A.B. Brooks Nature Follower and Friend Visits Schrader Center

We had a wonderful visitor today that tied present-day to our past.  Mr. Edwin R. “Ted” Spears of Wheeling came in to visit the Schrader Center and reminisce about the walks that he participated in with Mr. A.B. Brooks.  Alonzo Beecher Brooks was Oglebay Institute’s original naturalist from 1927 – 1944, and he started many traditions that we sustain today.  The current Astronomy program and Mountain Nature Camp were born from the foresight and efforts of Mr. Brooks, as well as the nature walks that Mr. Spears proudly participated in during the mid-1900’s.

Mr. Brooks had such a big following for his nature walks that the A.B. Brooks Nature Center was built in 1954 to provide shelter to nature program participants. That building stood for nearly 50 years before the Schrader Environmental Education Center was built in 2000. The Schrader Center pays tribute to Mr. Brooks by continuing his commitments through a Thursday evening volunteer-administered Astronomy program at 9:00pm and morning Guided Nature Walks every Tuesday at 10:00am. The Brooks Bird Club was named in recognition of Mr. Brooks, as well as Oglebay’s A.B. Brooks Discovery trails—the same trails that Mr. Brooks used during his notable time as naturalist.

Mr. Spears also knew Henry Stifel Schrader, a founding member of Oglebay Institute who presided over the dedication of the A.B. Brooks Nature Center.  As a tribute to Mr. Schrader’s commitment to both the company and the community, the Schrader Environmental Education Center is named in his honor.  The Schrader Center recognizes both remarkable men and the legacy they left.  Mr. Spears, 92, was accompanied by Mary-Bess Halford, librarian at Bethany College for 16 years. For more information about our Tuesday morning Nature Walks and Astronomy program, please call the Schrader Center at 304-242-6855.  – By Sara Fincham, Schrader Center Customer Service Representative.

What Makes Objects Float?

This week, the Junior Rangers teach team helped out with Nature Day Camp by teaching a lesson about water. H2O was this week’s theme and our team had prepared a lesson about buoyancy, surface tension and cohesion – aka what makes certain objects float. Buoyancy is defined as the upward force exerted by a liquid that opposes the weight of an immersed object. Each member of our team was responsible for teaching a section of the material. Junior Ranger Luke Knollinger introduced the topic by showing campers how to calculate the density of an object. If an object is denser than the water, it will sink. We also talked about animals that use surface tension to float, like the Water Striders (Gerridae). This group of true bugs distributes its weight to make it less dense and allow it to glide on the surface of the water.

During the lesson, the campers treated us to a rousing chorus of The Water Cycle Song – a song about how water is recycled through evaporation, condensation and precipitation. It was great! After we explained why things float, we needed to test out this new knowledge. The campers broke up into teams and constructed their own boats, using what they had learned to make them buoyant and fast. Once the boats were built, campers were able to race them against the other teams. Even though the power went out shortly after we left the building, we all still had a blast. ~Jr. Rangers Teach Team

Jr. Rangers Awarded Grant to Replant Native Species in Oglebay Park

For those of you who haven’t been following the process of our junior ranger grant project, we have been awarded $100 to pull out invasive plant species and replant native ones in the area.  We started replanting trees by digging holes for arrowwood viburnum seeds.  Then we took tree cuttings from box elder, red osier dogwood, and arrowwood viburnum and dipped them in rooting compound and put them in pots.  Today we dug holes to plant our native species of trees in.  While digging we noticed that 4 native species (wingstem, poke weed, White Ash, and box elder) were starting to grow where we cleared privet.

Poke Weed

Phytolacca americana is the scientific name for Pokeweed, which is native to North America. It is a herbaceous perennial plant. Pokeweed can grow up to ten feet in height. This plant is highly toxic to livestock and humans, that’s why deer probably won’t eat it. Pokeweed plants are usually found in edge habitats, meaning they are on the edge of forests where there is lots of sun and disturbed areas. That is why pokeweed is growing in the area we pulled privet.

White Ash

Acer negundo commonly known as Box Elder, is a species of tree that is part of the maple family.  It grows from 10 to 25 meters tall and stays less than 1 meter in diameter.  The Box Elder is fully dioecious, meaning separate male and female trees are required for reproduction.  It grows across the United States and Canada, even as far south as Guatemala.  It is generally a bottom land tree, meaning it grows on heavy wet soils, and requires full sun to partial shade.

White Ash (Fraxinus americana) is native to the Eastern North America from Nova Scotia to Florida, and west to Texas.  It grows up to 25 meters tall and grows very rapidly in hardwood forest gaps.  It readily grows in high light and well drained areas.

Wingstem

The fourth plant we found, Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia), is a very tall perennial herbaceous plant that can reach up to 3 meters tall and has bright yellow flowers.  It prefers pasture, field and roadside habitats with high light, and is found from the East Coast to Texas.  Some people consider it weedy, but we consider any native plant an upgrade from privet.

The discovery of these plants is good news, because it shows that native plants are growing back where we removed an invasive species.  Even though we plan to plant some tree in the area, these native pioneers will help stop privet from re-invading the area before our planted trees get large! ~Jr. Ranger Trail Team

Jr Rangers Working to Remove Privet

In the past few weeks, we’ve been working on a grant application to replace the invasive privet we have pulled among the native trees and plants around the Schrader Center. To start our project today, we took a walk with Jake Francis, our trusty Jr. Ranger leader, who taught us how to properly take cuttings from Arrow-wood Viburnum and Box Elder. After doing some research, we learned Arrow-wood Viburnum was one of the native plants that would grow best from a cutting. To take a cutting, we needed to make sure we had cutting tools that were sharp and sterilized to prevent the spread of plant diseases and fungi. After the plants had been cut, we learned our next step would be to put the cuttings into a rooting compound (Indole-3 butyric Acid, a chemical that helps roots to grow from cut plants).

We did not take the cuttings today, but we were able to pick some of the ripe berries from the Arrow-wood Viburnum. We planted the berries in moistened soil and marked their location so we can follow their progress.  We will keep you updated on our restoration efforts over the rest of the summer! ~Jr. Ranger Trail Team

Baby Bluebirds Have Arrived at Oglebay Park

The bluebirds are hatching all over Oglebay Park! Check out these little cuties living in one of the dozens of monitored bluebird boxes located throughout the Park.

During the summer, bluebirds feed mainly on insects. In the winter, they depend on many kinds of wild berries for their food supply. Even though the bluebird population has greatly decreased, the future can still be promising for them. According to the National American Bluebird Society, the most important step we can take to help bring back the bluebird is to provide nesting sites by setting out a bluebird box or starting a bluebird trail. A bluebird trail is a series of bluebird boxes placed along a prescribed route. In areas where nesting boxes have been put up in suitable habitat, bluebird populations are increasing. For more information on how to get your own bluebird box started, check out the “Getting Started” fact sheet from the National American Bluebird Society. 

Albert Dague, a retired steel fabricator of 45 years, took up birding after retirement and today he monitors 50 bluebird boxes in Oglebay Park, Wheeling, WV every week during the spring and summer. With his particular interest in bluebirds and along with his carpentry skills, he has had logged hundreds of hours in constructing blue bird boxes as well as monitoring and recording data on nesting success.

If you visit Oglebay Park, please don’t bother the bluebird boxes. With Mother Nature’s help, and a little luck, our staff and volunteers at the Schrader Center are helping to boost the bluebird population in WV!

The Trials & Tribulations of Teaching!

You will never believe the adventurous time we had yesterday!  The day started off gloomy and wet after a long night of cold rain. The Junior Ranger team was cut short this week; due to losing Luke, one of our most experienced rangers.  However, we still had a great time.

Ebony Jewel Wings

The first exciting thing we did today was go on a nature hike.  Some of the things we saw were male and female cardinals, walnuts, ebony jewel wings, house sparrows, and barn swallows.  Aninteresting thing about house sparrows is that they invade and steal nests from other native birds.

Cardinal

The next thing we did was have lunch. After this we led the Nature Day Camp Explorers on a geocaching expedition.  Some problems and difficulties were the heat, technical challenges, and some of the kids wanted to have their own GPS units. However, they did enjoy getting to find the clues and tear through the brush and weeds to accomplish their task. Afterward, we did basically the same activity with the Nature Day Camp Investigators. In this version, we used a map instead of a GPS.  Some challenges were that the kids were having too much fun, there was not enough introduction of the activity, and the kids may have gotten a little frustrated. In the future, we may need to have a discussion on GPS use beforehand. Finally, we celebrated with popsicles. We sure did have a great day!  ~Junior Ranger Teach Team

Killing Garlic Mustard & Dropping Eggs at the Schrader Center!

June 8, 2012 — Working at the Schrader Center is really fun! In just two days’ time we taught younger campers about the fundamentals of flight, ran a paper airplane competition, did an egg drop, hid geocaches, and helped with the weekly bioblitz (a scavenger hunt ).  We concluded our week helping with the Nature Day Camp cook out!

Luke and Brendan’s favorite part of the week was helping the Nature Day Campers with the egg drop because it made the campers’ day if their egg capsule succeeded.  On the other hand, Jared says, “Killing every last piece of Garlic Mustard in Oglebay Park is my duty to the earth itself!”

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is an invasive exotic species that wipes out other plants in its area.  Although it was a tiring week, the enjoyment of working, teaching, and seeing your friends again was really worth it! ~Jr Rangers Teach Team

Jr Rangers Help Clean Up Trails in Oglebay Park

June 4, 2012 — The adventure started with a warm morning, about 68 to 70 degrees. As we headed down the trail, we stumbled upon areas of mud covered by wooden planks. In a couple of days, the Boy Scouts will be coming to put in new stepping stones so that the visitors will be more comfortable walking the trails.

The Trail Team helped the Boy Scouts today by cleaning up trash and taking out the wooden planks. We carried lots of trash, such as bottles, cans, clay sewage pipes, and palates from the woods to the road to help clean up the park.

After the planks were gone, mud was everywhere we stepped. In order to keep the trails in good condition so visitors would be happy, we made a stone trail covering most of the mud. Now when people walk on the trail, they won’t be hiking through the squishy mud.

The Schrader Center’s Junior Ranger program includes volunteers that are part of either the Trail or Teach teams, which will focus on ecology and forest improvement, or nature interpretation and instruction, respectively. The program develops volunteers’ speaking skills, increases their knowledge of the natural world, and gives them an opportunity to make an impact in our community.

The Trail Team monitors Oglebay’s forest, restores the Oglebay Ecosystem and learns about ecology and forest management. The Teach Team guides hikes and animal programs, develops and teaches Nature Day Camp activities and learns about nature education.

Earth Day Family Celebration at the Schrader Center

Earth Day is a day in early spring each year on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment. Earth Day is coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year.

The Schrader Center is adding a little Monarch Magic to our Earth Day celebration this year! We’re inviting families and friends to spend Earth Day at the Schrader Center, and we have a ton of activities planned for all age levels.

Activities include children’s stories, crafts and activities with Schrader Center educator Robin Lee and her creative staff, hands-on “Monarch Magic” presentations by author, naturalist and monarch expert Ba Rea, flower and tree plantings and light refreshments. Milkweed and wildflower seed packets will also be given away to participants.  And, all activities are free and open to the public!

• Noon – 4p.m. Children’s Activities — Join us for a story by children’s author Ba Rea about the life cycle and miraculous migration of the Monarch butterfly. See for yourself how a butterfly’s vision helps it find its food as you try to find your “host” flower, spread some pollen, and taste some nectar. Celebrate the importance of butterflies as pollinators in these hands-on learning activities designed for small folk. Make your own symmetrical Monarch butterfly to take home.

•  Noon – 4 p.m.  – Planting in the Butterfly Garden– Plant flowers in the Corson Butterfly Garden and trees along the Discovery Trails

•  1 – 4p.m.- Monarch Magic — Hands-on presentations with author, naturalist and monarch expert Ba Rea.

•  2:30 p.m. Dedication Ceremony for “Monarch Rabble” — Join us as we dedicate the three-dimensional, suspended installation by artist Erica Loustau that features 2,000 butterflies and is on permanent display in the Schrader Center exhibit hall. The butterflies welcome guests at the door and lead them through the Exhibit Hall to the windows and decks overlooking the Corson Butterfly Garden, bringing the outdoors inside.

Call the Schrader Center at 304-242-6855 for more information. Bring your gloves, a rake and a willingness to dig in to fun at the this year’s Earth Day Celebration at the Schrader Center!

Ohio Queen Snake Topic of BBC Meeting

Queen Snake, courtesy of the Ohio Division of Natural Resources (http://www.dnr.state.oh.us)

The Brooks Bird Club will hold their monthly meeting this Tuesday evening,March 20 at 6:30pm at the Schrader Center in Oglebay Park. The topic of discussion will be A Study of Ohio Queen Snakes with Mark Waters, MS, PhD from Ohio University Eastern.

Join us for good food and good conversation!