Lakeshore Property and Conservation: A Quick Dip in the Lakes of the Northern Red Cedar

I spent much of this summer driving around with my research partner, Lucia, listening to NPR and sharing our favorite playlists as we shuffled around the Red Cedar Watershed on our way to interviews. As someone who takes a keen interest in the experiences of others, I joined the LAKES REU to partake in qualitative research, which is a fancy way of saying research that focuses on ideas, opinions, and motivations rather than hard numbers. For our research, Lucia and I interviewed twenty-three stakeholders across the watershed: nine farmers and 23 property owners.

While I enjoyed immensely the time I spent with the farmers we interviewed, in terms of my final project, I focused on lakeshore property owners and other stakeholders on the lake. In our interviews with these folks, we asked about their history in the area, regular use and common maintenance practices, sense of community, sources of information, the impact of water quality, and wetland restoration.  We designed the interview guide with the hopes of learning more about how the private property around the watershed's lakes is being used and maintained in terms of land use and water quality. 

Can You C Yano Bacteria? (Can you see any bacteria?)

This summer, I researched how various sediments within the Red Cedar watershed effect the growth of cyanobacteria. Lake sediment was compared with bedrock sediment, meaning crushed rocks were used as sediment for treatment groups. The motive behind this was that if (climate change induced) storm events were to increase the weathering, or erosion of bedrocks, would this continue to increase cyanobacterial growth. The hope was to understand if all agricultural phosphorous runoff and urban runoff were to be completely stopped, would bedrock nutrients continue the growth of cyanobacteria in eutrophic lakes. This cyanobacteria I am referring to is also known as blue-green algae; however this name is misleading for they are bacteria a type of photosythetic bacteria. Not all species of cyanobacteria are indicators of poor water quality, but the ones that are can sometimes produce toxins hazardous to people and animals when they are in a high enough density and in the process of eutrophication they have the ability to unstabilize the balance of the once healthy aquatic ecosystem.

Technology in the Lakes

This summer I worked with a wonderful group of people in efforts to clear the horrible smell that came with Lake Menomin.   While, of course, we did not eradicate the issue we all did continue to make strides towards this final goal.  Below the surface of the lake there is an accumulation of phosphorus rich sediment that we call the legacy.  It has been built up for such a long time that even if we completely eliminated the agricultural and domestic runoff occurring the phosphorus levels in the lake would still be just as high as they are now.  This legacy is something that needs to be recognized and investigated more because it is also an issue in the lakes.   

This summer my goal was to take the first steps towards bringing technology into the solution.  I first studied the varying sediment composition of lake sediment in devices that use bacterial metabolism to produce an electric potential.  These devices are called microbial fuel cells or MFCs.  MFCs are interesting cells that can be used to better the water quality but also to create the electric potential.  In my research I only looked at the creation of the electric potential, but future studies using larger cells could be used to better water quality on a smaller scale.  

Giving Plants the Power: Phosphorus Dynamics Along Wild Rice Beds

Plants need phosphorus to grow. The Red Cedar Watershed has plenty of excess phosphorus in the summer months, which promotes the growth of the green layer of cyanobacteria that residents have learned to see and smell so well. Why not use this phosphorus to promote the growth of a different plant, one that adds cultural significance to the water, rather than to fuel the growth of a slimy, green layer? Wild rice, a native aquatic plant to Wisconsin, should be this plant. Wild rice would add value to the Red Cedar Watershed as a natural and ecological approach to phosphorus mitigation.

Wild rice has the potential to thrive and support native wildlife in the Red Cedar Watershed due to its historic presence. To better understand the dynamics of a wild rice ecosystem, my team and I went straight to the source. We found and surveyed five sites in the Red Cedar and surrounding watersheds that had healthy wild rice stands. These visits alone were enough to prove that wild rice can both grow and thrive in north-western Wisconsin, so why not throughout Red Cedar Watershed too? Before jumping right into planting and seeding of this plant, it is important to understand how wild rice growth affects phosphorus in the water and sediment.

To study how wild rice growth impacts phosphorus concentration and deposition along the bed, we took samples from the start to end of the wild rice bed. There was a noticeable difference in the sediment as we sampled throughout the zones just by the appearance of the muck as it oozed out of the corer. The sediment before the bed was barely penetrable sand while throughout the stand, the sediment was a black-brown, fibrous muck. There was an obvious difference in the sediment along the wild rice bed- a complex environment connected with wild rice that was waiting to be explored.

 To quantify the apparent differences in the sediment, my team and I took to the lab where we analyzed phosphorus concentrations and texture of the sediment from the samples. The phosphorus was measured as soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), a form of phosphorus readily available to plants. There was an increase in SRP concentration in the downstream direction of the bed. Increasing SRP levels are likely related to high levels of nutrient sediment as well as decaying plant matter from previous years. In addition, the sediment with the highest sand content was found before the bed began and the sediment with the highest content of fine particles, like clay and silt, was found in the most upstream portion of the bed. This expected sedimentation from coarse to fine particles in the downstream direction is most likely caused a decrease in flow velocity due to the presence of wild rice. Since phosphorus is attached to particles floating in the water, sedimentation allows for the settling of phosphorus.

The increasing SRP levels in the sediment along the length of the wild rice bed and evidence of sedimentation provide initial data to phosphorus dynamics among the plant, water, and sediment. An increasing concentration of phosphorus in the sediment may be sourced from the water column. A decrease in phosphorus in the water column would lead to decreased phosphorus available for algae growth. To further understand the transport of SRP at the sediment-water interface, water measurements of SRP concentration along wild rice beds should be investigated. Data that revealed a decrease in SRP in the water column as the SRP in the sediment decreased would better support that wild rice removes phosphorus from the water column.

Wild rice nutrient uptake throughout the growing season is also important to understand because the plant takes up and released varying levels of phosphorus throughout the year to support growth.  For instance, wild rice holds the most nutrients in the sediment in mid-July to August so that the nutrients are ready to support the later stage of grain formation in late-August to September. Since the maximum nutrient uptake of wild rice occurs at the same time of algae blooms, wild rice may be an optimal plant for eutrophication mitigation. Further studies may measure SRP concentrations in the sediment throughout the year to understand phosphorus intake by the growing plant and phosphorus release by the decaying plant.

This study provides the initial evidence that wild rice affects phosphorus levels at the water-sediment interface and can be a part of the solution to decreasing algae blooms. Members of the community have asked me, “Why not just throw some scum suckers on the lake to clean up the mess?” While this machine and other forms of artificial technology may seem like the desired quick fix for algae blooms, they are by no means a long-term solution. Human activity and change to the landscape of Dunn County has led to the disruption of the lakes, but a natural process like plant growth can be used to balance the nutrients in the water bodies. It is time for us to rely on the restoration of wild rice, an ecosystem approach, to return the lakes their historic, clean state.

Policies for the People

On the surface, many issues that society faces seem like they may have a one and done solution. However, as we continue on the road of technological advancement, modern life becomes much more complex, and a solution is not always what it seems. Throughout the summer, I have had the opportunity to work alongside seven incredible women from many academic disciplines. All in an effort to find an interdisciplinary approach that will allow us to keep our fresh water bodies swimmable and fishable for the generations to come.

In Wisconsin, we have a long and proud tradition of “doing what needs to be done”, we also benefit from a midwestern sense of community and a fierce gratitude for the natural resources that provide our way of life. This attitude gives us a unique opportunity to combat problems and create policies together in the hopes for a more community-oriented solution. The Red Cedar Watershed, home to some of the most genuine and enthusiastic people I have ever encountered, has been fighting against nutrient pollution that creates algal blooms in our fresh water bodies for decades.

Are We Underestimating the Value of Our Green Lakes?

There are strong negative attitudes surrounding the lakes in the Red Cedar Basin. “The lakes are awful during hot days”, “It’s dangerous to touch the green water”, and the often mentioned “The algae smell is going to plague the entire town soon”. From gauging this public sentiment, one would expect the algal blooms to discourage people from spending time at the lakes. On the contrary, my research team noticed that many people still visit (especially Lake Chetek) for recreational activities even when the water was turning neon green in early July. Perplexed by this anomaly, we found ourselves asking: do people value lakes even when they have poor water quality and if so, by how much?

Finding Common Ground: Cultivating Farmer Communities in Pursuit of Conservation

Over the past two months, my research partner Tara and I have conducted 23 interviews with lakefront owners and farmers across the Red Cedar River watershed. All of these individuals graciously welcomed us into their home environments and willingly shared their experiences with two young women who “aren’t from here". Nine of these interviews were with a diverse range of farmers including conventional and organic dairies, agri-tourism farms, large scale-cash crop operations, small-scale vegetable farms, and alternative “niche-market” farms. My research focused primarily on farmer narratives and the ways in which cultivating a strong sense of community can lead to more effective and conscious conservation efforts. I began this research in an attempt to understand the commonalities between conventional and organic farmers in the region. From an outsider perspective, these two farming communities seem polar in their cultural beliefs and farming practices. After speaking with a diverse group of farmers, we found several common themes between the two main communities.

On the topic of conservation, although individuals had varying degrees in which they believed in and implemented conservation practices, all of the interviewees pursued some type of environmentally minded farming practice. Some of the conservation practices in common included cover crops, the implementation of waterways, no-till practices, the creation of pollinator habitat, rotational livestock grazing, continual soil health management, creating riparian buffer zones, land easements with the Department of Natural Resources or the Nature Conservancy, and the active management of forests and wildlife habitat.

When asked about their individual motivations to pursue conservation practices, many farmers expressed the challenge of straddling economic and environmental pressures and benefits when making decisions about conservation. One farmer concisely stated, “Everything I do is for a conservation reason, but everything I do has a dollar amount attached.” Many found that what was better for the environment and for the watershed, in the long run, helped to produce and better crop yield and increased the overall health of their landscape. Many, simply said that conservation is “what is right” and the feeling that they had to do things right: “I feel as all my neighbors do… We have a responsibility in that we control a significant amount of land, more so than the average citizen. Much more. So, we have an important responsibility in doing things right, because in a real true sense of a way, I don’t really own anything here.”

A fundamental care for place was the root of all of our conversations. Conventional farmers who had been farming the same land for generations expressed their deep connection to the landscape: “My entire history is pretty much right here.”, “We’re very attached to the river. That is out pride.” All farmers expressed some sort of connection to the watershed, but interestingly, the majority of farmers interviewed did not use the lakes, rivers or streams in the area for recreation, citing either no desire, limited free time, or the poor water quality.  

On a community level, what is at the heart of this issue is the fundamental importance of being heard. In a constantly changing economy, farmers continually expressed their fears of losing their land and the pressures they felt to expand and to become more efficient to compete in the regional, national and global marketplace. All farmers expressed financial stress and concern about the market-- either the lowering prices of soy and corn, or the challenge to find a niche market and customer base to sustain their livelihood. These economic pressures are what drive many farmers to use technologies and fertilizing techniques that are notoriously known to increase the phosphorus application in soils. Several farmers posed the question, asking “What will farming look like in twenty years?” Their ideas usually included mass consolidation and the loss of the family farm.

Ultimately, from a summer of research and listening to diverse range of community members and stakeholders, I believe that cultivating farming communities should be prioritized and should be used as a tool for conservation. To build a strong community, we must first recognize and credit farmers. By crediting both conventional and organic farmers for the conservation practices that they have independently pursued, farmers are more likely to feel encouraged and engaged with the issue, rather than feeling blamed or isolated. As one farmer stated, “We forgot that we have done a lot already and that people really do care. I would just like to see us, for people who are doing a good job, reward that somehow. At least recognize it… I don’t believe that it is always recognized.”

Secondly, we must prioritize farmer-led conservation. There are several examples of this across the watershed, ranging from small-scale farmer-led conservation efforts to meetings within smaller watersheds. By prioritizing farmer leadership, individual farmers can consult with one another and feel a responsibility for their community and landscape. One interviewee expressed the his perspective as a farmer, “Farmers are kind of a goofy animal… They’re not followers. They are their own innovators. They kind of have to get it straight in their own mind that it works, so that’s why I say that we’re all a crazy critter. Cause we just don’t change that easy.” This quote emphasizes the importance of patience and respect that must be present to have constructive and thoughtful change.

Finally, to address these issues and to build stronger farming communities, the regional community should prioritize creating a physical space for farmer leadership and conversation. Several farmers expressed varying aspects of individual isolation within the landscape. One farmer mentioned that he interacted with his neighbors and community members “either on the road or at church”. By building a physical space where all farmers can interact and engage in open dialog to share their experiences and advice, a sense of community and ownership can be established. One farmer expressed this idea concisely, speaking of his relationship to his neighbor: “[My neighbor and I], although we have very little in common, like very little, we have been able to find common ground, literally, just by talking about vegetables. I think that is really interesting and allows for the spirit of cooperation.”

Perhaps most important in my summer research was my realization of the importance of being heard and value of listening to others. I quickly found that the extreme differences we see in the rural and urban divide are only intensified by the unwillingness to have honest and open conversations with people who are not like us. This summer, I was welcomed by many individuals that I would likely have never had the opportunity to have an open conversation with about their experiences, the issues they face and how they fit into the movement towards conservation without their trust and the LAKES program. I want to express my most sincere gratitude to all of the farmers, lakefront residents and community members who took the time to welcome us into their home environments to share their experiences with us. We could not have done this work without this community’s willingness and generosity.

An Ecosystem Approach to Pollution

This summer my research team and I explored the possibility of restoring Wild Rice in the Red Cedar watershed.  We dove into this topic because aquatic vegetation has the potential to change phosphorus dynamics in the water, possibly locking up some of the excess nutrients—those same nutrients that cause the toxic cyanobacteria blooms each summer.

One of our Wild Rice study sites

Groundhog Day 2008

I am not a fan of the song "I got you babe" by Cher. I think the disdain originates from karaoke; any time a couple chooses to sing it, I make sure to step outside for a quick "phone call". Interesting hook for this blog, huh? For those of you that have seen Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, this comment may make a bit more sense.

Tackling our Legacy

Where to go from here… That’s a question I’m always facing as a scientist. If you think of all the research tracks I’ve taken as a subway map, I’ve just left the second station on the eighth new train.

I don’t know specifically where this research is going to go. If I did –borrowing from Albert Einstein – it wouldn’t be research. But given the results from this summer, I can make a few statements and arrive at a conclusion:

• These preliminary results show promise in terms of bioremediation of sediment.
• The components and computer code to make Arduino-based remote sensors are relatively easy to build.
• Without addressing the legacy of nutrient pollution in the lakes, land use changes upstream are going to take decades to yield downstream changes.

Given those statements, I plan to keep studying the ability of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to remediate lake sediment. By accelerating the decomposition and oxidation of the organic-rich lake sediments, they will be less likely to release nutrients back into the water column.

The biggest challenge and unknown is how this work scales up. Being able to demonstrate success in a little 4-inch diameter fuel cell is one thing, but MFC electrode materials are expensive and the lake is huge. But the advantages of using MFCs for remediation is that they're passive and they operate 24/7/365.

There are several big research groups looking at using MFC technology in wastewater treatment and it's a small step from treating sewage in a wastewater settling tank to treating organic-rich sediment at the bottom of a lake.

Finding Reconciliation

1) What direction do you plan on going with your intern(s) research project to continue with it after this summer is over? 

I’m very excited about the research my team is doing this summer because it connects to my previous research about how rural America is changing as farmers face continuing economic challenges and increasing numbers of people from urban areas move into rural recreational areas (like lake country in Northern Wisconsin). I’m interested in how people decide what rural spaces should be used for and hope to encourage what are often called “multifunctional” landscapes.

Multifunctional landscapes are used for multiple things including farming and recreation. I’m hoping that my research will encourage us to diversify how we think about rural spaces, including use our lakes and rivers to include things like wild rice harvesting. We hypothesize that native aquatic plants like wild rice can help mitigate levels of phosphorus pollution over the summer when they are most likely to result in blue-green algae blooms. At the same time, wild rice beds provide habitat for many species of wildlife including fish, waterfowl and food that people can harvest. We can’t restore our lakes and rivers to the way they were 200 years ago, but we can pursue what is called reconciliation ecology, that is we can find ways to work with nature to create landscapes that support us economically while also supporting biodiversity and making space for the ecosystems that we rely on for recreation, food, flood control, and other services.  

But to build these kinds of multifunctional landscapes we need to work with the people that live, work, and play here to understand how they use and care for these places, what problems they are facing, and what solutions they see as workable. The best solutions to our problems will come from the grassroots, from working with people rather than telling people what the answers are. This summer Tara and Lucia have been talking to farmers and lakeshore owners about what conservation practices they are already working on and what challenges they are to further progress. I plan to interview more farmers and lakeshore owners this year as well as doing landscape analysis of current land uses and archival research into past land uses in order to find clues from the past and present that will help us build sustainable landscape for our children and grandchildren.

  

2) If you could research anything in the world, what would it be and why does it interest you? (Imagine you have unlimited time and resources for this research.)

Harvesting cork

I’m very happy with the research I’m doing now and I’m committed to working with local communities to find sustainable solutions for the future. But there are some eco-social systems I would really like to study so we can learn lessons that could be applied to other places. For example, I would love to study the cork oak forests of the Mediterranean. These forests have sustainably provided cork for wine bottles, shoes, and other uses for hundreds of years. I want to learn about how the forest supports both biodiversity and human economies.

Harvesting rubber

Similarly, I would love to study and visit the extractive rubber reserves in the Brazilian rainforests. These areas are reserves set aside for growing and extracting rubber from rubber trees. The creation of these reserves keeps the forest from being cut down for timber and cattle ranching and allows rubber tappers to continue making a living from the forest while also supporting indigenous tribes who use the areas.

There are many other examples of these reconciliation ecosystems around the world that I would love to visit and learn from. 

What ever could I do

For this week’s blog, the research students have provided four question for the Mentors to answer, I felt obliged to answer some of the question provided, and just couldn’t resist some of the others. While the last question of what day would I relive ground hogs style? The answer felt pretty simple a day with lots of good friends around and not much going on. 

Here are my answers to the remaining questions.

Interwoven

      This summer, I have enjoyed getting to do more of what I love while learning new techniques and methods to add to my research repertoire. Working with the economics team has been challenging, since my major is more focused on history and political science with a minor in economics. However, I think this breadth of classroom experience have given me to opportunity to see the value in interdisciplinary research, especially as I have gotten to see the other women in the REU progress alongside the economics team.

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.

Alumni update extravaganza!

Sarah Mack - 2017

If you asked me one year ago where I would be in one year I would NEVER say that I would be working for a former NJ Senator. Life has a crazy way of making you think you know what is coming next, but then throwing a wrench in things and pushing you in a whole new direction. 

Learning and Wild Rice and Why

I don’t like when I’m not doing anything. When a was a child, I remember the times I sat at the kitchen table staring at my mom and telling her I was bored. She’d respond with some things I could do and I would eventually find a way to keep myself occupied. Even when I visit home from college, I think my mom gets a little nervous, knowing that she is going to watch me go up and down the stairs and drive here and there to stay busy. When she sees me getting antsy, she says, “It’s okay to just relax you know.” I make the time for that too, but more often than not, I will do what it takes to stay on the move- to feel like I’m learning something and doing something new.

Sharing What You Love

Growing up, I was exposed to a lot of creative activities, my parents were very interested in teaching me how to cook, draw, write, read, sew, etc. When thinking about what I wanted to write for this weeks blog that would focus on my hobbies and how they relate to and inspire my research, I was somewhat stumped on exactly what I woud write about since I have a variety of hobbies and interests. However, when I think back on some of my earliest memories, they always involve homecooked food, or getting to watch my parents prepare to cater a banquet for work. 

Just Figuring It All Out Really

A quick shot from the bridge. 

As my senior year of college inches closer and closer, I become increasingly preoccupied with next steps-- When do I take the GRE? Should I wait a year or five for grad school? What part of the country (or world) do I want to make my home post-graduation? Then there's the dreaded existentials, fraught with self-doubt. For example: Will an environmental studies degree qualify me for a job I'd want? Am I cut out for a 9-5? Do I even know myself well enough to pick a career at all?

With graduation on the horizon and the number of middle-aged+ relatives regularly asking for my future plans increasing every day, it seems to me that while I know what I love to do, I don't yet understand unequivocally what I love enough to step confidently forward in any particular direction. Indeed, the hardest part of college, and one of the biggest sources of self-doubt in my life, was the selection of my major. Sure I love the environment, but do I love it more than any of the other things I care about? More than Women's Rights? More than Human Rights? More than World Peace? Honestly, I'm still not sure.

Golden hour on the Red Cedar Trail. 

But in the internal conversation I'm perpetually having with myself, I've identified one common thread: human beings. I care very deeply for people--which, ironically, hasn't always translated (and still doesn't always) into a love of human interaction--not in the cliché "I'm friends with everyone," but in a way that propels me to speak out against injustice, and seek out opportunities to learn more about the ways human beings mistreat one another. One of the biggest reasons I decided to pursue environmental studies and not environmental science (other than avoiding taking more calculus than is absolutely necessary) is because I am much more interested in how denigrated environments disproportionately affect vulnerable populations and the broader environmental justice movement than I am in pure environmental science.

Blue skies over the Red Cedar.

During the Fall Semester of 2017, I got the opportunity to conduct original research (of both the qualitative and quantitative variety) with a group of my peers, and I fell in love with qualitative research methods. I love using interviewing as a tool to better understand individual narrative and to more deeply conceptualize individual choice and experience, which is a big part of the reason I decided to come to the Lakes REU. In this way, I am hoping to learn more about qualitative research methods as a way to gather, collect, and understand individual behavior in an effort to solve some of society's most complex environmental issues. And while I can't promise that this is my life's calling, I know I'll enjoy myself along the way. As always, here's my week in pictures. Thanks for reading!

A Perfect Summer Day...

            A perfect summer day for me would be 80 degrees with a nice breeze.  I would jump on my bike and ride like 8 miles along a bike trail.  The trail would have people of all kinds riding their bikes, jogging, or taking strolls with their families.  Everyone would take their garbage and either recycle, compost or throw it into the right garbage bins.  This trail would be right along a lake and have the right amount of tree coverage.  I would stop a couple of time and just take in the beauty of the outdoors; snap a couple of pictures each time and continue my ride.  And best of all, no mosquitoes anywhere! 

Environment Through a Camera Lens

If you ask my friends and family what I like to do for fun, they’ll all tell you that I am an avid photographer. Five years ago I got my first camera (Canon Rebel T3i) because my family’s old one broke, and we needed to be able to take high def pictures on special occasions. I first played with the camera like it was a toy, pressing the buttons and twisting the lens back and forth. I didn’t know what I was doing and wanted to take pictures properly without the automatic settings, so I surfed the Internet for countless hours watching YouTube tutorials and reading about aperture, focal length, ISO, shutter speed, composition, etc. To practice what I’ve learned, I brought my camera with me everywhere I went (in one year I took about 2500 photos) to the point that everyone knew about my hobby. People started to ask and even paid me to take pictures for them, from family portraits to senior pics. I saved money from these small gigs to buy better equipment, and over the years my collection has grown to 2 camera bodies and 5 lenses.

A Canoe for an Office

When I think of childhood I imagine running through farm fields, climbing trees and swimming in a mucky pond full of leeches and snapping turtles.  My warmest memories smell like rain, fresh cut hay and pine sap.  Years later, these are still what I hold dearest. 

The Earth We Live In

As a child, my dad would sometimes drive me and my siblings over to a store called "Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop". Inside you could find beautiful minerals polished into beads including small rabbits the size of your thumbnail, blue and purple geodes cracked open like eggs, and fossils tucked into petrified mud on bright glass shelves. After looping around the store, a doorway can be found where stairs follow down to the basement containing an array of fossilized creatures. To this day I still have my treasured bag of rocks and fossils from the shop. Now I am an undergrad studying Environmental Geology, and I can seek out rocks on my own with some contextual understanding on how these formations metamorphosed from exposure to various degrees of heat, pressure, and tectonic shifts over a long, long ... long period of time. To think that something so tuff and seemly stationary continues to change and evolve is pretty wacke! 

So now you know that rocks really do rock and you that you never want to take them for granite. I do however have interests of my own aside from these awesome rocks. 

Like a rock or mineral, I myself have had exposure to things which have caused my interests to evolve. The summer after my freshman year of college, I was given the opportunity to work in my school's Beloit Urban Garden for the summer and the local Community Sharing Garden. Before that summer I had scoffed at gardening, a task that involved much weeding I learned from the chore my dad assigned to my siblings and I in our elementary school years. We also were told to harvest dozens and dozens of smelly tomatoes which coated our hands in yellow pollen.
Gardening now brings me great joy -- to be in the sun and around happy plants raised from a tiny seed. Plants are pretty wild!! 

Additionally, I am an avid composter and I am proud to say that my family now voluntarily save veggie and fruit scraps in a bucket sitting proudly on our kitchen floor. Once full, the contents are dumped into our home compost pile where a party of insects and microbes feast on the pile night and day. I am also having fun picking up playing piano again amidst my daily activities, bike riding on nature hugged trails, and spending time with my much loved Red Eared Slider turtles. 

The margin at which these personal interests converge with the research I am doing this summer is within the movement of environmental and sustainable actions. Every being, critter, nook, and cranny within this planet makes it (and us) exist. My wish is for there to be an equal love and respect for our earth and each other, for this planet you are sitting in has allowed life to survive through its finite resources and beauty.

My research project focuses on learning how the presence of dissolved iron affects the growth of cyanobacteria and understanding the nutrient content within some of the Red Cedar Watershed rock formations. For my end result, I hope to discuss possible ways in which cyanobacteria blooms can be mitigated in waterways including Tainter and Menomin Lake. These waters contain speedy fish, muddy turtles, and sun-soaking plants stretching up to the sky.

Lets clean these waters not only for ourselves but for the life which thrives in it.

Pursuing Passions

This week’s topic prompted us to think of our favorite things to do and to think about the ways in which this informs and inspires our research and academic pursuits. Reflecting back on my upbringing, many of my most influential memories have some kind of relationship to the passions that I choose to pursue in my life now.

My dad is a visual artist and I was raised with the role of his studio assistant. Together, we would draw, paint, think and create. Growing up with those values and traditions at the core of my childhood, I have learned to see the world through thoughtful and creative lens. I have a studio art minor at the University of Vermont, where I primarily focus on relief printmaking, paper making and drawing.

If I am unable to create things in a studio space, I translate those ideas into the way I process the places around me through note taking. I wouldn’t consider myself a journaler, but rather someone who processes the people I meet, the books I read, the stories I hear and the sights I see by recording them on paper. My notebooks are filled with memorable quotes, big words that I have yet to fully understand, pamphlets, photos, feathers and sketches. I bought a new notebook for my time here working in the LAKES project. It started as a strictly “research” notebook, but quickly turned into a collection of observations, thoughts and histories of the area. Having a notebook solely dedicated to my experiences here has been extremely helpful in gaining a better and more holistic view of the cultural and physical landscape around me.

Spending time with my family is one of my most valued and favorite things to do. I am proud to be an aunt, a sister and a daughter. The familial support network I have has also shaped the way I strive to learn about the lives of others. This interest in making connections with people has largely informed my academic interests and pushed me towards the social sciences, particularly human geography, where I have the opportunity to listen to people’s individual narratives and work to understand the formation of communities and places.

With the gathering of family, comes the sharing of meals. I love to cook and spend time in the kitchen with my friends and family. My love for food has translated itself into my interest in studying food systems, farm-to-table initiatives, principles of food sovereignty and better understanding the reality of farmers. Together, all of my life experiences, passions, interests and the people who have informed the way I live my life have prompted me to follow what I love.

Learning the Ways of the Watershed

Two weeks ago, we began the LAKES experience by visiting a farm to understand the problems of runoff and fertilizer use in the region. We then went on a pontoon ride on Lake Menomin to experience the water first hand. Finally, this past Friday, the entire LAKES group canoed down the Red Cedar River together to experience the final stage of the water pollution problem that the region faces. Although the water was fairly clear and we were able to swim, we were given the opportunity to comprehensively experience the landscapes that are affected by the excess phosphorus in the watershed. Now that we have seen and interacted with the lands and waters involved, we are ready to fully dive into our research.

This summer, Tara, Dr. Innisfree McKinnon and I will be researching independent conservation practices and perspectives on restoration land use happening in the Red Cedar River Watershed. We will be interviewing land owners, managers, and key conservation professionals about their goals around land and water management and ideals for conservation and restoration. We will mainly focus on interviewing farmers, both conventional and organic, as well as lakefront owners about their conservation practices and reasonings behind their decision to implement or not to implement conservation initiatives on their land.

Recently to prepare for our interviews, I have been researching the topics of asset based community development and solidarity economies. The literature surrounding these topics is applicable to the region and excites me to pursue the themes further later on in my academic career. I am constantly learning in the LAKES program by living with students from across the country and working with mentors from a variety of academic backgrounds.

I am excited to learn more about the community here in the Red Cedar River Watershed by having meaning conversations with the people who live here. I hope to really engage with the interviewees and take time to understand their narratives and connections to the region. I am also very interested to see if there are any overlapping themes in conservation practices between conventional and non-conventional farmers in the region, and if so, how those similar practices could have the potential to bring separate communities closer together.

Learning on the Lakefront

As the subject of this week's blog post is metacognition, it seems only right to mention that these first two weeks have been filled to the brim with learning experiences--and not all academic. From finding my way around Menomonie, to locating the cheapest can of beans, to navigating the bar scene; from crashing my bike, to celebrating birthdays, to learning more about one another and the watershed we're all studying, this experience has been full of new facts and figures.

But as we all become more familiar with our surroundings, the bulk of our attention will turn towards our projects, and learning more about the dynamics at play in the system we're exploring. Fingers crossed, Lucia and I will begin interviewing this week in an attempt to learn more about the management practices of both lakefront property owners and upland farmers. 

As far as lakefront property owners go, we're hoping to gain insight that can be split into three categories: management and maintenance practices, information sources, and attitudes toward restoration. By asking lakefront owners about their habits in terms of maintaining their property, we can learn more about trends in land use that impact the area adjacent to the lake, whether they be constructive or destructive. The spread of information, whether accurate or otherwise, can be spread by both formal and informal networks. By asking property owners where, if at all, they get their information pertaining to their lakefront or the lake, we can learn more about how this type of information is disseminated in this area. Lastly, as several of our colleagues are investigating the possibility of wild rice restoration, and wetland restoration more generally is a phosphorus mitigation strategy, by asking our interviewees how they feel about restoration near their own properties, as well as in the watershed more broadly, we can hopefully gauge the receptivity of the community to possible restoration efforts.  

So hopefully with this post I've proven that in the past few weeks I've learned more than how to balance my research responsibilities while keeping up with my favorite teams as they battle for the World Cup. And that as a group, we've done our fair share of both work and play. Thanks for reading, enjoy the picture I snapped while taking a break from rain-gardening. 

One Piece of the Puzzle

The second week of our REU experience is already done, and it's exciting to see everyone's projects taking shape. In the past two weeks we have learned a lot about the watershed and the communities that thrive on it. After gaining this preliminary knowledge, we are ready to take on research projects that will hopefully give back to these communities. That said, the research we are working on will also be a process of learning and growing for us as we prepare for life after college and potentially graduate school.

The Science of Numbers

It is easy to get lost in the numbers that quantify the water bodies in the Red Cedar Watershed: the acreage of lakes, lengths of rivers, phosphorus concentrations, discharge volumes, percentage of land use, and so on and so forth. While the numbers may be overwhelming, each value is critical in understanding the watershed. Similarly, the natural environment is dependent on the interaction of various factors for its success. This summer, I want to bridge the numerical values of the Red Cedar Watershed with the qualitative aspects of a healthy ecosystem to attain phosphorus mitigation in the watershed.

Fuel Cells For the Future

My courses back at school consist basically of all qualitative and learning hard facts; sometimes a lot of math and sciences which I really enjoy.  But I haven’t been around many people would want to focus on social sciences.  Coming to the LAKES program I was surprised that out of the eight of us, two of us are engineer majors.  I guess I have been exposed to all engineers and health majors.  I personally have never taken a social science class.  So, coming here and seeing that the majority of us are into social science research is a new experience for me.  Most of the things they are researching go over my head, because I have just never thought of things like that.  I think it is pretty cool to see how all of these topics truly relate in the real world.  I came to the LAKES program wanting to explore more of the environmental engineering research side, but I wasn’t sure what exactly that meant.  

Putting a Price Tag on a Lake

It is already week 2, time does really fly when you’re having fun! I can’t help but repeat myself when I say I am learning a lot this summer. Zach taught me how to cast a fishing rod, I canoed on a river for the first time, and did you know that green stems grow from garlic bulbs? (They’re called scapes and make a great addition to pesto sauce).

Ecosystem Restoration

I have always been fascinated by the intricacies of nature.  The way that layers upon layers of life feed and complement each other, working in symphony at a mind boggling scale.  From the diversity of micro-organisms in the soil, to the towering sequoias, every layer of complexity overflows with life.  The apparent simplicity of nature has far more moving parts, inter-relationships and variables than any mathematical equation or engineered replica could ever account for.  This interconnectedness is what makes looking at the world from an ecosystem approach so exciting; there is so much to learn. 

The Green Mineral

For my summer research I will be directing my attention to a peculiar green mineral called Glauconite, which is iron-potassium rich and has been formed from chemically altered fecal pellets of aquatic creatures.

First Week Impressions

As a born and raised Chicagoan I come from a large, busy city; however, the small town setting is not foreign to me. This upcoming school year I will earn my bachelors degree at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. Like Beloit, stores and restaurants are within walking distance in Menomonie. It is wonderful to have access to so much fresh, local food and I have appreciated being greeted by passersby in town. One woman and her daughter let me cut in front of them at the Menomonie Food Market CO-OP since I had fewer items to buy. So sweet!  Already I have been impressed by the Tuesday night music and the Wednesday farmers market in Wilson Park. I look forward to exploring the beautiful bike routes and attending more fun community events this summer. The work that I will be doing in this LAKES REU program has me even more excited.

The work environment of this internship program is more interdisciplinary than I had been previously expecting, which is very exciting to me. I love to learn, so being able to learn about everyone's projects will be a great way to give me more insight on the actions we can take to restore Lake Menomin. I think it’s great that LAKES REU has brought in students with differing knowledge and work experience because of this. Also, I appreciate that the LAKES REU mentors and staff reflect the same excitement my co-interns and I have. I feel that this is a great group I will be working with this summer and I am honored to do environmental work with such knowledgeable and kind human beings.

A New and Familiar Landscape

Arriving to Menomonie this past Sunday afternoon, I was met by heavy storm clouds and the sweet smell of Wisconsin rain. I have lived in Minneapolis for ten years, but I grew up in Vernon County in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. Every time I come back to this part of the state I feel like I am coming home. Having previously lived in the area, I feel fortunate to experience a space with folks who have never been to the Midwest—where we are able to learn from and with one another about the new landscape. As a group, we have already explored the area on foot, by car, tractor, boat and bike.

I have had a lot fun this past discovering the unique qualities of Menomonie’s culture and comparing them to my childhood home of Viroqua, WI, my hometown of Minneapolis, MN and my new home at the University of Vermont in Burlington. Although the physical landscape and some cultural aspects of the area are familiar, there is so much to be learned about the community and practices here in the Red Cedar River watershed. Already, I have found that there is so much to be done about the water pollution problem that the area faces that goes beyond the elimination of excess phosphorus.  

Coming into the program, I was excited and interested to hear that all of the LAKES students were women who come from places across the country. As students, we come from a variety of educational backgrounds including engineering, geology, environmental studies, human geography, economics and natural resource planning. Learning and working together in this interdisciplinary program has given me an entirely new perspective on the opportunities for research and future academic prospects. In one short week, I have learned a lot from these brilliant, kind and thoughtful women.

            Our mentors and the whole LAKES admin team have welcomed us with open arms. All of the faculty members are encouraging, helpful and show so much kindness towards us. It is a truly unique opportunity to work in a community where there is constantly an opportunity for open dialogue about the problems facing the area and the county and the ways in which we can solve the pressing issues of our time.

Driving the tractor at Dan's farm 

Pontoon ride on Lake Menomin! 

Comparing soils