Speaking to the Community

As a student, it is very easy to get wrapped up in learning the basic material for a single class and then forgetting everything you’ve learned to make space for the next semester.  Not seeing the connections of each class and how to use the information you have just learned and use it for a completely different situation.  A lot of people in my classes will complain about having to take a history course when their major is Mathematics.  But having this kind of information is always useful for real life applications.  To connect to other people outside of your class or major or even university.  One of the main reasons why I was so excited to be accepted as a LAKES intern was because of the interdisciplinary research we all would be conducting.  Although I wasn’t 100% sure what that would look like; I didn’t know what a social science experiment looked like until I got here. 

Who Cares About a Green Lake Anyways?

I did not have the clearest idea of algae blooms prior to the LAKES research program. Based on pictures and descriptions of eutrophic lakes and my own creative thoughts, I imagined that a lake with algae growth would be surrounded with caution tape and that fish with five eyes would peer out of the water at you if you got too close. Now that I am experiencing the algae bloom season myself, I recognize that my assumptions were a bit over dramatic and that the algae is definitely bad, but not as bad as I thought. While that statement sounds contradictory to the work I am performing to de-green lakes, there is no doubt that the lakes should still be much cleaner. However, my work with other students of the program has taught me that cleaning the lakes may not be the largest problem at hand. The perception of a lake covered in algae is key in identifying how the lake should be cleaned, who it should be cleaned for, and why.

Layers

Every piece of information that I have learned in the last five weeks has been assembled through layers of information--- personal narratives on top of scientific background research with roots in oral history, collectively come together with the base of this landscape. I image what I have learned in the last five weeks as a layered blueprint--- the landscape, the earth, the soils, the waterways and natural processes as a base. On top, a complex history of native peoples, logging, dams, farming, chemicals, expansion and settlement create structures on the existing landscape. It is topped off with the delicate and complicated individual narratives and experiences that holistically tell the story of place in a personal, real way. Together, this is how I imagine lived experience of this landscape.

My research partner Tara and I have spent the last three weeks conducting oral interviews with lakefront owners and farmers across the watershed, trying to get at that top layer of information. Thus far, we have conducted and transcribed (with the kind help of the other student researchers) over twenty hours of interviews.

In this time, I have also worked with the other student researchers, talking extensively through projects and helping where I can, including going down to Lake Menomin to find the best possible cyanobacteria sample to fuel a microbial fuel cell, as well as helping to crush dirt and sediment samples from wild rice beds across the watershed to help in the process of understanding the effects (and possible benefits) that wild rice has on the sediment and phosphorus levels in the spaces where it grows. This project is being conducted by Naomi and Kirsten. Through their research, they hope to understand what environmental conditions are necessary for wild rice to grow, if these conditions are present in the watershed, and ultimately if wild rice has a positive impact on the health of the watershed.

Their project is directly linked to ours, as it gives scientific backing to many of the questions that we ask our interviewees. In many of our interviews, we have asked about individual perceptions of wetland restoration and the reintroduction of wild rice beds. We have heard several varying responses, but ultimately, Kirsten and Naomi’s research could help to better inform the public about the benefits of the reintroduction wild rice.

I look forward to seeing how all of these integrated research projects will come together at the end of these eight weeks to exemplify the power of collaboration, community and knowledge.

Studying the System

As an academic, research projects are obviously easiest when there is a burning passion to explore the subject of your study--it becomes less work, and more play as the lines between objective research and personal interest overlap and blend, becoming one. However, it is all too easy to begin to see individual research projects as singular tasks: Hypothesis. Experimentation. Results. Engaging in interdisciplinary research helps ensure that the findings of a particular research project are embedded within the context of the broader system.

For our project, Lucia and I are employing qualitative research methods to learn more about how farmers and lakefront property owners in the watershed make decisions about conservation. As someone who loves to chat with people about their lives (while petting their incredible dogs), it is easy to forget that the social and cultural norms of this area exist in tandem with a biological system that is out-of-balance. It's been useful to be conducting our own research in tandem with the other groups who are approaching the broader problem of phosphorus pollution from a different angle.

Naomi and Kirsten have been collecting samples in an effort to explore the implication for the expansion of wild rice beds in the area. By taking samples in the field, the pair hope to measure the amount of phosphorus sequestered in the wild rice plants themselves, as well as deposited in the sediment below. By removing the phosphorus from the water column, wild rice has the potential to reduce the amount of biologically available phosphorus in the water. Phosphorus is a limiting nutrient for cyanobacteria, the smelly blue-green algae that suffocates Lakes Tainter and Menomin in the dog days of August. Because the high levels of phosphorus in both Tainter and Menomin are associated with the harmful algal blooms that plague the residents of Menomonie in the summer, if wild rice indeed sequesters phosphorus significantly, the reintroduction of wild rice beds could be used as a mitigation strategy for the high levels of phosphorus. Naomi and Kirsten's summer project helps frame the work Lucia and I are conducting in an ecological context.


Apart from the academic benefit, being intimately involved in researching the phosphorus problem from multiple angles has been personally enriching. As someone who enjoys talking and transcribing much more than being in a lab, it's been nice to gain some insight into the "harder" side of science. Lucia and I's travels around the water shed these past two weeks have provided some great pictures, I hope you enjoy them as much I did... thanks for reading!

Growth

Through my lab work, I have observed growth in amazement of suspended hair-like webs, green stationed tufts, and minuscule white balloons sailing across the underwater world within my experiment's beakers.

Messy Problems and Collaboration

As a student it is easy to become so engulfed in your own field that you lose touch of the larger picture.  As your studies take up more of your life your vision becomes tunneled around the issues which directly relate to your field.  This summer I have found that this easily happens in research as well. 

Open Your Mind and Ears

This week I helped Tara and Lucia (human geography team) transcribe an hour long interview of a lakefront property owner. Little did I know about the actual difficulty of their job until I realized I spent 10 minutes transcribing just the first minute of the interview. (When people are talking over each other with a strong Midwestern accent, you’re going to have to rewind and replay the section to fully understand what each person is saying). I got mad respect for them, they scheduled/conducted 19 interviews in two weeks and work hard every day to transcribe them.