Monday, April 29, 2013
Forked Creek Farm and the Great Tadpole Rescue of 2012
So, for my first environmental science blog post, I have decided to share some views of the place where I get the most exposure to all of the environmental spheres we have been discussing in class. This is a five acre parcel of land adjacent to a forested conservation area, where we will be building a new house in just five weeks!
The property has several outbuildings; one will be our horse barn, and another will become our kennels and dog training facility. I make my living as a dog behavioral trainer, and we also raise and train service dogs for wounded war veterans. The property has a big barn, which will house my horses. We also have chickens, and they will be getting their own new home after ours is built.
Running the entire length of the east boundary of the property is the south branch of Forked Creek, which feeds into the Kankakee River. This is typically a very wide, free-flowing creek, but last summer, due to drought, it ran dry. I was very upset, watching the water levels drop and seeing the fish and frogs begin to suffer and then die.
The video I am posting here shows me going to ridiculous lengths trying to save a bunch of dehydrating tadpoles. I know it seems silly, but I saw them and felt compelled to help. My family members were amused enough to film "Tadpole Rescue 2012:"
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Wow....that is crazy. To actually think that there are rivers and creeks drying up due to drought. I've always heard of it obviously but have never actually experienced one. Is it running again now?
ReplyDeleteHi Maxine,
DeleteYes, I just came back from a visit today, and the water is very high. One of my new neighbors came by and as we were talking he mentioned they had just gotten the most rainfall recorded since 1947! The creek came up over the banks and flooded a great deal of my lower pasture land. It has since receded, and luckily, due to lots of deep-rooted native prairie plants, we suffered no erosion. Instead, this land just received a nourishing silting, and I anticipate great hay for my horses will follow :)
Peggy
Peggy,
DeleteThat is awesome to hear! Expect the flooding of course. Hopefully keeps going well for you
Maxine
Back at the summer camp I work at(Camp Pokanoka) in Ottawa, IL, we have a creek that is separated be a dam that connects the creek to the Illinois River. A one point in time the river was above the trees. Each year the water has gone down within the creek. The site is part of an old Indian Tribe land. Pokanoka (the name of the Indian Princess) actually died from the creek being so high with a strong current. At one point in time our campers were able to use canoes in the creek. Upon our arrival to camp this past summer (early June), the entire creek had been dried up. By the end of our camp season (early August) the ground that was once covered with water had hardened and began to grow wild flowers. We were even able to walk on the old creek and scout out animal tracks such as deer prints. It's so sad to see all of these beautiful bodies of water drying up.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jordan
DeleteWow, what an amazing story! My land was tribal land, as well. It makes me sad, but that is another story. As for our creek bed experiences, we also could walk in the dry creek bed, and I was actually sort of scouting for Indian artifacts (didn't find any) late last summer. Now water is flowing, and it is kind of eerie; all of the grasses and flowers came back, but they are submerged. It looks really strange. Will you go back to your site again? I wonder how the water levels are out there...
Peggy
Peggy,
DeleteYes I will be returning occasionally to Pokanoka but unfortunately I will not be able to spend the majority of my summer out there like I have in years past. I'm extremely excited to see if any water has returned to the sight, especially after experiencing all of the flooding a few weeks ago.
I am incredibly intrigued by the fact that the wild flowers have returned under the water on your site. The next time you are visiting your site please take pictures because I would love to see what this looks like!
Jordan
Okay, I have fixed the blog so you should now be able to post in the body of it. Please give it a try!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea the drought would do so much damage to all the animals. That was really neat to see how you saved them and let them back into the water. Not most people, including myself, would think to "rescue the tadpoles" but I think it was really nice to see! This were fascinating videos to see, especially because not many of us would think of the effects drought has on anything other than ourselves. I now know to be more conscious of everyone effected by drastic weather changes. It ties into our idea of climate change we talked about in class at the beginning of the term. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete-Colleen Clifford
Thanks, Colleen :)
DeleteI guess I was expecting people to think it was a silly thing to do; I am happy to hear such positive responses. The tadpoles seemed so pathetic, and it was a REALLY hot day, so they were drying out rapidly. I couldn't save them all, but got as many as I could. They were coated in black, smelly sludge and the location where I dumped them was the only spot that still had water.
We had beavers on the creek, too, a mother and her baby, and I'm not sure where they went as the drought became extreme. I didn't see them again for a long time, but later in the fall an adult and a juvenile were back living in the same spot, so I am guessing it was them. Today I visited, and the creek is REALLY full. As I walked up to the bridge area, where I dumped the tadpoles, I startled a beaver. He/ she dove into the water before I could give it a good look; maybe it is one of the two from last year?
I think despite all of the pressures we humans, and lately the weather--partially due to human impacts?--place on nonhuman animals, I am pleased to report they seem to be doing better, at least out at the little piece of land I care for.
Best,
Peggy
It is crazy to think that weather has such an intense effect on our ecosystems. Before taking this class I thought I was to busy to go green and work toward making the environment a better place, but now I have even my parents implementing "green" structures in our home.
ReplyDeletePeggy, the tadpole rescue was such a small thing to do yet had a bigger impact than most would believe. I hope to get myself more involved with activities such as these. How long did this tadpole project go on for, over the course of one week or one day? Did you happen to calculate how many you saved?
On another note, I found a fascinating video that applies to my seminar I presented in class on easy ways to implement green appliances in your own home. Hope it has as big of an effect on the rest of the bloggers as it did on me!Even utilizing the littlest things can make our planet better!
The site is... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKHINWvDmwo&playnext=1&list=PL78F4CF5E71494257&feature=results_main
Claire Elsey
Hi Claire,
DeleteI agree, the weather issue is more impactful than we might normally notice. I do agree, our class is helping draw our attention to these issues. I think it is great you are sharing some of what we learn with your family! I also appreciate the video you have shared with us; thanks!
Thanks, also, for the comment on my tadpole rescue; it happened over the course of an hour or so. We stopped by the property to show my cousin and her two sons, on the way to a local carnival. I saw the tadpoles in distress and just couldn't ignore them. My husband and son were with us, too, and they were really supportive. My family knows I am pretty...unusual, but still, that was pushing it. I stunk like pond scum SO BADLY when it was over! They were amused, I think, and really patient. In town, my husband went into a Dollar General store and bought me a T-shirt and flip-flops, which slightly reduced my stench.
Sharing this on here was a little...daring, but then I am a 53 year old college undergrad,so at this point I guess I have to be past people thinking I'm strange :)
Best,
Peggy
I loved your videos of the tadpole rescue! Definitely something I would've done haha seeing the poor tadpoles just flopping around in the mud. I think it's great that you helped to rescue them. Was the creek you put them in a non-dried out part of the same creek, or a different creek? If it was a different creek were there tadpoles in that one too already? It'd be interesting to see if the ecosystems were similar.
ReplyDeleteAlso, did you happen to know what species the tadpoles were? They seemed to be pretty big ones!
Anyways, thanks for sharing your videos! And I am so jealous of how much land you own, it sounds beautiful! I too want horses and chickens and a large property when I am older haha so it sounds like a dream come true where you live!
Melissa Nelson
Hi, Melissa
DeleteThanks for your comments! Yes, I feel pretty lucky :) I'm sure if you want it badly enough you will be able to do something similar. Keep in mind, I am pretty old, so I have had a lot more time to achieve my dream :)
I am pretty sure my tadpoles are a bullfrog species; not sure, though. I let them go just a bit south of the area where they were, in the same creek--or what was left of it. It was only about 100 yards downstream, still on my property. The pressure they might have placed on the reduced water volume was a concern.
I realize I was messing with the so-called balance of things by adding more lives--that would have otherwise been culled, had I not intervened--into the remaining water. My empathy got the best of me, and I let them duke it out. They were still in their original ecosystem, so I wasn't being totally reckless.
I think the number that might have occupied the remaining water was not as concentrated as one might imagine. All of the various lives from the length of the dried out creek were split up by the drying pattern, which initially created small ponds punctuating the creek bed. As they were drying and concentrating the living things to dwindling space, herons and cranes would come and take advantage of the easy access "fast-food." I am eager to see what sort of frog population we wind up with.
Best,
Peggy