Notes from the Nature Bound Director,
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| The Field Station Farmhouse, Feb 14, 2014 |
Occasionally someone will arrive here on the Field Station
and inquire about the best thing to do out here, given a small amount of time
to spend on that day. I do
my best to triage all of the dynamic things happening, however
I can’t help to think of John Muir’s famous response to a time pressed visitor
in Yosemite over 100 years ago.
To the tourist with only one day he replied, “I would sit on a rock and
cry”. To those who spend a
great deal of time in the natural world, this quote needs no explanation. The idea that one would miss the
marvels going on around them by investing only one day in nature is profoundly
sad. There is so much good that
comes from being outside, and so much bad from not taking time to learn what nature teaches.
So, after much encouragement I am embarking on a public
display of the stories that unfold daily on the field station and that
generally circulate among students and friends that are here regularly. I must admit that I am doing this
with some trepidation: I am much more comfortable on a deer trail than the
information superhighway.
Nonetheless, I do have a deep desire to share opportunities to get
people outside to learn what the natural world has to teach; and all of this takes
more that a day.
Perhaps the slow thaw of winter is as good a place as any to start. I have to admit to anticipating the renewing sounds of Spring, as a spring peeper chorus is easier to interpret than the stern lessons of Winter. The unyielding cold has keep the soil at a shallow depth near freezing very late this year. Every day I put the soil thermometer 8 and then10 centimeters into the ground. Unyielding, is reads just above freezing time and time again.
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| March 10, 2014 |
Under these conditions, I
admire the determination of the Mole Salamanders (
Ambystomatidae,
both Spotted and Jefferson) that are embarking on their annual migration to vernal
pools to breed, somehow struggling out of and across the cold earth.
This year, like last, a few (4 in 2013, and 2 in 2014) early,
ambitious spotted salamanders emerged too soon, and died under a sheet of
ice that formed on our new breeding pool.
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| Feb 17, 2014 |
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| Feb 24, 2014 |
Typically, they migrate in large numbers on the first
rainy night in February or early March.
This year, the migration is likely to happen in two
days, on Wednesday when we are anticipating a good, cold rain.
I will be out with eager
students, searching the ground and vernal pools in the cold, wet night with dim
flashlights, cheering with each salamander discovered; all the while lamenting the poor soles on spring break in Florida
who will miss out on the fun!
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