Field Botany: Vounteering and Bioreserve Fieldtrip

6/17/2016

After Helena and I took an initial visit to the Bioreserve, I organized a homeschoool field trip. We got rained out the first week - well at least the forecast said we were rained out. In actuality we would have been just fine. But, in any case, we resheduled and finally made it back there just yesterday. Everyone had an amazing time with a lot of happy comments resulting on the local homeschool FB page, and plans are in the works for a fall homeschool class there.

The Bioreserve was originally the estate of the wealthy owners of the Corning Glass Company. Have any old corning ware baking dishes? Those folks. The property was left abandoned and overgrown for many years until Dennis bought it up and turned it into a preserve some years back. He runs a series of programs there, but, to my way of thinking, it's still a hidden gem. I used to live five minutes from it and never had a clue it was there! Dennis also runs a microscope business; and he has a pretty amazing little microscopy lab, in the backroom of the dilapidated 1850's house that was once the gate house of the estate. Needless to say - if you're at all familiar with homeschooling or us uber crazy "unschooling" folks who prefer real life learning to any sort of dry curriculum - this place is a treasure trove to me!

We spent a few minutes in the lab yesterday, while waiting for everyone to assemble. My almost 11 year old, Helena, who had used the microscopes previously, got busy examining some down from a cottonwood tree with other kids joining her. Dennis pulled out a slide of pollen so they could learn more.

Once everyone had assembled (maybe 14 kids and their accompanying moms and a grandma too), Dennis led the way on a field hike. He talked a bit about the property's history, the yurt on it, and the workshop we passed. But mostly we just hiked along, scrambling over and along many recumbent trees which, we learned, were the result of the property being on an old lake bed. The lack of bedrock below causes the trees to not be able to firmly anchor themselves, resulting in many growing in these odd reclining positions. I pointed out plantain (Plantago major) and explained its medicinal uses and we also talked about jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), which was growing prolifically nearbye. People asked when you'd want to use jewelweed vs plantain, and we discussed the power of plantain to draw and the power of jewelweed to soothe poison ivy.

As we progressed through a few of the property's 60 or so acres, we stopped periodically to talk about various flora and to notice a few species of fauna as well: a doe that went bounding off, a pileated woodpecker, a few little toads, and a nasty tick or two.

Below is the inside of a thick stem of jewelweed. The kids brought some back to examine under the microscope.

Homeschool Field Trip Families

Here, families enjoy lunch on the second level of the treehouse, and enjoy their hike through the Bioreserve. I tried to only post photos here that don't give away the identity of the families since I forgot to ask permission to post photos.

Ash Tree: Fraxinus americana

This was a rare treat! Most ash trees in NYS have been destroyed by the Emerald Ash Borer!! They used to be prolific in NY and were used to make baseball bats. I didn't think to ask how or why this one has managed to survive unscathed.

Invasive Oriental Bittersweet Vine: Celastrus orbiculatus

Two kinds of bittersweet grow locally, American bittersweet or Celastrus scandens and Oriental (Chinese) bittersweet or Celastrus orbiculatus. The American vine grows quite tall, but it does not take over other plant species in the way that the Oriental variety does.

In the first photo above, you can see the vine twisting and creeping along. It had a long end extending beyond the host plant, seeking out another host plant. Dennis and kids had fun wrapping it around a neck - vicious strangling species that it is haha!!

In the second photo you can see bittersweet trailing up a host tree, and in the third photo above you can see the results of its growth on a tree. It compresses the bark, strangling it almost, and causes the tree trunk to grow in those twisty patterns that look like it was squeezed out of a soft icecream maker. Dennis said he had torn the vines off that tree in a previous year.

Both bittersweets have berries containing seeds that the birds, especially the blue birds, enjoy. The vines with their golden and red berries also make beautiful autumn wreaths. But if you're going to plant it, make sure you get the American species!

Wild Grape Vines: Vitus vulpina

Another vine that grows on a host, but is NOT invasive and does not hurt its host.. wild grapes. They abound here in NY and make excellent Tarazan-like swings for kids to enjoy.

Common Reed or Phragmites australis

Phragmitis are another invasive species here in NY, a common marsh grass that was introduced into the area and has taken over. They alter the biochemistry of marsh waters, push out other native plant species, and even alter what animals can live in the marsh. But here? Here is a brilliant use of the species, to make a wilderness survival shelter, weaving them between support posts. The Bioreserve is also home to a local wilderness school. Ths low shelter was then topped with longer branches/saplings and covered with leaves and/or more interwoven reeds or a tarp. The wilderness school kids sleep out in it!

Mayapple: Podophyllum peltatum

In a previous post I talked about my discovery of the Mayapple and gave more information on it. Those photos showed it in flower. It was fun to return to the Bioreserve several weeks later and see the early yellow/green fruit. At this stage, the fruit is poisonous. It ripens and is edible, but, as noted before, Dennis says the critters get to most of them before he does.

Beech Tree: Fagus grandifolia

A large beech with a smaller one growing beside it - or "beech and son of a beech" as Dennis, the perpetual jokester, put it. He also pointed out how this is one of the few trees locally with a smooth bark trunk. He asked the kids which part of the bark contains live cells, pointing out that our skin is all alive, but the outer bark of a tree is not. Kids guessed the middle of the tree's bark. I called Helena over from a tree she was climbing, and she knew the answer: the ring right beneath the bark called the cambium is alive. I explained to everyone how the rings we count on trees are not just there for our counting convenience, but mark where, each year, the nutrients have travelled up the tree, right below the surface of the bark. Helena and I learned this from the biology textbook she requested. She's my little scientist. I guess I'd never thought previously about *why* a tree had rings to count! Of course, being the perpetually curious unschooler that she is, Helena then wanted to know how long it takes for a cycle of nutrients to travel up the bark from the roots to the top leaves and for nutrients gathered in the leaves through photosynthesis to travel down the middle of the trunk back to the bottom of the tree. Good ole' Google has failed us on this one, so if you know the answer, do tell!!

Ginkgo biloba

The Bioreserve contains some amazing examples of Ginkgo biloba. Dennis explained that Ginkgo is not really a tree, but you can see, from the image of him looking for seeds to show the kids in front of the Ginkgo, that it sure *looks* like a tree. It's HUGE! But apparently Ginkgo is not an angiosperm, instead containing an odd plant sperm that has the ability to swim. Due to this and other factors, Ginkgo is in a class of its own. Literally. In fact, Ginkgo also has its very own phylum of which it is the singular plant in it! Here is its taxonomy for those interested.

In the fourth picture above, Dennis is pointing out another distinctive feature of Ginkgo: its leaves grow directly off of the trunk rather than on branches or stems of their own.

Ginkgo samples have been found dating back over three million years in China, if Wikipedia is at all reliable. In any case, it was around with the dinasaurs, making it one of our oldest surviving plant species. Dennis explained that it has outlasted every parasite and pest and is extremely hardy.

He also told us that when people first started importing it as an ornamental for its exotic shaped foliage, they didn't know the difference between female and male species. In fact, when the plant is young you can't tell - except with lab work that didn't exist back in the 19th century. Eventually it became quite useful to differentiate and only import male species. In fact, that's all you can buy today at a plant nursery. Why? The female produces a fruit that has a very unpleasant, pungent odor! The Bioreserve is one of the few places around (maybe the only?) that has both male and female species. As a result, it abounds in itty, bitty, baby Ginkgos! (Is it ok if I think they're cute?!) In the fifth photo above is a sprouting Ginkgo seed and in the sixth photo are a few of the many Ginkgo babies.

In addition to being an ancient and just plain cool survivor, Ginkgo biloba is also highly medicinal. Maybe its ancient wisdom helps us to live and survive in this world. Touted as "the brain herb" it's great for memory, Alzheimers, dementia, Raynaud's symptom, anxiety, glaucoma, and more.

**The honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos)**

The thorns on this tree were just massive!! GASP!

Needless to say, the kids found the thorns pretty cool!

Back in the Miscroscopy Lab

My daughter Helena pictured in the front here brought back a leaf all folded up and sewn together with some sort of insect webbing. Inside was a bit of what looked sort of like dryer lint. It turned out, under the miscroscope, to be super spongy. In the bottom photo above, she's fascinated by poking it and watching the effect on the big screen. We don't know what the spongy stuff was, but at this age it's just great that the kids are excited about exploring and discovering, having a blast with science, fascinated by the invisible world. The fact that many microscopes were hooked up to large computer monitors was really amazing, because the kids were able to explore together.

Super Crazy Creepy Crawly!!!

One of the kids brought back this leaf to better examine the little red spore thing sticking out of it. That was pretty cool magnified, but nothing compared to what else was found. On the edge of the leaf were microscopic hairs, and on the edge of one of those hairs was a little microscopic creature. Click on this link here to view it on video. While it goes in and out of focus, it's short and you can really see the invisible critter co-existing with the leaf. And most fun of all... you can hear the excitment of discovery in everyone's voices!

Final Summary

Organizing the field trip was one of several parts of my volunteer work for this Field Botany class. It involved numerous hours of time in posting to the homeschool FB page to guage interest and a preferred day; checking that time with Dennis; posting a place where people could register; rescheduling for weather; and finaly the day of the fieldtrip itself, during which we spent about four hours at the Bioreserve exploring, learning, and sharing knowledge.

Class competencies:
Diversity: We viewed a great diversity of plant species on the Bioreserve fieldtrip. We also saw how various species imported into a new environment will act. This was especially interesting since the Corning Estate used to have extensive gardens and now was all growing mostly wild. Diversity was also seen back in the lab when we looked at the invisible single celled organism living on the leaf and examined pond water, jewelweed liquid, pinecones, ticks, and many other parts of the ecosystem.

Innovation: Innovation was exhibited in finding the Bioreserve, organizing the field trip; and using both microscopes and field work to interest children in botany.

Stewardship: I think one of the things that stood out most to me was seeing the impact of the Oriental bittersweet and learning about how the phragmites can destroy an ecopsystem. This drove home the need for stewardship and healthy ecosystems. Also, I think anytime you get kids outside, loving and enjoying nature, you're doing great work for future stewardship and preservation!

Community: This field trip was intensely community oriented! I developed a relationship first with Dennis and then brought together homeschoolers from about an hour radius, some of whom knew each other and many who didn't, to the Bioreserve. We talked about what sort of learning experiences we'd like there in the fall, and I'll be further organizing a class or classes - either weekly in October and/or perhaps a monthly class.

In conclusion, the Bioreserve fieldtrip was an amazing experience and garnered wide praise from numerous families. What I shared above is only touching on the surface of all that we saw and experienced. There was also an old orchard and white cedars grown ornamentally around the old estate now towering overhead. There were mulberry trees, wildflowers, and of course animals. There was talk of picking up on a study U. Albany had done in conjunction with the Bioreserve, looking at water quality flowing into two ravines, one where water drains off a highway and one with natural water flow. The water at the point of convergence would also be interesting to study. The Bioreserve is indeed a diverse place for learning in more ways than one!

I'll leave you with one final picture, taken from my car window on the way out, of a cedar waxwing, enjoying a few underripe mulberries.

0 Comments