Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the McHenry County Glacier Park. The first thing we did was water plants that were planted by last year's students who went on the field trip. After irrigating the plants, we planted acorns to help speed up the seeding process that would naturally happen through chipmunks or squirrels. The second half of our visit consisted of helping take out unwanted trees and shrubs in order to clear out some area. At first it seemed counterproductive, having to cut down and remove species in order for more things to grow, but I soon learned that that's a natural process. We cut down smaller trees that were overcrowding the bigger ones as well as weeded and trimmed. We learned that this process allowed new, native plants to flourish and as a result, attract more native wildlife. How do these creatures know to come back? It's not certain, but we do know that because of our hard work clearing out that part of land, that we would be able to attract different kinds of creatures. Looking at the pictures was very satisfying. Knowing that we helped Mother Nature speed up a process was very fulfilling. The trip as a whole served as a good hands-on learning activity as well as a benefit to nature itself.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Restoration ecology field trip, Danica
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the McHenry County Glacier Park. The first thing we did was water plants that were planted by last year's students who went on the field trip. After irrigating the plants, we planted acorns to help speed up the seeding process that would naturally happen through chipmunks or squirrels. The second half of our visit consisted of helping take out unwanted trees and shrubs in order to clear out some area. At first it seemed counterproductive, having to cut down and remove species in order for more things to grow, but I soon learned that that's a natural process. We cut down smaller trees that were overcrowding the bigger ones as well as weeded and trimmed. We learned that this process allowed new, native plants to flourish and as a result, attract more native wildlife. How do these creatures know to come back? It's not certain, but we do know that because of our hard work clearing out that part of land, that we would be able to attract different kinds of creatures. Looking at the pictures was very satisfying. Knowing that we helped Mother Nature speed up a process was very fulfilling. The trip as a whole served as a good hands-on learning activity as well as a benefit to nature itself.
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