Monday, June 25, 2007
Beaver Lodge
While out in LBL, I had the joy of seeing a beaver lodge. It was a wonderful experience.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Field Journal
Field Journal
Lauren Dowell
Field trip with Chris Groves and EDU 507
Site Name:
Bald Knob overlooking the Karst Region
Location:
37˚05.909N
086˚04.941W
Map and Directions:
Map taken from:
In order to get to this site, you may begin in Bowling Green and follow 31W to the "Park Mammoth" resort entrance. You must then go up the hill until you see the first right. Take this right until the end of the road. Climb over the fence and follow the train tracks that are to your left. Follow them around the bend (left) and straight on until you see a plywood platform which overlooks the escarpment and the karst region below.
Date/time of day:
The observations noted herein are from June 9, 2007 at 9:25 in the morning.
Temperature and weather conditions:
The weather was slightly hazy from the high humidity. The temperature at this time was in the mid-seventies.
Physical Environment:
The physical environment from the vantage point listed above was clearly visible even through the thick haze. The elevation of 816' provided a view of the karst region below. The Dripping Springs escarpment was visible from this site.
Observations:
The primary tree species in this area are White Oak (Quercus alba), Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), Eastern Redbud (Cercis Canadensis) and some other varied deciduous trees. There were no Beech (Fagus grandifloria) trees that I could see in the understory. Since beech trees tend to be associated with fertile soils (beech trees were indicator species for early settlers) I can only assume that the soil here is thin and would not be good for cultivation. This was further corroborated when our speaker told us about the layer of sandstone over the layer of limestone in this area. This assumption was also confirmed in the following pictures:
Notice the above ground roots. This indicates that the rocks below may be impermeable to tree roots or it could indicate that the rock layer below doesn't allow quick water run-off; this wetter top-soil could lead to the roots growing above the ground as shown in the picture. In either situation, in order for the tree to have a foundation it must spread out to take advantage of the optimal top soil.
Again we see the above ground roots that indicate poor soils. This is confirmed by our location on top of the escarpment where erosion most likely has occurred for many years.
The presence of Blackberries (Rubus villosus) and Muscadine Grapes (Vitis rotundifolia) proved to me that early settlers or earlier native peoples would have had opportunities to forage for food in this area. Not to mention the superior vantage point from which we made our observations would have clearly been advantageous for protection.
American Blackberry (not ripe)
Additionally, the fields below would have received run-off and decayed plant material from the escarpment for many years and, though I was unable to observe any indicator species below, most likely it is a fertile area. After all, if the indicators are missing because the land is being used for agriculture one can draw the conclusion that the land had them at one point.
Definitions:
Escarpment- is a transition zone between different physiogeographic provinces that involves an elevation differential, often involving high cliffs.
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escarpment
Dripping Springs Escarpment-
Taken from: http://pubs.usgs.gov/prof/p1151h/physiography.html
Interesting Facts and Concepts:
The sandstone cap over the limestone is what creates our unique region. The limestone dissolves in water and CO2 and the sandstone stays put. This creates our cave system. It's also what causes the lack of above ground streams in the area. The water goes quickly from the surface to the underground. This is also why our groundwater is so susceptible to pollution.
Follow-up questions:
- When can I come back?
- Which plants were brought in and when?
- How has the area changed over time?
Classroom Use:
I can use this information to help my students understand the extensive cave system in our area. This information can show how our watersheds work together to drain Kentucky. I believe it could also be used to teach groundwater safety and help them understand that just because it came from a spring doesn't mean that it's clean. Also, seeing the overhead view of Kentucky will help them see their unique place in the world.
We could take the information from our travels and the USGS maps to create relief maps of our area (or, for my interested students, the state) that can be used in our classroom. I could then use these for teaching map skills, watershed issues, map scale and distance and then use these as a springboard for written activities.
Similar Field Experience for My Students:
This is very close to our school. I could easily (and cheaply) take my students to this point. I would have to call the park service and ask for permission and then we could work this into any of our water quality studies or studies on our geographic region. An entire unit on the interrelated nature of the area could be implemented and this could be an introductory activity.
Furthermore, given the unique vantage point from the top of the escarpment, we could clearly show the topography of the area and teach map skills through comparing the view to the USGS maps. (How I wish someone had taught me that way.)
Site name/location
Our second stop was Cave Springs Caverns. The surrounding area is dappled with steaming cows and their steaming waste. Chris Groves, our guide, told us that water pours rapidly through the ground here and so tends to pollute the groundwater with the aforementioned cow runoff.
The location: 37˚03.756N, 086˚11.815W
Our elevation was 661' when we got out of the cars (after a few twists and turns).
The grass was perhaps three to four feet high and riddled with our favorite critters-chiggers and ticks. They crept up through my shoes and lodged themselves in my waist band where I later discovered them. The other insects that I observed were the cicadas singing in the trees. It only added to the sense of heat and misery in the air. The clouds had abandoned us at least a month ago and had not shown themselves; however, humidity hung around us. The thermometer was creeping up past the ninety degree mark.
And then we began our descent into the cool perfection of the cave.
Around the perimeter we hiked and with each consecutive step we lowered our elevation and our temperature. A cool blast of air forced itself upon us as we came within sight of the cave entrance.
As we moved into the trees, it was perfectly dim and cool. This was the relief from the blaze that continued on above.
And the light? Where was it? Absent. After being blinded by the mid-day sun and the bite of the day, the deep coolness in the dark mouth of the cave was a happy grounding. Never mind the screams and shrill vocalizations of the classmates (bats don't favor hair, by the way), I was comfortable and content in the deep darkness.
My GPS read an elevation of 640' before the last satellite escaped the narrowing hollow of the cave entrance.
Cords were found, light was introduced and, were I to have the choice, I would have chosen that exact way to experience the cave. The darkness with the intermittent light of camera flashes revealed only parts and the whole could not be experienced. I am no Floyd Collins, but I would imagine that he had the joy of seeing only parts until the electric luminaries were introduced and then, like us was awed at the completeness of it all. Domed ceilings with the carved licks of water long gone, the damp creeks that etched paths from what appears to be high to areas that must be lower provide my eyes with visions that are new for me; however, according to our guide these are not new for humans.
Further back in the cave, where he said that we could not go (time? Because we're not adepts?), there were drawings. A father, a child and a woman who, according to what we were told, had a rounded belly, like our cave ceiling, rounded. My mind, which should have been focused on the lessons about water testing and the contraptions that they had created to test it automatically, drifted back to that drawing and her possible joy at going on a hot summer day down a circular path into the cool accepting mouth into the damp coolness to add another child to her family.
And so I have no vocabulary to add to this section. I can only add that memory to my mental cistern and drink from it when all others are dry.
That's a personal narrative. I can use any experience this moving to inspire students to write. I could also use a trip like this to just experience the unique joys of our area.
A similar field experience for our group could include having that contrast between temperatures. So often we forget that there are times of great struggle and times of great joy and, perhaps, there are times when they are only separated by 20' of elevation.
Noon:
We entered the Sand Cave area. In order to get here, take I65 to Cave City. Take the road towards Mammoth Cave. Sand Cave is on the right as soon as you enter the national park area.
The soil here is better and I can imagine the time when Floyd Collins was trapped and the area was fields. The trees that have sprung up in this area since are thin and have all grown towards the light at the same time. It was allowed to go wild only recently.
Location: 37˚09.254N, 086˚02.835W
This area had viburnum, sassafras, tulip popular. Most of the trees that were present are spread by birds, so I have no doubt that, yes, this area is newly wild.
The GPS said we were at 868' elevation.
Our guide told us about Floyd and I'd always had the feeling that he was not a great explorer. I'd always heard that it was somewhat of an accident and that he was not well skilled. Perhaps it was my own belief. For all of my rambling, caves scare me and I figured he'd gotten stuck only out of the foolishness of going in one in the first place. I believe that when I expressed this, is when my dad packed us all up in the family vehicle to go up that way and see the caves. With the electric lights and the friendly tour guide, my ten year old mind was calmed and I've since experienced a fearful fascination with the darkness.
I could use this information in my classroom because, everyone loves a good story. "Good" doesn't have to mean something pleasant. We could also do some research on why the cave is closed off to the public. Why can't we escape into the darkness there as we have in other places? Is it too sacred? Is the death of an explorer the death of an area?
Questions, always more at the end of something than at the beginning.
June 16th, 2007
Field trip with Keeling from WKU's geography department.
To get to the building, go to the planetarium on Western's campus and look to your right. That's how I found it.
We began in an overly chilled room in Western's Environmental Engineering building with a presentation on the vocabulary of the day. It was 9:01. The weather outside was quickly approaching 80 under a hazy sky that was humming with dry insect voices.
When reading the cultural landscape, one must have an understanding of the basics. Cultural Landscape is seeing something on the landscape that shows something about our culture. Geographers, it was stated, analyze with their observations, interpret what they see, theorize (using the scientific method) and influence policies by addressing and solving problems.
By the end of this spiel, I was ready to sign up and become a real geographer. How amazing! Walking and observing and telling things about what has been observed and then drawing balanced conclusions that in turn help others to make informed decisions about their progress and world.
I would like to have one of his classes. I think it would fit in well with the myriad of courses that I tend to collect.
Vocabulary
Perspectives: Most people tend to look outward from rigidly structured points of view. Perspective is why and how you are looking at it. Example: Right now I'm in Lexington in the Hyatt looking over the Chevy Chase area. I'm approaching it as a quasi-tourist: more of a disinterested conference attendee. The green trees are nice, but not my main focus as they often are during different times in my summer.
Cross Sections: This is a line from point a to point b. These help to develop models.
Centrality: This looks at clusters of things. Our downtown area in Bowling Green is a centrality. I'm also thinking of the Rupp Arena area and how it's a centrality. We've got parking clustered around the center and food clustered around that.
Epitome Districts: Something that is expressive of that culture or landscape. This is an influential piece. Each town or district has this. Ours in Bowling Green is getting updated right now. It's the old courthouse and the cool art-deco jail that sits behind it.
Breaks: This is some physical interruption in the physical landscape that performs the function of a barrier.
My daughter's stuffed elephant looks across the Ohio in Louisville. The Ohio is a break.
Political Venturi: Areas where you have political power. These are areas that speak to the political stuff.
Don't even get me stared on this one and how this house is a monster that was gussied up to gain political favor.
Cultural Icons: These are items on the landscape that is so expressive of that society that it enters or collective unconscious.
I can only think of one right now and it's the Humana building in Louisville (not the one across the way that's here in Lexington).
The one in Bowling Green that comes to mind is the fountain. It's perched on our newspaper and every publication that passes through any government office.
Fronts: These are the doors or the entryways. It speaks about who we are and what we do.
I've always seen the brass kick plate as pretentious.
Turf: What territory belongs to whom and why. This could include political propaganda.
I love this sign and I feel that it marks who the vehicle belongs to and why they have this particular vehicle (it was trailed by a miniature horse trailer).
Sinks: Sinks are where we find the trash of society. It's where we put the stuff that we don't want anymore. If you'd like to find it, just go behind the buildings.
Trees are CO2 sinks. It's where we put our waste air. I thought that this was a stretch, but if it fits the definition and I've got a picture for it, it's good enough for me. You know, even when you are looking at them with a camera in tow, sinks don't normally take one's attention enough to justify a picture.
Vantages: The way you see things from different views. I am going to go back to the first field trip for this one. I loved the vantage from the escarpment (love that word as well).
Isn't that amazing?
Location of the Keeling Field-trip: 36˚59.233N, 086˚26.949W
Elevation: 636'
Time: 9:51
Keeling talked to us about the differences between American culture through the landscape and others. Americans show wealth on the outside while many other cultures show it on the inside. Always more questions after these things, why? Why do we do that? Is it because our nation is predominately made up of people who had to start anew and therefore had no family history to convey the sense of well to do?
I don't know, but he seems as if he might know. I want to take one of his classes and see if I can find out as well.
We looked at things that did not fit and discussed the conclusions that we could draw from these out of sync items.
And then, right when it was getting good, I had to leave. So depressing to be so into something and then, poof, away I had to go.
How could I use something like this with my students? How awesome would it be to get them out to just look at things from a different perspective where they are. On this field trip we got to look at our town from a different vantage (the alley way) and a different perspective (as geographers). We can learn so much just by opening our eyes and ears to the world around us.
And that's fast approaching three thousand words which, even for me, is a bit much. I'm sorry that these drug on, but there was so much that I just ended up cutting because there was so much information.
Let me know if you need any additional information. As I type these final sentences the total is creeping towards 2,900.
Lauren Dowell
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)