An open invitation to anyone in my area (NOW WITH PRIZES)

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Videos are from the Madison Wisconsin area.

I worked several summers at the Milwaukee County Zoo and had some fun experiences working in the woods to remove invasive species.

I've been looking to take on a new activity that is a little more productive than the ATOT Weekly Challenge. I found a spot that's within walking distance of where I live that has a weekly ecological restoration project on Saturday mornings.

If you're ever in the Madison area on a Saturday morning (and it's not pouring rain), send me a PM or e-mail and join me on one of these lame adventures in nature
(They're open all year long and I believe only cancel due to bad weather or a lot of rain the previous day that would produce a soil compaction problem)

I've done three projects over the last two weeks and I'm enjoying it. I plan to keep going to these to get that "outdoors" fix. With a windowless office during the week, my walk home hasn't been quite enough for me.

As an added bonus, the 9am Saturday time means that I'll actually get up and have a semi-productive weekend rather than slobbing about all day.

Anyway, I've been taking a few pictures and movies to document my experiences, so I thought I'd share. Originally I was just making them for my family, but I figured I'd just put them up here to for the heck of it.

Note: the participants all sign up on a sheet that includes something about it being ok for photos to be taken of them and shared, so I think I'm cool with other volunteers showing up in these pictures / videos.

10-16-2010 Arboretum (removing Buckthorn... also includes link to face paint thing at the end)

10-09-2010 Arboretum (removing Buckthorn, Dogwood)

10-02-2010 Arboretum (removing Sumac, Walnut)

7-24-2010 Arboretum (removing Bull Thistle, Canada Thistle, Queen Anne's Lace, Dame's Rocket)

7-17-2010 Arboretum (removing Soapwort and Hedge Parsley)

7-10-2010 Arboretum (removing White Sweet Clover and Oriental Bittersweet)

7-03-2010 Arboretum (removing Dame's Rocket and Burdock)

6-26-2010 Arboretum (nothing)

6-19-2010 Arboretum (removing Oriental Bittersweet, Honeysuckle, Buckthorn)

6-05-2010 Arboretum (removing Dame's Rocket)

5-22-2010 Arboretum (removing Garlic Mustard)

5-21-2010 Picnic Point (planting native species)



Here's a couple "Before and After" pictures from that 5-22-2010 session

EDIT: I meant to say that this is an example of the work we were doing.
This picture is from 9:21 AM

This picture is from 9:38 AM (17 minutes later)

If that seems interesting at all and you're in the area, there's a schedule of events here.
http://uwarboretum.org/

If that seems interesting at all... and you're not in the area, then I encourage you to find something like it in your area and try it out.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

This is interesting. I wonder if there is anything like this around me. I have been intending to get involved in some kind of regular, organized group activity and I love the outdoors.

 

[DrPizza]

I'm not in your area, but you're doing it the hard way. Get some goats! They'll happily remove most of those invasive species for you.

 

[Terzo]

Uh, I don't really see why you didn't want your location in the title, but it's easily visible with the "hover over" text anyways. Just letting you know.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'm not in your area, but you're doing it the hard way. Get some goats! They'll happily remove most of those invasive species for you.

We actually had a conversation about that during that first video outing. It might be something that they'll be trying out in the future.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Uh, I don't really see why you didn't want your location in the title, but it's easily visible with the "hover over" text anyways. Just letting you know.

Oh I know (and indeed thought about the hover over when I wrote my location in the first sentence), but maybe it's like one of those junk mail gimmicks where they try to get you hooked with one more task
(Maybe if you spend the time to mouse over, you'll click on it anyway )

I thought putting Madison directly in the title could potentially reduce the people that would look at this. Since these kind of programs are all over, I was trying to find the right balance of being a bit vague

 

[SonicIce]

wait how did you take those pictures in exactly the same spot? and a few weeks apart? and the lighting is exactly the same?

 

[Crusty]

wait how did you take those pictures in exactly the same spot? and a few weeks apart?

Not quite the exact spot, but he's definitely standing in the same spot both days. The camera in the 2nd photo is pointed towards the ground a bit more.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

wait how did you take those pictures in exactly the same spot? and a few weeks apart? and the lighting is exactly the same?

Those pictures were taken 17 minutes apart.

We were making a lot of progress with the area, so I found a big patch that was yet to be worked on and tried to line up the shot with the trees on the sides and the leaves on the top.

I worked on it for 17 minutes pulling garlic mustard out and then took a couple shots trying to replicate the same view. I got fairly close.

So, that's 17 minutes of my work. We worked for about 3 hours (with a short break) and there were maybe 15 of us. So, we cleared out a lot of that stuff

(Edited OP)

 

[TheVrolok]

I'm jealous .. I love outdoor adventure time! Unfortunately there is little outdoor adventure to be had in Southern Florida ... f the swamps.

 

[kami333]

I used to volunteer with the Nature Conservancy when I was in college and help out with prescribed burns. That was fun

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I used to volunteer with the Nature Conservancy when I was in college and help out with prescribed burns. That was fun

From what I understand, there are some areas that are getting close to being ready for some burning around here too. I don't know what that means in terms of actual time frame though.

 

[BillGates]

I used to be the IT guy at the UW Arboretum back in my college days...1999-2001 or so... Good times.

 

[Mike Gayner]

I would love to get involved in something like this.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

You could also do Geocaching to get an outdoors fix. I've been doing it occasionaly for a few months. It's pretty fun, just wish I could find somebody to join me. Some members also schedule events to clean up trash from areas as well.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

You could also do Geocaching to get an outdoors fix. I've been doing it occasionaly for a few months. It's pretty fun, just wish I could find somebody to join me. Some members also schedule events to clean up trash from areas as well.

I also do Geocaching lots of times (got one bug that started in Walt Disney World in Florida and helped get it back to Wisconsin).

As for the OP, I can certainly see about volunteering once I'm up there next week

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I used to be the IT guy at the UW Arboretum back in my college days...1999-2001 or so... Good times.

Well that's interesting. Even though I've been in the area since 2002, this is the was the first time I had been inside it.

I also do Geocaching lots of times (got one bug that started in Walt Disney World in Florida and helped get it back to Wisconsin).

As for the OP, I can certainly see about volunteering once I'm up there next week

Maybe the weather will stay as hot as it is today for you. I suppose I'll have to get used to going out there and doing this when it's 90 degrees. Hopefully the ending time of noon will keep things a bit cooler.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I think this summer might get rough.

I just walked home from work while it was 90+. I'm not used to this yet

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Haha, I was helping my grandparents rip the top off their septic tank today and with humidity, the local weather data collector thingie was reporting 102 degrees!

 

[SandEagle]

i'm game. is it ok if i wear my hockey mask?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

i'm game. is it ok if i wear my hockey mask?

You'll probably get a bit warm, but it should help protect you from the branches and stuff.

 

[Aharami]

I'm not in your area, but you're doing it the hard way. Get some goats! They'll happily remove most of those invasive species for you.

are you sure they wont just faint upon seeing the invasive species? :sneaky:

 

[alfa147x]

Goats solve all of life's problems!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Boring video #3 is ready

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egVBX346OVQ

EDIT: I will not be attending on 6/12/2010

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Boring video #4 is ready (still processing at my time of posting though)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTBrnH2FqE0