August 3 – Cindy gave us all a reprieve this morning. We boarded the van at 0830 for the Aquarium instead of 0800.

We again started with a plan for the day and concept mapping

followed by an introduction of Dr. Lucinda Johnson of the Natural Resources Research Institute. Participants opened the session with questions for Lucinda on the certainties and uncertainties of climate change.

She gave us an excellent and well-illustrated presentation on the complexities of climate change, with understandable examples that teachers can use with elementary students. Lucinda concluded her remarks with a series of slides specifically on the potential impacts of changing climate to the Great Lakes.

Following yet another imaginative box lunch prepared by the UMD caterers, Cindy put on her croupier’s hat and orchestrated a competitive round of the watershed game, with candy as the currency.

Then Matt TenEyck, UW-Superior, clearly connected our Great Lakes to the oceans of the world with an explanation of invasive species, shipping and ballast water.

At 2:30 pm (can that really be right) we concluded the formal portion of the day, and sent the participants off to prepare for group presentations tomorrow.

They’ve been so busy that the blog fodder I’ve received has been sparse, so instead I offer the following:

Our Duluth heat wave seems to have finally broken, but not before some bizarre occurrences. In fact, Bruce Munson reported that it was so hot earlier this week that he had seen a squirrel in the backyard dipping its nuts in ice.

And while participants worked late into the night preparing for Friday, our fearless leaders looked for direction…

August 2 – Since I know that you’re all dying to know the answer to yesterday’s groaner, I’ll put it right up front. You call that person an ex-streamist!

Today’s scientific team was made up of Drs. Marty and Nancy Auer, who joined us for a second day, and Dr. Anett Trebitz of the USEPA, a wetlands specialist. We started the morning, as usual, with a plan for the day, context mapping, and questions for our scientists based on scientific readings done by the participants.

And then we took a PowerPoint journey through Lake Superior wetlands guided by Anett. That was followed by Nancy’s description of the Lake Sturgeon, its habitat and ecology.

Following lunch at the Aquarium, we boarded a motor coach, with Al as our pilot, and headed back to Wisconsin (it’s really where all the good stuff is) Point to wade in a wetland on Allouez Bay and try our hand at seining for fish in several types of habitat. Teams of participants competed to see which team could catch the most fish, the biggest variety, the most unique, etc. There were obvious differences in populations based on habitat, and each team was very successful at capturing fish.

From Allouez Bay we headed deeper into Wisconsin and set our course for Bark Bay, a large complex of coastal barrier spit, lagoon, springs, and wetlands occupying an embayment between two rocky headlands. The highlight here was the opportunity to literally walk on top of the water over a quaking coastal bog of sphagnum moss. We were awed by pitcher plants and the tiny, delicate sundew plants which were everywhere. Randy gave us the following memory device for some of the plants we were seeing:
Sedges have edges;
Rushes are round;
And grasses have joints,
When the narcs aren’t around.

Back on the bus, we headed over the backbone of the Bayfield peninsula to Washburn and the Sioux River Slough. Standing just off the main road, we were able to see a complex of wetlands that clearly demonstrated that many differengt habitat types can occur in a very short span. Not all wetlands are the same. A walk to Bayview Beach provided another opportunity to seine, and many people also took advantage of the warm water for a pre-dinner swim.

We boarded the bus again for Bayfield and a wonderful dinner of fresh lake trout or whitefish at Gruenke’s, one of the historically significant establishments in quaint Bayfield. With our hunger satisfied, we headed into the sunset and back to UM-Duluth.

Our Wednesday in pictures…

Working hard over lunch

Brian’s agates. Thanks, Brian!!

We’re off to seine

Checking our Visitor’s Guide…

Nancy and Anett show us how it’s done

We’re all eager to get started

The seining begins

Almost done

What did we catch??

Seining amid the rushes

We caught a Northern Pike!! Or is it a Muskie?!?

Anett leads us at Bark Bay Slough

Anett, Ann and Cindy at Bark Bay Slough

“You are here”

Marty and Nancy Auer on the bog at Bark Bay Slough

Pitcher plant

Sundew up close

Aquatic Invasive Species warning sign at Bark Bay Slough

Brian and Paula share a find

The “Blues” brothers - Steve and Jim coordinate their look

Seining on Bayview Beach

What did we find?

Some of our group emerge from the water between Bayview Beach and Madeline Island

Dinner at Gruenke’s

Brian finds his brother’s old 45 on the wall.

Cindy and Kelly broke the lock on the door of the ladies room!

Tuesday was a real paradox – three actually! We had Drs. Nancy and Marty Auer from Michigan Tech with us as well as Dr. Steve Lozano from the NOAA Great Lake Environmental Research Lab.

And we had a very full day of classroom and field activities, including an extensive cruise on the UW-Superior’s R/V L.L. Smith. And here’s the real paradox: for as busy as we were all day, there was a very relaxing and refreshing element provided by being on the water. And a delicious barbeque of shish kebobs while cruising slowly through a peaceful wetland area put the capstone on the day.

Nancy, Marty and Steve gave us a college course in Lake Superior limnology in just a few short hours.

We learned about the physical and chemical characteristics of the lake, the pelagic community of plankton, the benthos, and the fish community as well. In short we looked at the food web dynamics and the setting in which those dynamics occur. And then we went on to the water, first on open Lake Superior and then into the tributary streams and wetlands, sampling as we traveled, and then discussing what we found. Marty brought a sophisticated scope and monitor to look at plankton, while Nancy led an exploration of the gut contents of fish, and Steve gathered mud samples and sorted through the benthic, or bottom-dwelling, critters.

And the students said:

Capt. Dan and his able crew provided the water taxi for today’s adventure. - Patty

There are two ways to determine a food web. 1) Dissect a fish; 2) Use characteristics such as body shape, mouth position and eye position.

Although it seemed simplistic, taking temperatures at regular depth intervals and watching the layers show up was very interesting. This is something that middle school students could easily do and understand. – Denise

Today, we looked at food webs through the stomach of a lake trout. In its belly we found a smelt, which in turn had zooplankton in its stomach. What an awesome visualization for our students. – Erin

The L.L. Smith is a great boat and a great place to experience research on the Great Lakes. – Doug

Saw TWO eagles today. What awesome birds! – Jane

We saw a food web today, from sunlight through phytoplankton and zooplankton to fish. And then we saw an eagle extend the chain by catching a fish. - Jim W

Invasive species are opportunists. Are we willing to be honest and to call humans an invasive species?? – Paula

It was our turn to raise the bridge today, with a long-short-long-short series of booming blasts from the L.L. Smith’s horn as it headed out on to Lake Superior. – Randy

An answer from yesterday – English fuggle is the most revered and famous of all English hops and produces a robust, full and rounded flavor, particularly popular in ales. It is often used for dry hopping in cask ales. It was first propagated in the 1860’s from a plant found growing naturally in Kent, England.

And a question from yesterday offered by Randy – What do you call a former second-order river scientist?? Check back tomorrow for the answer to this groaner.

Here is a recap of the day in photos…

Eager students board the van for the aquarium

Morning groups get down to work

Boarding the L.L. Smith Jr.

Captain Dan at the helm

Captain Dan’s museum-quality helm. What a wheel!! Look at that telegraph!!

Playing chicken on Lake Superior. Do not try this at home.

Jamie at work in the plankton lab

Phytoplankton microvideo system. Very cool.

Phytoplankton on display

Same phytoplankton, up close this time

Nancy Auer introduces us to FISH GUTS!!

Fish Guts up close with Erica and Paula

Steve Lozano works with Kelly to sort benthic samples

Hard at work on the aft deck

Connie’s our new Captain?

Diane’s fish is on this bridge!!!! It’s the big one. The local custom remains a mystery.

Zebra mussels encrusing a native clam. Not good.

Did Cindy and Steve find Paddle??

Possible Paddle up close

A ship - research, education or otherwise - runs on its stomach

Spirit Island

Lord Jim. Captain Dan wannabe.

This is tough work!

I had a good day

Marty Auer asking Captain Dan when we can go out on the L.L. Smith, Jr. again.

July 31 — Summary – Valerie Brady and George Host, both of the Natural Resources Research Institute, spent the day sharing watershed concepts and showing us firsthand several computer resources useful in a K-12 classroom.

And then we went into the field to sample the Lester and Amity Rivers and Tischer Creek. The cool water, shaded streams and plunging waterfalls felt wonderful on a warm afternoon, and we were in the water as often as possible. Dinner at the UMD dining hall provided an opportunity to recharge our batteries and to get an overview from Cindy and Bruce of the Duluth area and its place in the overall Lake Superior basin. And then it was off to a local landmark, the Fitgers Brewery, to sample the local brew and to share a wealth of conversation and to generate new questions that demand answers – what the heck ARE English fuggles anyway??

Here’s what our students thought important –

If you snatch a rock from the creek, lift straight up quickly and don’t turn it over until you get it out of the water. You may find stoneflies, mayflies, caddis flies and snails, like we did – Erica

Brian, another student, helped me to better understand the differences in lava flows – Jane

Big idea for today – everyone lives in a watershed – think globally, act locally – Lauren

What are you doing to protect your watershed? – Erin

I was amazed at how much runoff is due to lawns – Ann

Two great sites to use with classes are “www.duluth streams.org” and waterontheweb.org – Jim W and Brian

You can do more than kick seining in creeks. We measured slopes, sediment depth, water flows, volumes, percent shade, temperature and flood plain area. – Jim W

Discussing watersheds and run-off has given me added incentive to proceed with plans to put in a rain garden at our school and even initiate some changes at home – Denise

I slipped and fell in Lester Creek
My flops flipped
My glasses slipped
I grabbed a rock, backed up,
Climbed out and up and went to find the ones
Who didn’t even know I’d left – Patty Lester

Jim’s C –> F conversion – amaze your friends and even your students

Measure the temp in C
Double it
Subtract 10 %
Add 32 degrees to get F

Some pictures from today…

Concept mapping 101

Taking the stream’s temperature

Measuring stream bank angle

Demonstrating how to use the turbidity tube

It’s getting hot. We need water!!!

How deep is the stream sediment?

The Great Orange Race - FALSE START!!!!!!!

The Great Orange Race - approaching the finish line

The conscientious among us took notes on everything!

Time for a break

The waterfall swimming hole

Cindy finds Jessica’s memory stick

A hearty dining hall dinner after a day in the field

How do we find out way out of this maze?