I completed a more theoretical version of my 2nd year project.  Unfortunately, there were complications with the land by the Fawcett center and I was unable to do restoration work there. I was however, able to do research on the types of Ohio invasive species and some techniques to best combat them.  Specifically, I looked into Japanese (bush) Honeysuckle, Garlic Mustard, and common reed, which are some of the most common invasives in the area.  I found images of the plants, as well as information on habitat, description, management and alternative species.  I did about 4-5 hours of research for this project. While searching for information, I made sure to use reputable sites like the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Invasive Plants Council, and various soil survey results.  I found this project to be reasonably rewarding, but I think it would have been even more fulfilling if I was able to take the information I have learned and do some restoration work.  Although I am in no way an expert, I think that I now know enough to be able to determine which plants by the Fawcett center are invasive and need to be removed.  I hope that ENR is able to safely resume work at the Fawcett center or that we are able to find a different restoration site.  While this kind of service is very important to native wildlife and habitats, it is also beneficial to the people doing the work.  I find restoration and trash removal to be really enjoyable! Although it’s hard work, it allows you to be outside and enjoy nature.  I believe that a strong connection to nature is an essential part to abating climate change.  If people feel a connection and appreciation for nature, they will be more inspired to do their part in preventing global warming.  

Local Invasive Species: Information and Management 

Why Invasives are a Problem

• Invasive species compete with and displace native plants
• Hurt native wildlife that require native plants for food, habitat, breeding, etc.
• Reduce biological diversity

3 Most Common Ohio Invasive Species

• Japanese Honeysuckle
• Common reed
• Garlic mustard

• Many of these plants grow in the vegetative in and around columbus.  Specifically, Japanese honeysuckle has been a large problem along the Olentangy river.

Japanese Bush Honeysuckle

• Description
  • Woody plant with oval leaves.
  • Flowers are white and fragrant
• Habitat
  • Grows by roadsides, trails, forest edges
• Management
  • Burning
  • systemic herbicide (absorbed through leaves/roots)
  • Herbicides should be used when native plants are dormant
• Alternatives
  • Virginia creeper
  • Wild honeysuckle

Common Reed

• Description
  • Tall grass with smooth, wide leaves
  • Hollow stems
  • gray/purple flower head plume
• Habitat
  • Wetlands
  • Still waters like marshes, lakeshores, riverbanks, etc.
• Management
  • Cutting of stems
  • Systemic (grass specific) herbicides
• Alternatives
  • Indian grass
  • Canada bluejoint
  • Prairie cord

Garlic Mustard

• Description
  • Biennial plant (flowering plant that has a 2 year lifecycle.
  • Grows up to 4 feet tall
  • Triangular leaves
  • White 4 petal flowers
  • Produces a lot of seeds that can stay dormant for 7+ years
• Habitat
  • Shady areas
  • Floodplain forests
  • Yards
  • Streams
  • Trails
  • roadsides
• Management
  • Repeated burning
  • Hand Pulling (remove plant after pulling)
  • Systemic herbicides (for 1st year plants)
• Alternatives
  • White baneberry
  • Columbine
  • Blue phlox

While I have not yet begun to work on my project, I am very excited to do so.  I have chosen to focus on the outward investment of working at the Fawcett Center.  In order to begin the project, I need information about starting dates the specific goals and tasks involved in this project.  For instance, I need to know how to obtain the proper tools, what duties will be performed, what times are appropriate, etc.  This being said, however, I can’t wait to get out there and start working!  I feel that once I have all of the necessary tools and information, I should be able to devote a few hours of work per week to meet the 15 hour per semester goal for this second year project.

For my second year project I plan to get involved as a member of the Leadership Council.  This project will benefit both first and second year students in ENR, the OSU and Columbus communities, as well as the environment.  I think this would be a great opportunity for me to give back to ENR Scholars, as well as cultivate my leadership and planning skills.  After enjoying everything that ENR has to offer as a first year, it would be amazing to be part of the team that makes ENR such a fun and meaningful group!  Because the second year in ENR is a lot less structured than the first, I feel that it is extremely important for me to get involved in any and every way that I possibly can.  ENR has given me a supportive community in a huge school where its easy to feel lost.  That is why I am very excited to peruse this project and give back to ENR.  Through this second year project, I hope to sharpen and learn new activity planning and organizing skills.  Additionally, I would like to do a mini project or a part-time project at the Fawcett center if I am able.  I really enjoyed volunteering last year during earth day and would very much like to continue to improve the area.

For this semester’s Columbus To Do List project, I chose to participate in three OAC clinics.  Before this assignment, I did not know much about the OAC and I did not even know that they offered various clinics and trips through the year.  From their long list of clinics, I chose to go to the kayak roll clinic, the rappelling clinic, and the Qajaasaarneq clinic.  

Kayak Roll:

• This clinic was designed to teach participants how to roll in a kayak which is a necessary skill for those engaging in whitewater kayaking.  Since my friends and I had no intention of whitewater kayaking, the instructors let us work on more basic skills.  The first skill they wanted us to work on was the “wet exit”, which is a method of getting out of the kayak (on your own) if it flips over.  For this skill, a skirt was placed over the kayak so that water did not fill the kayak when it was flipped over.  At first, I was terrified to learn this skill!  I thought that I would panic being trapped upside down underwater.  However, after I worked up the nerve to do it, I realized it was not scary at all.  Actually, it was really fun and pretty simple!  After that, we learned “the hand of god”, which is a skill used to save someone whose kayak has flipped over.  To achieve this maneuver, you jump over the bottom of the flipped kayak and grab the lip.  Then you use your body weight to flip the kayak back over.  Finally, we were able to practice using the paddle boards.  Overall this clinic was my favorite!  It felt a little weird at first, but it was a lot of fun to kayak in a swimming pool!  Learning the skills was very interesting and I would love to go back and learn more kayaking skills.

• 

  Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture from the clinic, so instead I have included an image of a kayak fitted with a kayak skirt.

Intro to Qajaasaarneq

• This clinic taught the basics of Qajaasaarneq, also called rope gymnastics.  It is useful for practicing how to roll a kayak, as well as working out and strengthening muscles.  The equipment used for this training system consists of two horizontally suspended ropes that hang relatively close to the ground.  At first we watched the instructor roll and do other tricks. Then we were allowed to practice the basics and try to roll if we wanted to try it.  To roll, you start by  straddling the ropes and hanging your bottom between the two ropes (so that you are kind of sitting in the ropes).  Then, you cross your ankles and twist your body so that you can grab the two ropes in front and behind you with your right and left hands, respectively.   Lastly, you tuck your head and shift your body to one side.  As you “fall”,  you are supposed to untuck your head and move your lower body by bending at the waist and twisting your hips by lifting your knee.  This clinic was a little more difficult because most of the flips require some upper body strength.  Qajaasaarneq is also very hard to perform, especially if you have never rolled in a kayak or used the ropes before.  However, this clinic was still very interesting and a lot of fun!  I would definitely recommend it to someone looking to practice their kayak roll or just to try something new.
• 

Rappelling

• In this clinic we rappelled off of the walls at the RPAC!  This was a special clinic that we did not have to sign up for and was open to any student who wanted to participate.  At first I was a little nervous to rappel off of the wall, but it was actually a lot of fun!  The instructors were knowledgeable and their instructions were clear.  Overall, I really enjoyed this clinic and would recommend it to others!
• 

My overall experience with the earth month challenge has been very interesting and quite transformational!  Over the past four weeks, I have tried my best to reduce my waste and toxicity impact on the environment by recycling, eating vegetarian, using natural products and many other activities.  Through these challenges, I have learned a few things about myself.  First, I have realized that making changes to everyday habits is a lot more challenging that it seems.  These past few weeks I had trouble remembering to alter my routines to stick to the challenges that I had chosen to pursue.  I now know that I need to give myself constant reminders and symbols that inspire me to diligently follow the challenges.  I also realized that since I already do a lot of little things to help the environment and reduce my impact, I think I need to take more drastic measures to in order to truly make a greater difference.

Throughout this year I have learned a lot about climate change and other awful consequences that have resulted because of our negative impact on the earth.  It has been said that if we start reducing emissions and taking other steps to limit our impact now, we can significantly decrease the disastrous implications of climate change.  However, this means that everyone must change the way they live.  That is why I will try my best to continue the challenges that I have pursued this month, as well as add new ones.   Since I will be home over the summer, it will be easier for me to be vegetarian, eat organic and local foods, compost food waste, and other activities.  Overall, I am very pleased that I had the opportunity to participate in this earth month challenge!  This has been a fun experience that will hopefully continue reduce my impact on the earth for many years.

I thought that this week was a little more challenging than last week.  For this third week I chose to focus on limiting my meat consumption, as well as trying to eat more organic and locally sourced foods.  I knew that this week would be difficult because living in a dorm, I really do not have much control over where my food comes from.  Similarly, the vegetarian options offered in the dining halls are often far less attractive than the meat choices.  Despite this, I did eat less meat than I would during a normal week.  Some days I had trouble remembering that I was supposed to be vegetarian and already put meat on my plate, but didn’t want to waste it as my first week’s challenge was to limit food waste.  As for the local and organic aspect of week three’s challenge, unfortunately I had no real way to monitor if the food was sourced locally or if it was organic.  While there is not much to do about that aspect, I can take steps to remember to eat less meat.  I think putting reminders on my phone, or making my phone screensaver something related to earth day will help me make conscious decisions to complete my challenges.  For the fourth week challenge, I will try to use all natural products.  Once again, this may prove difficult because I do not have the funds nor do I want to buy all new beauty and cleaning products.

This week’s challenge was a little easier for me to complete.  The challenge I planed for the this second week was to only use reusable bags, cups, plates, utensils, and so on.  My goal was to also bring my own reusable thermos to get coffee in at the cafes.  Since I already use my own set of plastic/ceramic dishes and bring my own cloth bags places, this challenge was not too difficult for me.  I was even more successful because my suite mate Maddy put a hand towel in the bathroom for us all to use in order to decrease the amount of paper towels that we waste.  I would never have thought of that idea, but I’m so glad that the other ENR members in my suite and on my floor can help each other with the earth month challenge.  While I often try to make my own coffee in the dorm, the few times that I went to a cafe, I was unable to ask the barista to use my own mug for coffee so I did generate some waste there.

I’ve also been continuing to do week 1’s challenge in addition to week 2.  This time I was more successful and I did not waste as much food while at the dining hall.  Next week I will aim to limit my consumption of meat and try my best to eat mostly organic and locally grown foods.  I think that eating organic and local foods will be challenging since most of my meals come from the university and I don’t know if it’s organic or local.