This week for our time at Blue Heron Nature Preserve, we were putting up our weathering stations that we made for the woodlands and Riparian/Wetlands. To make the signs, I painted them with both the GSU and Blue Heron logo as well as the descriptions of all the measurements we were required to track in these upcoming weeks. I learned a lot about weather implementations and what Denise wanted us to track which were things like hygrometers which measure humidity and anemometers which measure wind speeds. It was very interesting researching all the elements of weather and correspondence of areas of more moist environments like wetlands, having a higher or lower chance of wind speeds than dryer areas like woodlands. Then my partner Kaden, put the signs together and we took them to the preserve and put them up one at a time. It was such an amazing experience seeing our creation actually be a part of the Blue Heron Nature Preserve because it is us showing a difference that we care about the environment how important weathering tracking is to the environment and the different ways the community can regulate it. In these upcoming weeks, we will be periodically going to the preserve to track the wind speeds, rainfall, humidity, and other forms of weather tracking for our final project.
While we were there this past week, Denise was planting some more native plants in the preserve and let us help in planting them. The plant in question was a Fringed Champion (Seline Polypetala), which is a rare species of flowering plant that is native to Georgia and is becoming more and more endangered. Denise explained to us that these were on the High Priority list of plants in the Georiga Department of Wildlife and Natural Resources which means they are at a high risk of becoming extinct in their natural habitats. The main reason that Fringed Champion is on the high-priority list is because of degradation and loss of suitable habitats. With the increasing gentrification and urban areas, a lot of native plant species in Georgia have been killed or are on the cusp of being extinct, which opened our eyes to the fact that we need to help spaces like preserves and natural from being ruined.
This is a photo of one of our weathering stations!
I love the painted Blue Heron! It looks just like the logo.
Also, I like that you talked about native plants as I just went to the GNPS presentation about their importance to our ecosystems. Planting native plants is a crucial way to keep our local ecosystems balanced; Native plants and native insects need each other to survive. It’s interesting to see how things like gentrification have a social and environmental impact. It pushes out lower-income communities and puts native plants at high risk for extinction.
The weathering stations look so cool! Its amazing that you were able to paint that!
As for the native plants, I understand the realization of the importance of native species. Volunteering with the Georgia Native Plant Society has taught me about the importance of native species as even the animals in Georgia rely on them. I have been able to help grow native species and I’m so glad to see them being planted here!
Hi, it was great hearing your updates about the work you have done at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve. The weathering stations look really nice. I am eager to get to know more information about Fringed Champion also. I am so excited for the final project that you guys were planning.
I love how hands-on your time at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve sounds! It’s awesome to hear about your weathering station project—painting signs with the GSU and Blue Heron logos must have been fun. The logos you painted look good!. Keep up the great work with the weathering stations and all your other projects at the preserve! Can’t wait to hear more about your experience!
Hi! I read about your weather station from your partner’s post, but I also just wanted to let you know how awesome I think the weather station is! I had never heard of the Fringed Champion before! Thank you for including the photo. I am so glad you all and your organization are working to help save these native species. It has been so eye opening to see how many issues and problems need to be solved and worked on in order to keep nature, nature.