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Happening
at the Crossroads
July 7,
2008
by Coggin
Heeringa
Gobies and buckthorn and worms. Oh, my.
Each
month, Crossroads at Big Creek hosts the meeting of DCIST (the Door
County Invasive Species Team.) Their informational programs have
focused on an array of undesirable, non-native plants and animals. This
month, the feature invasive species is THE EARTHWORM.
Wait a
minute. Earthworms? The gardener's best friends? Invasive species?
Haven't they always been here? Actually, NO. My students (of all
ages) will anticipate my standard answer: "It's because of the
glaciers"
Scientists speculate that during most recent advance
of Ice Age glaciers, the ice covering Door County was probably a mile
or so thick. The mass of this ice was great enough to deform the
Earth's crust. Soft-bodied earthworms were squashed out of existence.
Consequently, for the past 10,000 years, our northern forests
have evolved without earthworms.
Plants, from spring
wildflowers to tree seedlings, germinate in the duff ---that spongy
layer of decaying leaves and other organic matter that form a carpet on
the forest floor. Turns out, earthworms devour duff. Where worm have
been introduced to a northern forest, wildflowers and seedlings become
scarce.
On Monday, July 14 at 2:00 PM, DCIST will sponsor
a program called "Invasive Earthworms" presented by Kathryn Corio
of the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity at UWGB.
This
hands-on presentation begins with a PowerPoint slide show that
discusses the mystery of exotic earthworms including their
introduction, life cycle, and their impact upon native and exotic plant
species and upon a few animals.
After the slide show
participants will venture outside to visit a mixed forest and old
field and extract worms from the soil with liquid mustard and talk
about different species and their impacts. The presentation was
developed with the general public in mind and is kid friendly.
Kathryn
Corio holds a Masters degree in Environmental Science and works as a
botanist for the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity at UWGB. Since
finishing her masters, which dealt with exotic worms, she has been
working on a long-term forest dynamics study in the Nicolet Forest that
is sponsored by the Smithsonian.
On Saturday at 10:00, Summer
Naturalist Amberle Eversen will focus on invasive plants with her
interpretive program "Invasive Awareness Hike".
On Sunday
afternoon, the Historical Village at the Crossroads will be open from
1:00-3:00 and at 1:00 A Sing-Along will be presented in the Chapel.
Diane Melang and Ken Pollock will offer solo and sing-along
favorites. Tours and music are free. Families will want to visit
the Village on Monday at 10:00 for "Old School Days."
The Door
County Environmental Council kicks off its Water Quality Series with a
lecture on Wednesday, July 16 at 7:00 PM, with the lecture "Can a
Created Wetland Solve Your Septic Problem?"
Featured speaker is
Tom Mellon, MS, biology teacher from Kettle Moraine Lutheran School.
The school has been using a created wetland system to successfully
treat all of the school's sewerage since 1991. Mellon supervised the
installation system and has overseen its operation ever since. He is
considered by many to Wisconsin's leading expert on created wetlands.
This program is free.
Crossroads at Big Creek is a donor
supported learning center focusing on science, history and the
environment. Trails are open to the public. The Collins Learning Center
is open from 1:00-3:00 daily.
The
Collins Learning Center at Crossroads is located at on County Highway T
across from Whitetails Unlimited. To reach the Leif Everson Observatory
and Stonecipher Astronomy Center, use the Utah Street Entrance. If
skies are clear, call 746-5896 for a recorded message announcing
whether the observatory will be open.
Many of the Past News articles may be retrieved from this directory,
indexed and named in the following manner: 080101-news.htm where
the first two numbers are the year, the second two the month and the
last two the date.
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