many priaires need fires to grow. This would also kill anything that wasn't naturally occurring since the non-natives wouldn't be able to tolerate the fire.

The next thing that we did on our trip was watering the hill & burr oak sapplings. Since we haven't had very much rain in the past few days it was vital that we gave the sapplings water. We poured about 2 gallons of water on each tree.

The next part was where we planted a bunch of acorns. The acorns that squirrels plant yearly are the natural way of planting oak trees. So forgetting where you acorn is isn't as bad as the squirrel in Ice Age makes it out to be! We planted each acorn about an inch under the surface one by one. Unless you felt a bit lazy then there might have been a few more then one per hole. 

I felt that this was probably one of the best field trips because you could really embrace the nature nd help the environment at the same time! Not to mention you can tell people that you saved the planet for the day! Plus how many people can say they got to use a huge bow saw to cut down trees on a field trip? Only down fall was when I thought I was going to fall down the giant hill that you felt like you could never see the top off.