OMN Aquatics and Wetland Workshop 30 March 2019

Are you a dandelion hater? Shouldn’t be. These early bright yellow flowers provide food for bees at a time little else is blooming. A dandelion has 40 to 100 tiny flowers which provide pollen and nectar. Be creative and leave strips or patches of these vital flowers in your lawns. Mow early morning or late evening when the flowers are closed and the little foragers are not around. You’ve seen it time and again. Pollinators are responsible for 30% of the food you eat. From the Ecosuperior: Dandelions feed pollinators. Let them grow.

The day was raw and cold. Lake Arcadia Conservation Education Center was warm and inviting. Two tables were set up with snacks, drinks and the edible wetland supplies. The back table, nearest to the electrical outlet, was a good place for the dissecting scope, watch glasses, equipment, magnifiers, pond water samples, Pond Life identification kit and Pond Life book.

All things to do with nature and water were presented in pictures and text. The Oklahoma Master Naturalist (OMN) coordinator, Marley Beem, was in charge of the program. Aquaculture and pond management has been his passion, no doubt influenced by growing up in the desert Southwest. The group of attending naturalists had diverse backgrounds and interests. One person had concerns about neighborhood associations. She felt the importance of environmental awareness should be considered by these governing bodies in the position to promote nature neighborhoods. It’s all about education.

An environmental educator felt training the grandparents is the jumping off point, since many grandparents care for their grandkids. Another recommended gardens as paths to nature. The Forestry Therapy Guide said simply “Slow down.”

However fast we go, we can’t outrun the ticks. Recommendations: Picaridin is an insect repellent which appears to be effective against ticks without the solvent problems of DEET. Sulphur dusted around feet, legs and wherever was reported to turn off ticks.

Interesting plants were growing outside by the building. Bare shrubs still had attached long thin seed pods. This is possibly the yellow trumpetbush (Tecoma stans), a native shrub very attractive to bees, hummingbirds and butterflies. The 3-lobed leaves and yellow tube flowers with tiny red throats of one plant patch mystified me. I sent a picture to my resident gardening expert Linda. She immediately recognized them as the clove current (Ribes odoratum) because of the leaves and dots of red on the inside of the flower petals. She’d love to have some, but contained in a pot because of the current’s tendency to stray far and wide.

Get up close and personal in nature. Fly fishing tops the list of things that require nature observation since one needs to know the fish, habitat and food. Hand tied flies and lures mimic those insects and invertebrates found where the fish live. In case you want to put in your own fishing pond, make it at least 18 inches deep. This discourages raccoons from eating your fish.

During the Indoor Field Trip, pond water came to life under magnification. Last year students walked around the Lake Arcadia wetlands making observations and taking samples, but today’s cutting wind precluded the outdoor adventure. Droppers full of cloudy water from various samples were scrutinized. The occupants were tracked and described. What are they: bacteria, worms, copepods (tiny translucent crustaceans), algae or other freshwater organisms? Some zipped across the field of vision while others hid and continued to eat plants. Water fleas and Cyclops copepods with attached egg sacks were confirmed. The Cyclops may be miniscule but mighty. They grab and chew up their prey. The water fleas create a current of water using their legs and whatever is in the water goes into their open mouths. No forks or spoons necessary.

What is a Wetland? In a nutshell, a wetland is water-saturated land often with aquatic plants. Six types exist in Oklahoma: flood plains, marshes/bogs/swamps, playa lakes that dry up periodically, oxbow lakes cut off from their river and forested wetlands, as in McCurtain County. The mucky soils have much less oxygen with water-loving plants and associated animal life.

After the Wetland discussion, edible wetlands were concocted. A lab especially great for kids, the necessary equipment was easy to find: plastic cups, spoons, plain shortbread cookies, chocolate puffed rice cereal, chocolate pudding, whipped topping, blue food dye, green sprinkles, pretzel sticks and Gummies.

To simulate solid bedrock, the lowest layer of soil, cookies were put in the bottom of the cup. Above bedrock is subsoil composed of smaller rocks. We used chocolate puffed rice. The topsoil is quite organic, dark and damp. Chocolate pudding to the rescue. A spoonful of whipped topping mixed with a little blue food dye served as a puddle of water. A little duckweed turned into green sprinkles shaken onto the water and pretzels were poked in to become cattails. Ready for the animals: Swedish fish and Gummi worms.

Before a picture of our wetlands could be taken, some wetlands had already been partially eaten. The bedrocks (Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies) quickly disappeared.

Great workshop.