Field Day- Feb 14th
When 13:30-18:00
Who- Practicum Class and Dr. Entrekin

Friday was our first day as a lab to get out and really get dirty in the wetlands. We took out our GPS trimble units that Mary-Sue Passe-Smith provided, as well as very handy instructions. We were able to plot all of our points on the GPS units, except for me. My unit was finicky and I lost all my point because I had to re-set my device. Thankfully I have 6 other lab mates that took the same points, so data is not lost!

As for hydrology, we were able to successfully set up all four cameras and PVC measuring pipe. I had to get a little clever and figure out how to keep the PVC in view of the camera by shoving pieces of stick between the tree and the camera to get a good downward angle. Hopefully this rigging with zip ties will stay in place and the sticks will stay wedged between the tree and camera.

We went out to our control site for the first time today, and at first I was a little worried we might get shot. There were a lot of private property posting signs, but Dr. Entrekin assured us that Scott Owen cleared it with the land owner we would be out on the land. This area was probably the most interesting habitat type. There were a lot of dead/dying trees. Mostly oak, we realized that this now impounded area was not always this wet. The beavers have impounded this area and now it's suffering. Data in this area will be very interesting to analyze!

Overall, even though we were in the field a lot longer than expected it was a great day, with great weather. I was happy to spend a few hours soaking up some Vit D.

On a side note, it was my task to set up a twitter account for the White Oak Bayou and here it is. I think we need to take some pictures of WOB to make our twitter more pretty!
https://twitter.com/WOBPracticum