Seine Fishing with TNACI Scientists- by Sawyer & Scout

 Seine Fishing With TNACI Scientists

     After our arrival at GPS in early August, we immediately got on the bus to go seine fishing. Seine fishing is a type of fishing using a giant net with floats on the top, and lead weights to sink the bottom half of the seine to the bottom of the creek. After the seine net is in the water a person on each side of the net drags the net through the water to capture fish inside of the net. The second way to use the seine is to hold it in place and have people kick up the rocks and the fish around the rocks are forced into the net. 

The scientists use the seine fishing method to inventory the fish and water life populations to see how healthy the water source is. They also take a few animals back to TNACI to be hosts for endangered mussels and to use as brood stock.

  When we got back to GPS we ate our lunch and shared our findings about the day. We learned that this year was the first year in 6 years that had found Hog Suckers and a couple years ago the River Fellows group found Gar, which is a large fish with a long snout. We found that each year the river fellows group went seine fishing, different species of fish we found. This means that the creek we went to has diverse species of fish. 

Watersheds and tributaries by Lavender K. and Ella H.

 On Wednesday, August 5, the freshmen River Fellows learned about the importance of watersheds. A watershed is surrounding land that drains rainwater into a larger body or stream. Mrs. Couch demonstrated that these areas often funnel pollutants like oil, large amounts of loose sediment, excrement, fertilizer, and pesticides into waterways, directly affecting the health of ecosystems and animals alike. 

When chemicals and excess amounts of soil are dumped into the river, crucial parts of the food chain like insect larvae are poisoned or smothered, losing their homes. Other animals like small fish no longer have a reliable food source, creating a chain reaction known as a trophic cascade.

To prevent this pollution, construction companies use silt fences when excavating large amounts of sediment. These barriers hold dirt in place and prevent it from sliding into bodies of water. Another method environmental engineers use is a constructed wetland, areas that both clean and soak up rainwater with nature's most effective filter, plants. The River Fellows have encountered these amazing spaces at both TNACI and later on around the RiverWalk.

After learning about watersheds, the tucker river fellows got the opportunity to visit different water sources across Chattanooga. Visiting four areas in total, each river fellow took notes and recorded their observations about each place. 

The first water source they visited was Citico creek, this area did not look extremely healthy. The water was almost stagnant and the water level was very low. The bridge overhead the area was keeping plant life away due to the lack of sunlight. There was lots of litter strewn across the bank. While the area was not extremely well kept, the bank did have a silt fence that the river fellows learned is one way the city can help keep the watershed healthy! However, part of the silt fence had fallen down, allowing silt and dirt into the creek.

The second water source that the fellows visited was at the mouth of the citico creek where it emptied into the Tennessee river. The area had more plant and animal life. There was a man-made rock bank preventing erosion, and almost no litter. Further out on the river, the fellows observed one of the main water sources of Chattanooga. 

The next place was South Chickamauga Creek. The area looked very healthy with lots of wildlife and plant life including butterflies, cicadas, crickets, dragonflies, varieties of fish, rivercane and english ivy (invasive). The water was relatively placid, and emptied out into the Tennessee river. 

One of the last places the fellows visited was the Tennessee River Dam. The dam is hydroelectric and operated by TVA. There was a drastic difference in the water level on each side of the dam. This is because while the dam is closed, the water builds up on one side and when the dam opens the water flows through and turns turbines inside the dam, generating power!

Reflection Riding and TVA archeology- animals, the river and the atlatl by Lucie D. and Emerson C. (2 of 2)

 

Animals at Reflection Riding

 

After our adventure with Byron, we made our way to the animal enclosures with our new guide, Tish. The first thing she told us is that all of the animals at Reflection Riding have been injured in some way and therefore cannot survive on their own in the wild. 

The first creature we visited was the Sandhill Crane. Sandhill cranes are not endangered, unlike many other animals at Reflection Riding, and are in fact very populous. These cranes are very aggressive and can sometimes be feisty with Tish and the other animal caretakers. They depend on the river and other bodies of water quite a lot, as that’s where they spend their time and find their food when they are in the wild.  

Next, we got to see (and hear) a bald eagle! Some fun facts about bald eagles: the majestic bird sounds you hear on TV when people refer to eagles are actually not the sounds of these creatures, but the call of another bird- the red-tailed hawk. As you may know, the bald eagle was severely endangered, and by 1963; there were only 417 of them left. The reason they became so threatened was because of a chemical called DDT which had polluted the watershed (the land surrounding a body of water) that fed toward the waters where bald eagles fed on fish. The fish ingested small amounts of DDT (not quite enough to be lethal) and as the bald eagles consumed vast numbers of fish, the amount of DDT in their systems became very dangerous. This phenomenon is called biomagnification- something that happens when a chemical makes its way up the food chain until it becomes very dangerous for the animals on top. In this case, the eagles are at the top of the chain. DDT made the eagles’ eggs very weak and unable to survive very long. Thankfully, the chemical was banned, and in 2007 the American bald eagle was removed from the US endangered species list.

After Tish taught us about the eagles’ journey to get off the endangered species list, we traipsed over to the Red-Tailed Hawk enclosure. Red-Tailed Hawks are diurnal animals which means that they are awake during the day and use the daylight hours to hunt and live their lives.  ‘Fovah’ is what we call our eyes’ ability to focus on one particular point in the field of vision. This hawk has a really impressive eyesight and has two fovahs. Humans have only one fovah, which means that we can only focus on one point at a time, and since the hawk has two, it means that it can focus on two points at a time. This vision helps the bird catch its prey; mostly mice and rats. Additionally, hawks go through phases after they are born where they can imprint on humans or other hawks. They do this when they register a specific being as something that can be trusted. This hawk, Ember, imprinted on another employee at Reflection Riding, Taylor. Taylor told us that he’s now basically Ember’s boyfriend, which is super cool!!

Next, we ventured over to see the Barred Owl. Barred owls, as well as most other owls, can turn their necks very far around but lack the ability to move their eyes inside the sockets. These owls have 14 neck vertebrates instead of the 7 that mammals have. This allows them to pretty much have eyes in the back of their heads! The hearing on these birds is also incredible, as they can hear a mouse’s heartbeat from 30 feet away!

After that, we visited the crown jewel of Reflection Riding, the red wolves. Currently, they have four red wolves; two breeding pairs of a male and a female each. These animals are incredibly endangered and scientists believe that there are only around 300 of them left in the world. There are 42 sites across the US that have red wolves, and they possess most of the red wolf population. There are only about 12 red wolves living in the wild and they are all in a land area in North Carolina. The wolves need a HUGE amount of space to do their bidding, which makes this nearly 3,000-acre space good for them to live in. Reflection Riding is clearly in the small minority of organizations that have red wolves, and they raise a lot of money that they use to protect this species from extinction.

Next... Archeologists from TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)

After we left Reflection Riding, we got Panera and ate on the lower field at GPS. After we were done eating, two archeologists came down to meet us and talked to us about their jobs. One part I found very interesting was the body farm, which was a farm like area at UTK where human bodies are left to decompose and be studied.

They also talked to us a lot about what they had learned, especially about the atlatl. Native Americans created the atlatl before bows and arrows, and the atlatl has a longer reach as they were originally big game hunters during the Mississippian period. Later on, they created a more domestic lifestyle with villages, and as they settled down, they began to create pottery.

Before the atlatl, they used to use spears to hunt big game, and spear tips were made from flint. People often think of spear tips as arrowheads- have you ever found an arrowhead? It actually wasn’t used for arrows, that’s a spear tip, because Native Americans mostly hunted with spears.

Atlatls

After the archaeologists explained who they were and the kind of work they did, they gave us the chance to use an actual atlatl. They gave us each a spear and then the atlatl itself which is kind of like a smaller stick with a grip for your fingers and a hole in the back to grip the spear. 

One by one, we used the atlatls to throw the spears at targets that the archaeologists had set up in the grass. Some of us got super close to hitting the targets, but unfortunately, no one actually hit them. It was a really fun experience, though and we learned a lot!

Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center - Intro and Plants: by Lucie D. and Emerson C. (and Mrs. Couch) 1 of 2 posts

River Fellows freshmen started their experiential week (with some partial zoom-ing) on August 3. They were able to be in the field on Tuesday-Thursday of the week. Stay tuned for several blog posts about their experiences. Please enjoy the following student blogs; we invite you to learn alongside us!  -Mrs. Couch -----

Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center is a non-profit organization that strives to bring the people of Chattanooga closer to nature and to spread awareness about the importance of growing native species and removing invasive species. Native species are plants that are indigenous to the Chattanooga area. They are the organisms that are specifically meant to grow and thrive here. Invasive species are organisms that are NOT meant to grow and thrive here, and they can be harmful to the native organisms since they have no natural predators here to remove them. One thing that’s important to remember though, is that while many non-native plants are invasive, not all of them are considered a risk and are therefore not a threat to the environment. Reflection Riding works to remove these invasive species and to repopulate our beautiful ecosystems with natural, native plants!

Plants at Reflection Riding:

On Tuesday, all of the River Fellows went to Reflection Riding, and we even had one river fellow join us via zoom. Our tour guide, Byron, was very animated and excited as we asked questions, he even urged us to ask more!

One of the invasive plants we learned about was Chinese Privet, which completely overtook parts of the forest at Reflection Riding and created a mono-culture (a place of land that has been overtaken by one invasive species). Even though the mono-culture looked very healthy and lush, it is actually very bad for the ecosystem. Creek corridors and forests are great for the Privet to grow because birds rest there and poop out the seeds. Each Privet can create up to 15000 seeds, each one having the possibility of becoming a sapling.

We also learned about Oriental Bittersweet, which has in some way affected every inch of their land. The canopy of their leaves is very thick, killing every plant they grow above that needs more sunlight. It can also climb up and ‘strangle’ trees, killing them very quickly.

Because of Oriental Bittersweet and Chinese Privet, something they call ‘management’ is needed, where someone, normally Byron, goes around their land and pulls out invasive species either mechanically (physically) or by using herbicide.

Herbicide, even though it is chemicals, is not that bad for the environment if used in a safe and practiced way. If you cut a tree stump, many times a sapling of that tree will grow in it, and to prevent that from happening, they apply herbicide to the stump. They apply a lot of herbicide, so it will travel down and kill the roots, much more than they would use to spray leaves.

Spraying leaves will leave you with many more ‘casualties’ because it is less focused than one stump. Byron says that the plant he wants to kill must cover 80%-85% of the land he will spray the herbicide on, and if there is even one rare plant- no herbicide! If he cannot use the stump removal method or the spray method, though they are his favorites, he will use the mechanical method and weed them out.

While we were there, Byron also explained to us that all snakes are good for the ecosystem, and while some are poisonous, they are just afraid of us if not more. Snakes never chase you, and if it seems like they are they probably just think that there is better shelter from you behind you. Snakes are very good mathematicians, very good at geometry, and very aware that the fastest way from Point A to Point B is a straight line, and sometimes Point B might be right behind you. “No one has ever been bitten by leaving a snake alone,” Byron says.