4-H Fun
On Tuesday I embraced my inner landlubber and headed inland to Madison CCE headquarters in Morrisville. There I got to meet the CCE staff and interns to help plan out the Madison County Fair this July.
A couple days later, about 30 4-H educators from around New York came to the station to participate in a Youth Nature and Outdoor Environment program workshop (YNOE). They got a tour of the station and had a presentation about insects. Did you know there are multiple species of ladybugs? I didn’t! Ladybugs are beneficial to farmers and gardeners because they prey on pests.
Great Lakes Part II
This week I also checked out my second Great Lake of the summer: Lake Ontario. I visited the Lake Ontario Biological Station in Oswego, which is where the USGS conducts its research on the lake from. They partner with the NY DEC and Canadian researchers to survey the lake throughout the year. Not many realize that the USGS conducts biology studies! Their flagship research vessel is the R/V Kaho. Crews aboard the Kaho can spend up to 2 weeks per expedition.
While at the station, I got to see scientists at work determining the ages of invasive fish called alewife. They do this by looking at their ear bones, aka otoliths. Like trees, fish otoliths grow a new ring every year. This is convenient for scientists trying to age fish because they simply need to count the rings under a microscope.
On my way back from Lake Ontario I took a stop at Lake Neatahwanta, which is one of the most polluted lakes in the area. The lake’s relatively small size coupled with its large agricultural watershed means that nutrient runoff collects in the lake in a process called eutrophication. Eutrophication in the lake causes frequent algae blooms which use up the oxygen for fish, negatively impacting local recreation and business.
This week was full of new people and places. I hope you learned as much as I did. Come back next week to catch me back in action on Oneida Lake!
