Day 24: The Experiment

Today is our second day working with Tim Gerber, this time working on his experiment. We helped prepare his control and experimental group for the Eurasian watermilfoil growth suppression. What Tim wants to do is figure out whether putting a biodegradable mesh on top of harvested milfoil will suppress future growth. In the greenhouse, he grew milfoil in ten buckets. Spencer helped Tim harvest the milfoil in the containers. Tim collected the milfoil and will dry and weigh them at the university. This will allow him to compare future growth in control and experimental groups. We randomly chose five buckets to act as the experimental group and placed mesh on the sediment. Rebecca and Emily helped to cut the mesh to fit into containers that Tim had in the greenhouse for his experiment. 

Tim hypothesizes that putting the mesh on harvested milfoil will suppress future growth. He is also trying to recreate the experiment on a larger scale in Lulu Lake. On half of the space that we cleared yesterday, we will put a frame with mesh weaved in it. The other half we will leave clear to act as the control group. Ellen, Lucinda, and Joan helped make a frame by overlapping four wooden thin planks.

We used an additional plank to create a triangle diagonally to reduce shifting. We secured the frame with degradable rope that will allow the entire frame to break down by the end of the growing season. It will be put into the water tomorrow. 

After we finished, there was still time until lunch and we helped to identify some mussels that Sarah had in her office. We then went to Lulu Lake and talked with some of the divers that came by to visit and placed the frame covered mesh in the garage.

After lunch, we went to go visit the Meyer preserve for the first time- surprisingly it had less invasive species than expected. The view was beautiful and the trees brought great shade. We went hiking through the mini forest while we pulled any invasive species we saw. We saw a lot of Japanese parsley and thistle in the prairie. We also got to see a bluebird's nest and the male bluebird feeding the chicks!

Marissa got into her thistle hunting mode again and was very far away from us. It was a bit hard to see the thistle because the small ones blended in the the other purple flowers. The only difference is that thistle pricks you- they are not our friends. 

We got a lot done today, but we had to finish making our journal videos. We got great takes at the Meyer Preserve. When we got home we began to pack our bags and the kitchen materials. It's sad seeing all of our stuff get put away. It reminds us that we are only two days away from going home to New York. The house feels so empty now.

We wrote our final journal entries and Marissa collected them all. We also went through our final evaluation and found that we are still improving as interns. We also completed our videos to hand in at the end of our internship. It's been a good experience and a long day. Now to spend the last couple days having fun and saying our good byes.  

Day 23: Canoeing on Lulu Lake

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.