With oars in their hands and a love of science in their hearts, nearly 60 University Lab School school students and instructors piled into canoes and paddled out to a forgotten piece of land along the shores of the University Lake.
Their destination was the University bird sanctuary, and their mission was to gather information on its condition.
Many of the students who took part in the field trip Friday were unimpressed by what they found.
“It seems like there was poor planning as far as what they have planted,” said Sydney Davis, Lab School student. “They’re not trying to keep it in its natural state, and things have become overgrown.”
Steven Babcock, physical and environmental sciences instructor, said the field trip was a way for students to use the information they learned through out the year in a real-world environment.
“Our focus was the bird sanctuary,” Babcock said. “We wanted to do a habitat inventory to find what lives there, what the soil is like and what is really there. And what we noted was there are a lot of invasive plants.”
The bird sanctuary is under the management of Facility Services at the University, and some people studying the sanctuary feel it is being neglected.
Keri Bryan, Lab School student, said she noticed a variety of invasive plants.
“There’s a whole bunch of invasive species there, like the Chinese Tallow,” Bryan said. “It provides no food for birds whatsoever. It’s taking over the whole area, and it’s detrimental to having birds there.”
David Brown, instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences, has also visited the sanctuary to study the plant life there.
“It’s sort of sitting in limbo; it’s not getting managed as a bird refuge,” Brown said. “There’s lots of invasive trees and invasive vines, like the clematis vine, which is killing the trees. Some trees are dead and falling over.”
Brown said the dying trees are the most pressing issue.
“We can plant trees but it will take 10 to 20 years before they can provide food for the birds,” Brown said.
Bryan said the sanctuary does not have the variety of birds she expected from a bird refuge.
“There’s birds on the lake and some at the sanctuary,” Bryan said. “But it’s certainly not the kind of birds you’d expect to see at a bird sanctuary.”
Brown said the project aims to remove invasive species, plant native trees and help Facility Services manage the area.
“Facility Services gave us the green light to go out there,” Brown said. “They were very receptive, enthusiastic and excited.”
Marty Loupe, biological sciences instructor, said he wants to see the land thrive as a bird refuge.
“Ultimately, we’re looking to restore it,” Loupe said. “We want to make it more inhabitable. For the birds, but also for people to visit, or at least learn from it.”
Loupe said he’s been taking his students to the bird sanctuary for years, but he had never focused on studying the habitat.
“Past years have really just been going out there and picking up litter and nothing intensive,” Loupe said. “Our approach would be water quality.”
Loupe said he met Brown and was impressed by his project to better the sanctuary.
“I saw what he was doing, and I thought, ‘Wow, we’d really like to get involved,'” Loupe said.
The Lab School is now partnered with Brown and the principles of ecology class to study the sanctuary and improve the conditions there. The data collected will be sent to Brown as preliminary data and a basis for comparison.
“The community around the lake will see an improvement, the students benefit by learning research techniques, and they get to be more involved in the University,” Brown said. “Facility Services benefits because we’re helping them to develop a plan to manage the sanctuary.”
—-Contact Katie Kennedy at [email protected]