A Park Above The Rest

On Saturday I went on a hike to a park above the rest with my Master Naturalist group.  One leader was a retired conservation biology prof from Winona State University.  She met us at the history museum and was quite a challenging instructor.  She told us what to think and asked us questions in what I thought was an aggressive manner.  She took us through this park just above Highway 61.  Some of it used to be oak savannah.  She wanted us to be able to tell that from the architecture of the oak branches.  If the branches had wide spread arms, they grew up on a savannah.  If they had upward, raised arms, they grew up in a forest.  She said DNA tests can test the age of a tree.  Where a tree may be 200 years old, the roots of the tree can be more than 400 years old.

This oak with wide spread arms was in an oak savannah.

Wild geranium, she says, but she's not interested in wild geranium.  She wants us to know the story behind the forest we see.  Here the undergrowth is lush and green.  Farther along the path there is no green understory.  Earthworms have invaded and you can actually see the dividing line between earthworm invasion and no earth worm invasion.

"Look up!" she commands, "What does the forest tell you?  Is that a black oak or a red oak?"  I don't know.  I never even heard of black oak before.  My eyes are on the path so I don't fall down this freaking hill.  Our instructor explains that every year the spring in this area leaves the ground at a higher elevation.  She instructs us to walk through the brush to find the source of the spring. I wait on the path.  I'm not walking through that brush on the steep hill.  A couple people slip and fall on the hill and the spring is higher than she thought.  "It's taking too long.  Come back down1" she shouts.  I remain glad I didn't attempt it.

Here is the dividing area between earth worm invasion and no earthworm invasion.

 

Later we head to Gavin Heights Park.  This professor has spent massive amounts of time and energy cleaning up this bluff, this goat prairie.  And why do they call it a goat prairie?  I've asked many master naturalist this same question and the only answer we came up with is that only a goat could live on this prairie without falling off.  She organized  the removal of 11 dump truck loads of trash.  She helped make 287 steps by hand.  They had to use ropes to lower the wheel barrows. This park means very much to her.  The view of the city from here is amazing.  Yellow locust trees stand out from the other trees.  From here we can see the dam above the city and the wing dams put in to slow the water down and keep the water cleaner.  We can see a spot where frack sand is being prepared.  A cloud of dust marks the spot.  The professor says that dust is carcinogenic as calmly as someone else would say that milk is cold.  It is so cool to be up here with someone who knows this city..  She knows the dams, the industry, about the water treatment, the churches, the manufacturing, the pollution, and the ecology. I feel extremely lucky to be here with her even though she is a challenging personality.

Winona is a lovely city. You can rent kayaks and paddle on Lake Winona for a very small price.  I could easily spend a week here and enjoy every minute.

See the yellow locust trees stand out?  The view is great but my joints are killing me from the canoeing this morning. I'm glad I have my trekking poles but to tell the truth, I am exhausted.  We ride the school bus back to the conference.  Why am I always on the field trips that arrive back late?  I look forward to dinner.  When I arrive at the convention I head up to the area where we will eat.  Wine is for sale.  A handsome man offers to buy me a glass of wine!  I argue until someone tells me to smile and say thank you.  I smile and say thank you.  Suddenly all joint pains have disappeared and I am feeling great again.