Today, all of us woke up and together made a breakfast of blueberry pancakes and bacon. We then quickly got ready and left to go to work, but the local interns left the house without us.
When we got to Lulu Lake, we met up with Tim Gerber from University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse. He has worked with Leaf interns the past 2 summers, this summer being his 3rd. Today, we worked with him and the divers to remove the Eurasian watermilfoil from Lulu Lake.
The interns, Joan, and Rebecca chatting while we waited for the divers.
We also got to work with Hannah today from the Madison office. Hannah got stuck in the canoe when we rowed out to the lake.
She told us she was going to be here today when we visited and we were super excited to work with her. The divers and reporters were on the pontoon, and all the interns, Marissa, and Sarah were using canoes to collect all the milfoil the divers collected.
There were also some who snorkeled: Tim and Hanna. Tim explained to us that it's really important to collect these pieces because like many other aquatic plants, just a tiny floating piece can connect to the soil and start growing again.
It was the first time we went canoeing for most of us and we were really excited. We grouped up and had three to a canoe. It took a while for Rebecca and Emily to get the canoe going in the right direction. When we did get it, we had lots of fun canoeing and touring Lulu Lake. It was a little confusing and frustrating to row the canoe to the right area and pick up the floating pieces of Milfoil though.
Kelly, Lucinda, and Ellen are on the same canoe while Emily, Rebecca, and Catherine are on one. They linked their canoes together!
During lunch, we ate with some TNC donors and got to talk to them about what we are doing for LEAF. We also celebrated 2 birthdays today - Joan's and Catherine's! Both of them turned 17 today and we all celebrated by eating Ellen's homemade chocolate cake. We all loved it, Ellen!!
After lunch, we got back on the water and continued to collect the milfoil. Catherine, Ellen, and Emily went into the water and helped the divers collect wads of milfoil and helped us grab floating pieces of the milfoil. We all had a lot fun driving the canoes and helping out!
Divers getting back into the water!
Emily, Catherine, and Ellen jumped right into the water.
Ellen and Sarah learning some things about milfoil.
Here's Lucinda and her bucket of milfoil. That's only one of many!
Heading back to the dock.
Weed pit!!
After work, we decided to catch up on work that we needed to get done.
We then ate a dinner full of leftovers from the potluck - it still tasted delicious! After dinner, we watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and a creepy episode of Doctor Who. It was so scary that Rebecca took one of the sleeping bags and slept in Lucinda's and Joan's room.
