| <div class="ck-content"><p>Last week, I presented a new logo for Rewild Earth, courtesy of Option C Design. Today, I am so very pleased to announce that I've added a “shop” link to the Rewild Earth site, which will take you to the <a href="https://www.teepublic.com/user/rewild-earth">TeePublic page for Rewild Earth</a>, where you can order your very own t-shirts!</p><p>I'll be uploading designs over the next couple of weeks, but my all-time favorite is available right now:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/teepublic/image/private/s--jktTpUt9--/t_Resized%20Artwork/c_crop,x_10,y_10/c_fit,w_451/c_crop,g_north_west,h_626,w_470,x_-9,y_-9/g_north_west,u_upload:v1462829024:production:blanks:a59x1cgomgu5lprfjlmi,x_-404,y_-334/b_rgb:eeeeee/c_limit,f_auto,h_630,q_auto:good:420,w_630/v1715645813/production/designs/60340448_0.jpg"></div><h4>A wonderful planet healing with Elon University students</h4><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1jP1flpxb-ygSeICJzVSU-X9o6EqKz2AB&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div><p>Students in the <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rewriting Climate Change course at Elon University, taught by Amanda Chunco and Heather Lindenman, turned out in force at Shallow Ford Natural Area to do some real-life planet healing to finish off their term.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We'd been told there was a lot of privet down by the haw River, but recent rains meant those areas were flooded. So instead we headed to the open field, and tackled a long line of multiflora rose growing up into the trees at the edge of the woods.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It wasn't Steven's first choice of invasives for a new group (so many thorns!), but these students were ready to dive right in.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With loppers, saws and Buckthorn Blasters they killed dozens of these invasive rose bushes, and then really got into pulling the thick growth from the native trees.</span></p><blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1odVzaLaz4GLHM-YV0QUXxYW8pnyN7wf2&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div></blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With many cries of “ouch”, they worked diligently and soon there were piles of dead multiflora in the grass.</span></p><blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=17tp7KH6F4izvhgIC6U9eA6wkj6uoLVrC&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div></blockquote><p>Walking to and from the field, Steven pointed out a number of other invasives (stilt grass, mimosa, ailanthus). The mimosa offered a clear demonstration of how invasives spread. There was one 10 foot tall mimosa at the edge of the parking lot, which didn't seem like a real problem.</p><p>But once the students became familiar with what mimosa leaves look like, they were able to spot dozens of baby mimosa growing within the woods along the trail.</p><p>As this was a writing class, and the final for the class, students submitted lots of (written) comments about the class and tree rescue. Here are some of my favorites:</p><blockquote><p>The way Steven described it really tied it all together for me - humans have largely exempted ourselves from natural selection and induced unnatural selection because of non-native species, so this is our small way to balance some of that. It felt like a real way to combat the human effects on the environment because fighting climate change as one small person is super overwhelming, especially when so much of the pollution and emissions are caused by giant corporations, so my little efforts barely make a dent. I liked getting to make a big dent in other conservation efforts because it felt like we had some real power over it all. That felt like what the course had been trying to get at the whole time - there IS a way for us as individuals to help on some scale, be it small or large.</p></blockquote><p>I was very happy to read that Liam had grabbed on to my feeling that even saving a single tree makes it all worth it.</p><blockquote><p>This experience reflected the call to action that many of our readings looked to evoke in their readers. This was the sort of thing, though small, that could cause a ripple effect. People taking things into their own hands is also very inspiring regardless of how impactful it is on a larger scale. I appreciated the optimism around saving a single tree.</p></blockquote><p>And here is the kindest description I have ever read of the often painful experience of killing and removing multiflora rose.</p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(0,0,0);">We split into smaller groups to work on cutting out one of the species (I am sorry I can't fully remember the name) that looked like limbs with thorns on them. This was more difficult to remove because you had to make sure it didn't get stuck to your skin or clothes, but it was fun to see our end results.</span></p></blockquote><p>A reminder that our tree rescues are often full of joyful moments, from Emma:</p><blockquote><p>The experience was surprising! I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I got nicked by the multiflora a lot, but other than that I found this to be a very positive overall experience. Pulling out the multiflora was definitely my favorite part, and I'm excited to see the action shot pictures. </p></blockquote><p>So many of the comments showed how effectively they'd absorbed facts and concepts from Steven's rantings and ramblings, such as this from Anna:</p><blockquote><p>This experience connected to our discussion in class one day about invasive species. I was able to experience first hand how invasive species take over an environment. During the event, Steven told me that although the privet isn’t a problem for the older trees that are taller than it, it’s a problem for the next generation of trees. This is because the privet blocks all the sunlight from reaching newer, younger trees that are below the privet. The experience had lots of themes around sustainability and helping the environment. </p></blockquote><p>What a great day! </p></div><div class="ck-content"><h4>Receive all my reports on tree rescues!</h4><p>If you'd like to get some good news about restoring native habitats delivered straight to your brain upwards of a few times a week, sign in to <a href="https://rewildearth.net">Rewild Earth</a>, click on your name in top right, then My profile. Under Communication Preferences, switch “Send reports of all events” to ON. </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1BeynVqu8taOGrsvi56u0mmDKuNJko22h&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="358" height="138"></div><p>Resources you might find useful:</p><ul><li><a href="https://shop.naisma.org/collections/buckthorn-blaster">Buckthorn Blasters</a>: safe, easy herbicide delivery system from the North American Invasive Species Management Association. Don't start cutting without them!</li><li><a href="https://nc-ipc.weebly.com/nc-invasive-plants.html">NC Invasive Plants list</a>: recently updated by NC-IPC, the NC Invasives Plants Council.</li><li><a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG259">Overview of different herbicides</a>: glyposphate, triclopyr and others - which should you use?</li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://triangleland.org">Triangle Land Conservancy</a>: the biggest land conservancy group in our area. </li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://ellerbecreek.org">Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association</a> (Durham): a wonderful group working hard to maintain contiguous natural areas along Ellerbe Creek.</li></ul></div> |