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.

Serve and Protect Luncheon 2019

  The Tucker River Fellows were invited to the Serve and Protect luncheon in the IMAX. We left school and arrived at the IMAX. We grabbed our food which was amazing and headed to the theatre. The food included with a fish hot dog, delicious scallops, pasta, salad with berries and peach cobbler.

On September 19th, the Tucker River Fellows went to a Serve and Protect luncheon in the IMAX. We arrived at the IMAX from school ingot in line for the food. We could already smell the food when waiting in line. The food included with a fish hot dog, delicious scallops, pasta, salad with berries and a peach cobbler.

  Then we grabbed our drinks and entered the theatre. At first, a lady showed how Asian Carp (Silver Carp) were an invasive fish and were eating all of the home fish species’ food. She said to decrease the amount of Asian Carp/ Silver Carp, we can eat them. There were two chefs in the cooking show. One was Chef Michael Gulotta and the other one was Chef Ricky Moore. They were both really funny and made great commentary during their cooking. There also was a band called The Sustainables and they were funny with their songs. The cooking show was really informational and fun.

TNACI

TNACI 

During our time at TNACI (Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute), we learned about a specific species called the Appalachian Brook Trout. This species is endangered so the goal of our excursion was the see the process of sperm and eggs being taken out and put together to create more fish in order to try to save the fish. When we arrived we gathered around to see all the fish. They were first put into water with steroids so the process would be less painful for the fish. 

Next, the female trout were first and the TNACI reintroduction biologist pushed the eggs out of their lower body into a bowl being careful that everything stays dry. The eggs were placed in a dark area for around 15 minutes. They were then placed in a bucket of water and after all the female fish went then came the sperm of the male fish. The same process was repeated to the males. The sperm was then placed over the eggs. Unfortunately, by this time it was time to go. 

Green spaces tour blog: October 1, 2019

On September 26, 2019, the freshmen Tucker River Fellows took a short tour of Green spaces! Green spaces is located downtown and it was started as a project to help conserve the natural environment of Chattanooga in 2007. Their main focus is to help spread awareness about waste and other things harmful to the natural world. They also work to keep building green as they often work with architects or developers. Their building is LEED certified which means their building is nationally recognized for working to  use strategies that benefit the health of the public and the environment. Green spaces encourages, and uses themselves, a gray water system which preserves drinking water. It treats water that needs to be used for other purposes that don’t require the water to be potable such as toilets, water plants, cooling towers etc. They also speak to businesses about switching to a green roof which uses plants to absorb water, treat the air, provide insulation etc. 

TNACI (Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute) - sturgeon tagging 8/29/19

Thursday, August 28th we took a bus over to TNACI, on Baylor’s campus, during our meeting time.
When we got there, the employees were working on tagging young sturgeon.
It’s kind of like a microchip, only it goes through the tip of the sturgeon’s nose.

In order to do this, TNACI needed a group of sturgeon separated into a smaller container,
closer to the equipment. The sturgeon were being held in “racetracks,” separated by size.
Our job was to use little nets to move some of the bigger sturgeon into a smaller tub.

It was really cool! After that, we spent the rest of the time learning about the baby sturgeons, and
we got to pick some of them up. When the babies are hungry, they do this thing called
“porpoising,” where they come about have way out of the water! That was super cute to see.

With our last few minutes, we walked over to some of the other tanks to learn about some
different fish species, like trout. We got to feel the water and learned that trout need very
cold habitats in order to survive! The very last thing we did was learn about how they were
going to tag the sturgeon and what equipment they use.

Summer recap- Thursday, June 13

On our fourth morning of Tucker River Fellows, we almost immediately got on the bus

and rode over to TNACI (Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute) on the Baylor campus.

We toured the facility and were amazed by the many different fish, the sustainability of the building,

and the beauty of the surrounding environment.

The tour only made us more excited for our many visits that will occur in the fall. After the tour,

we hopped back on the bus and rode to a mill on South Chickamauga creek. We put on some very

rubbery waders and headed down to the creek. We were taught how to seine fish and then we got to

try it ourselves. We started out in the more mellow part of the creek where we caught lots of medium

sized fish and a few larger ones.

We then had our lunch break and then we headed down to the part of the creek with more current

and we caught lots of small fish.

Overall, we caught 26 different species of fish. After fishing, we took off our waders, got on the bus,

and headed over to Camp Jordan. There, we met a representative from South Chickamauga Greenway

Citizens Alliance. We learned about citizen concerns about potential flooding and the wetlands

affected by the proposed Red Wolves stadium near Camp Jordan.