Category: Uncategorized

16 Feb 2021

Emily Pickett – Saturday Stream Snapshot Organizer

Emily Pickett – Saturday Stream Snapshot Organizer

Emily has been an Environment Educator at Greenacres since 2019. She took over Saturday Stream Snapshot in 2020 after participating in the program many times herself. She has been working on building awareness of the efforts to protect the watershed ever since.

Why is it important for people to get involved with programs like Saturday Stream Snapshot?

Protecting the water quality of our rivers and streams is incredibly important for both human health and the health of the plants and animals that make the watershed their home. Clean water is one of the most important resources on the planet! There are just too many bodies of water for one person or organization to protect, so we are absolutely dependent on our volunteers to make sure we are doing our part.

What is your favorite part of the program?

I love working with our volunteers who are passionate about caring for the environment. Even though we all have different backgrounds we are all coming together over this shared goal. The time spent running chemical tests is a great opportunity to get know and learn from each other.

What are you looking forward to with the program this year?

Watching the program grow with the support of our volunteers! The pandemic really slowed down our efforts in 2020 as we worked on a plan to resume the program safely. We’re fortunate enough to have plenty of room to spread out and I’m looking forward to getting samples collected and tested again.

 

Emily will be leading a Virtual Kickoff and Training session on February 20 for those interested in volunteering this year. You can sign up to attend here.

29 Nov 2017

Glacier Survivors

Take a peek around our area and you may notice some evidence from our past. Ice age plants are among us and have persisted over the past 10,000 years since the last glacier left Cincinnati.  Many of these plants hit their evolutionary prime during the beginning of the Cenozoic era when mega-fauna, which includes mammoths and giant sloths, roamed freely across North America. The fruit attracted these very large animals that would then eat it whole, travel very far distances and go to the bathroom, leaving the seed to grow in a new place with a bit of natural fertilizer to help it along. However, many of the plants that relied on mega-fauna for dispersal went extinct at the end of the Ice Age.  That being said, there are a few that have persisted despite the changes in environment.  This type of plant is called an evolutionary anachronism, meaning it is out of place in its current time period. Plants like the Osage-orange tree, with its large “monkey brain” fruit found a way to survive despite the fact that there are no animals that can eat and disperse it that way it was intended. Other plants like the Honey Locust, with its large seed pods and huge thorns are remnants of a time when the tree needed to protect itself from the huge animals who brushed up against them. These trees help to remind us of our history and reinforce the fact that the only thing that is constant in our world is change.