Cosumnes field trip

We went back to Cosumnes this weekend, this time with the class in tow. On the way in we saw a whole bunch of pelicans, have I ever told you how much I love pelicans? We went for a little nature walk when we arrived, mostly just to wake up . Lots of super cool spiderwebs in the mist sort of thingBut, eventually, we got to work. Here's our lovely study siteIn the distance here, you can see Eliska and some of the students. Just so you know, it took a whole lot of effort to get that far. Just imagine yards and yards of loosely piled ropes about thigh high. You have to develop a funny little sideways throw your leg out and over sort of walk, it's rather exhausting.They first mapped the wetland with GPS (I of course bungled the explanation and had to scramble and figure it out). Then I get to put it all together to make a map that looks like this (this is the map from 2 years ago). It's kind of fun because the class has been doing this for 5 years now and you can see changes in vegetation and all sorts of cool stuff.For instance, last year there was so much water over the winter that many plants died during the extensive flooding and we saw lots of bare ground in the wetland (NOT normal). After that, we had them collecting biomass samples. It was nice watching other people do what I've spent the past year torturing myself with. I got to stand outside and shout helpful comments in ;)
There was all sorts of cheekiness and good humor
And tromping through the muck

One of the more common plants at Cosumnes is the water primrose (Ludwigia). The species we had here is a pretty nasty invasive, but admittedly quite pretty. Evil to walk through though!And as the students discovered, a pain in the butt to collect.
Afterward, the biggest challenge was getting the stupid boots off.
Got ya!


Oh, and I told you I'd introduce you to the rest of my students once I got pics, so here they are!

Stephanie, Amber, Ric, Nicole