Phragmites Restoration Trip (part 2)

Hey y'all! I can't believe y'all has become a part of my vocabulary but living for nearly a year in the South will do that to a person. As much as I want to resist, "y'all" really is a great word given it is gender inclusive and rolls off the tongue quite easily, though in truth I don't really like to use informal or 'slang' words typically. Maybe it is from a lifetime of trying to resist adopting the local dialect of Rhode Island and New England. Anyhow, I digress. This is not meant to be about linguistics, but rather one of the most awesome things I have ever had the opportunity to do in my life! In my previous experience, I had conducted fieldwork in similar salt marsh ecosystems in Rhode Island and it is an ecosystem I have definitely come to grow fond of, but I had never been in a position where instead of doing research about conservation and quantifying the effects of anthropogenic impacts (still incredibly important and what I want to dedicate my life to so no hate of course), I actually am doing the physical work to finally implement the changes and restoration efforts that the research says we so desperately need! And it was super awesome and fulfilling! And awesome! It was a lot of physical labor but in truth I love doing physical labor and being outside in nature, even if the conditions may be deemed "adverse" to most. This might be shocking given I have been pretty entrenched within academia for a bit and have spent a lot of time writing scripts in R this past year. Every day we left at 7 am and came back around 5-6 pm (most folks (another great word I have recently integrated into my vocabulary and I love this word) were protesting at that point in the day and wanted real food, I can't say I blame them as my diet revolved around beef jerky and energy drinks (I was embracing the lifestyle of a teenage boy)). This trip only lasted 3 days, but (I think at least) we got a lot of good work done in that time! I also drove the boat! A lot! Before I get into more of what we actually did, here are just some motorized boat tips and knowledge that I have gained (for my own future reference too): Deeper water means choppy water -- the "ideal range" for travel is 12-20 feet in depth. "Red right return" -- meaning the buoy(?) things that have red markers on them should be on your right side as you are traveling back. Channel 16 is the Coast Guard channel so you should always generally be on that channel and that way if you hear another boater in distress and you are nearby you may be able to provide aid, plus it's good to be aware of what is going on. If there are wakes (which there were many given we were traveling along shipping routes in the Mississippi River), you should slow down and approach them at a 45 degree angle. Changing the position of the motors relative to the plane of water is referred to as "trimming," and it largely affects fuel efficiency and is also something to be mindful of especially when in shallow, silty bottom areas where you don't want the motor to be low and get all mud in it. Also, trimming affects the fuel efficiency -- to maximize fuel efficiency you should "trim up" until the boat is kind of skipping on the water and is jumping around a lot (the position of the motors directly affects the position of the bow) and then lower them back down just enough to stop the skipping. Also, generally when you are traveling from one place to another, you want to be going fast enough that you are "on plane" aka not sunk down into the water.

Okay now to explain what we actually did on this trip. First, we cut down (leaving the rhizomes still though of course) large swaths of Phrag (Phragmite's nickname) from prior healthy restoration sites from prior years using assorted power tools (I got to use the hedge trimmer which was awesome and cool and I got to wear a face shield). Then we sorted through the Phrag to select for pieces that are actually alive (has green leaves -- the untrained eye can pretty easily tell if its dead) and sorted them into bundles of 50 reeds and then tied them together with bungee cords and labeled them. We did this for three different sites and it took about a day and a half to do this. At the end of the day we left them tied to a stake and submerged in the water so they wouldn't dry out and die. The phrag was also surprisingly fragile so we had to take the utmost care of our bundles. That was phase 1. Then for phase 2, we planted the stems, which was really straightforward. To plant them you just stick the stem down into the mud at least 2 nodes/50 cm deep. This sounds not difficult, but given the mud in some sites was pretty hard and compacted for the first like 3-4 rows it actually was challenging to not break the stems in doing this. Also, I would like to just take a moment to note that we could not see in that super silty water at all and not only were several alligators spotted (no pics because they ducked out as soon as we came nearby) but also there was a stingray hanging out by one of our plots. So honestly, I feel pretty invincible now and have been emboldened to enter really just any body of water at all because probably the only thing in the water in North America scarier than an Alligator is a Crocodile. Okay, so back to phase 2. We planted the stems in a strategic way of course, as scientists do, as different treatments. Some of them we planted vertically in groups of 4, some at a 20 degree angle perpendicular to the bottom (I think to encourage rhizome development), others we bent in half in between the nodes and shoved the broken part into the ground, and then groups of 16 together. Hopefully I am not giving away trade secrets but since I am the only person that has ever viewed my blog posts I am sure its okay. So yeah honestly, exactly what you would think you would do to plant a new plot of phrag grass. The main reason why it is in need of restoration is due to this parasitoid thing called Roseau cane scale, which looks so nasty and I hate, which had caused Roseau cane (Phrag) die-off. Like really any reed grass, Phrag/Roseau cane is important for holding the silty mud sand in place and preventing erosion. This is especially pertinent along the Mississippi River, where the water is always moving and carrying lots of silt with it. This is problematic because Lousiana is losing a ton of land every minute of every day. I actually saw a video (user "franzeeska" on instagram, her full name is Franziska Trautmann as per her bio and she is a researcher and gave a Ted talk and everything so not just some random person) that said Louisiana is losing 100 yards of land every 100 minutes which if you don't know is really bad! not good! and its mainly humans fault obviously because they just went and built levys and disrupted the natural fluid dynamics of the Mississippi River and MS River delta without thinking about the long-term effects of their actions. Sadly Louisiana is ranked like first in oil and gas production in the US every year but last or second to last in education. Sigh. Oil mining also massively contributes to this problem too given the displacement of mass beneath the surface causes the land to sink down. Also, when I was there there was an OIL SPILL! BAD! but it was also kind of surreal because like wow we truly are ruining the environment and here it is glaringly obvious all around us. Here is the link to the NOAA report if anyone is interested: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/may25/oil-gas-release-louisiana.html

Also, here is the link to the lab page that I went on the trip with: https://www.rodrigodiazlab.com/ Okay y'all (mild cringe and imposter syndrome from using y'all again), that is all I have to say for now but I am actually currently at the MOLE (Molecular Evolution) course so I have to lock in but there will hopefully be another blog post coming soon about this.

<3 cait

Phragmites Restoration Trip

LAGNiAppE Art Exhibit-DEI in art

As a part of the LAGNiAppE Art Exhibit, I produced these pieces (descriptions shown but they are in reverse order of the artwork images) which showcase how nature defies and invalidates the laws created and imposed by humans, particularly Donald Trump with reference to the multitude of executive orders recently issued. I am firmly pro-DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and I genuinely understand the (objective) value of diversity and I also think it’s absolutely ridiculous that the government expects to wield such force that whole groups of people (i.e. trans and nonbinary people, homeless/impoverished people, children) simply cease to exist. This is not how nature works, nor is it practical or rooted in anything other than bigotry and hatred (and to act as a distraction from the extreme hoarding of wealth). That being said, I strongly disagree with much of what is occurring within the US government and more broadly, within society as a whole. Often, I feel hopeless and unable to do anything to protest or demonstrate my own beliefs and in this project I found the opportunity to express my perspective of the hypocrisy occurring within society/the government. The main themes of my art are gender nonconformity and more broadly nonconformity/the acceptance of the non-binarism of nature, bodily autonomy and the right (of women) to defend themselves against oppression and patriarchal violence, and the innate value of diversity for any community or society.

I also try to do other things to express my views and do my part to “be the change I want to see in the world” (Mahatma Ghandi I think). I will go into more detail regarding those efforts in another post, so go there if interested!