[ crossposted at Fresh Water Stew! ]

A couple of weeks ago we had a full day strategic planning retreat. All of our staff and board members got together at a meeting room in the Mill City Museum to discuss the direction we would like to see the organization go over the next five years. Prior to the meeting, a board member had been matched up with each staff member and assigned the task of getting to know them a bit. Then, at the retreat, they each gave a short presentation about who we are and what we do as part of a staff recognition/appreciation type thing.

All of my coworkers were pretty jealous when my board buddy turned out to be Hokan. He works at a company that helps manage barge traffic on the river. So as his way of getting to know each other, Hokan invited me to meet him at his office for a tour, and then go out on the river on a towboat! (Everyone calls them tugboats, but Hokan explained to me that they are actually called towboats, even though they neither tug nor tow, they actually push.)

We started with a tour of his office, where Hokan told me about the shipping industry on the river and their role in it. He showed me some great maps and old photos, as well as a model of a towboat showing all of the important parts that are under the water. Living in Duluth for a couple of years and working at Vista Fleet for a summer, not to mention having a father who worked for a time on lake freighters on the Great Lakes, taught me a bit about the shipping industry there. So it was fascinating to see the similarities and differences between shipping on lakes and shipping on rivers. He also showed me this giant board, which keeps track of all of the barges currently on the Twin Cities section of the Mississippi, whether they are full or empty, and which direction they are headed, among other things.

Finally it was time to head out on the river! Captain Mike picked us up on the mighty towboat Itasca and we headed downriver. Hokan pointed out lots of sights that I am still unfamiliar with, but that I will hopefully be quite familiar with by the end of the summer! I realize now that I should have been taking notes, because I don’t remember the names of everything we saw. I do know that we went down about as far as Holman Field, St. Paul’s small downtown airport. It was pretty amazing to see the downtown skyline right there, and at the same time have an eagle soaring above us and swallows swooping over the water eating insects. Urban nature still takes me by surprise sometimes.

In addition to Captain Mike, there were two deckhands on board. We maneuvered over to a barge and the deckhands hooked us up to it. I couldn’t believe how simple it seemed – it kind of looked like we just butted up to it and then they wrapped some metal cables around some posts, unwound the ones that were holding it to the dock, and we were off! I also couldn’t believe how agile the deckhands were! They walked so quickly on such narrow strips with things sticking out for you to trip on. I couldn’t help but ask Captain Mike if he’s ever seen anyone fall in, and he said "Oh yeah, many times". Crazy job!

We then took off, pushing the barge upriver. Hokan somehow thought it was a good idea for me to try driving the boat. I actually was really nervous! With the barge in front you’re pretty long, and the river suddenly seemed really narrow and bendy! Somehow I managed to not crash us, and Captain Mike took back the reins. He steered us over to the side of another barge, to which the deckhands connected our barge. They then disconnected us and we were on our way.  Captain Mike steered us over to the opposite shore where we disembarked.

I have a lot more getting to know this river to do, and this was a great opportunity for me to get right in the middle of it! And to be in the company of someone who has such a close relationship with the river, and could teach me about one of the river’s many roles as a shipping and transportation route, was just amazing. I have been bragging about it to my jealous coworkers ever since, and plan to for quite some time!

Because I love my new job just that much, I started a blog all about it.  There are so many great things I’m getting to learn about, see, and do, and I’m just so excited I want to tell everyone about it!  But to keep the Duoteam blog from becoming too eco-heavy, I decided to make it its own thing.  I might double post some things that I’m really, really excited about, but otherwise stop on by Freshwater Stew to see how exactly I bring home the bacon.  Look how easy we’ve made it – there’s a link to it in the Blogroll.  So easy. 

The Pinolera has officially moved to Minneapolis! HURRAY!!! I lined her up with a temporary job where I work, so she was able to start making some money almost as soon as she got here. The great news for her is that she then got the very first job she applied for, which she will be starting on Monday. The sad news for me is that work will no longer be anywhere near as fun for me without her.

So in celebration of the fun we’ve had working together over the past couple of weeks, here are some photos of the Pinolera in action, and the last few weeks we’ve spent as coworkers.

We’ve spent most of our time planting plugs. The first picture is of Sierra using an auger to dig holes for the plugs. She used tons of hand tools during her job this summer, but we use tons of power tools, so that was a little adjustment. She became quite a master at changing the blades on the brush saw, and even managed to break a brush saw in her short time working here! (Ok, fine, she just happened to be the one using it when it broke.)

I had a little run-in with a wasp nest a few weeks ago, where I stepped on it while herbiciding and a wasp went up my suit and stung me in the thigh. When I opened up my suit it flew out, stung me in the nose and then kept dive-bombing me! Another one joined in and it got a little scary, but I just kept running and eventually they went away. I had a big ol’ bruise on my thigh from the sting. Well last week Sierra stepped on a bee or wasp nest and one stung her on the stomach! She got the hugest big swollen thing that hurt and then itched for days. Ewww.

We’ve unfortunately had lots of cold, rainy days lately, but on the nice ones we find a spot to have lunch outside – it won’t be much longer that we will be able to do this so we gotta soak up all the sunshine we can!

We had an extra adventure on her last day when Kevin, our crew leader (the one in the brown sweatshirt) got our truck stuck in the mud. It took us an extra hour to get it out. We couldn’t get it out going forward, so Kevin decided to try going backwards. First we had to unhitch the trailer, swing it around, and then pull it out of the way with the Kubota. Luckily, the going in reverse plan worked. Somehow no one fell in the mud, which would have made a great picture.

Sierra looooved driving the Kubota RTV, as do I. This is what we’ve been using to haul plants around to the different zones we plant them in, as well as tools, and people.

Another girl started working there while I was off galavanting around the tall grass prairies, Katie. She’s awesome. She is also looking for other jobs, so I may lose her soon too and once again be the only girl. Sad. It was her birthday on Monday so Sierra and I made her cupcakes. Mmmm, cupcakes. I’m super happy for Sierra getting her new job, and so excited for her as she starts this new chapter in her life. But my job is just not going to be the same without her. It’s been so fun to be able to share this with her, and to have someone else get to know my coworkers and boss, and really understand what I do. I’ve got some great memories now. It’s kind of funny to think that next week she will be doing something so completely different and in such a completely different environment. She’ll be inside for one thing, and most likely won’t have dirt stuck under her fingernails and burs on her clothes!

Behold, the regal fritillary, in all its glory! We spotted this beauty today at one of our plots. They are a species of special interest to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (do you know anything more about this Rick?), and considered endangered by some states. They are only found in tall grass prairies, as the caterpillars only eat violets, particularly prairie violets.

It was another challenging day today, but made infinitely better by this sighting, and my first sighting of a Melissa blue butterfly. In addition to being a plant ecologist, Lane is also a butterfly ecologist, so I was really fortunate to have her there to tell me how rare it is to see a regal fritillary. It was actually her first time seeing one, so she was really excited too.

We left Sioux City, IA Sunday evening and headed for Clear Lake, SD. We’ve had a challenging couple of days here so far. I think we’re just tired and fried from the long hours, the sun, the bugs, and the falling in holes, so we’re making stupid little mistakes, or things that happen are bugging us more than normal.

So first things first, Rick has twice requested bird info. Well it’s been hard to watch the birds because a) I’m looking at the ground most of the time, b) I’m really bad at watching birds, like noticing and remembering characteristics and stuff, and c) I don’t really know birds, so I have to look everything up in my bird book (which I did bring by the way), and there just hasn’t been a lot of spare time. However, I can report some bird news. Our last day at Broken Kettle we heard a rufous-sided towhee. I only know this because Lane knew the "drink your tea" call and pointed it out. Other than that, we’ve seen tons of swallows, some kites, and hawks, but I can’t really be more specific than that. On our first day here in SD we were on our way to the site and saw about 25 white pelicans soaring and gliding around in the sky. We pulled over and each busted out the binocs and watched them for awhile. So beautiful! This morning we saw a whole ton of female ring-necked pheasants with their chicks in a field, and kicked one up later in the day. And as we were driving through the prairie in the ATV the swallows (I think they must be barn swallows) were circling around us and following us. We think it was because the ATV kicks up bugs. It was pretty cool. So there you have all the bird news I can give at this point. I’ve added my binocs to the millions of pieces of gear I have hanging around my neck all day, so that in case I see a cool bird I can check it out, and I am making a more concerted effort now, so I hope to have more to report soon. 

So things look pretty different here at Crystal Springs from Broken Kettle. Much smaller hills, and it’s really nothing but prairie, not broken up by shrubs or trees. Sweet lunch spots are a thing of the past. Now we rig up an umbrella to try to create a wee spot of shade by the ATV. It works though. And I still love lunch time. Though sandwiches are getting a little old… We only have one ATV now, so today we piled all of our gear in the back, Lane drove, and I perched between her seat and the bed, hanging on to these bars and getting my head and arms smacked all to hell by them and the lights hanging off of them. It’s way bumpier here too, so me bum is aching. 

There are even more cows here too, and while I think they are sooooo cute, I am also a little afraid of them. When they see you they all start mooing and coming towards you. So far we’ve thankfully had a fence between us and them, because otherwise they would totally surround us and we would have to rodeo them away from us on the ATV. Sounds like trouble. Last time they collected data here they had a slightly scary encounter with a bull. So we’ve got this bull blaster noise thingy just in case and are keeping one eye on the surrounding fields at all times. 

While the fences have been a blessing in that respect, they have also been a curse. Take today for instance, when we drove all over the freakin place looking for a plot, only to find it but be on the wrong side of a fence from it, with no gate in sight. So we had to follow the fence forever until we found one and then go all the way back. And the gates! Arrggghh. Often they are just wooden posts with barbed wire wrapped around them, and a wire loop that goes around the top and holds it to the rest of the fence. But some are such a tight fit that you have to use a ratchet to pull the post closer so you can get the loop on or off, and the ratchet kept going flying, blah, blah, blah, pain in the butt.

Another interesting difference atCrystal Springs is the over abundance of my arch enemy – ragweed! And what’s worse, it’s another kind of ragweed that I didn’t even know existed – western ragweed! I died just a little bit inside when I learned this. Imagine my chagrin at settling down to count spurge in a big ol’ hunk of this:

The horror. Ooh, and guess what. It has just started blooming. Awesome. So my allergies have made their presence known, and it’s only a matter of time before I am a goopy-eyed, sneezing, snot-filled, itchy mess. Awesome.

So as not to make a total crabby post on this crabby day, here is the upside. Today, in a moment of genius, we made a significant technical improvement to our methods. We discovered that we could bungee cord our camp chairs to our bodies and waddle from quadrat to quadrat, thereby avoiding having to pick up too many things and inevitably dropping something. Ohhh, it’s good to be this smart. 

And another moment of shining glory: I found a brewpub in Watertown, SD. Nate would be so proud. We had dinner there last night, along with a sampler of their brews and a homemade root beer. Mmm. And check out this cool mural they had on their wall.

So I’m off to bed so I can do it all over again tomorrow! In case it’s another challenging day, we’re taking reinforcements in the name of chocolate and Dr. Pepper. That should do the trick.

I can’t stop taking pictures. And I can’t stop wanting to show everyone my pictures. So here they are.

This is a cool creepy picture of some blown-down corn from the storm. We had a very Scottish morning the other day, all misty and cool. Weirdly enough, since this is freakin Iowa, the landscape at Broken Kettle sometimes really reminds me of the highlands of Scotland with all of the rolling hills. The mist totally accentuated that. It was really beautiful. I had no idea Iowa had this kind of terrain. And what’s really amazing is that all of these steep, rolling hills were blown in. It’s all loess, tiny silt particles, and it was all blown into place after the last Ice Age retreated. Weird.

This is me counting leafy spurge. So far the numbers are noticeably lower than the last time they collected data, in 2003. However, Lane’s feeling so far is that diversity among the native plant community has not increased, and that other invasive non-natives, like smooth brome (Bromus inermis) or Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) might be taking its place. Boo.

Wednesday we did these two sites on a small but very steep hill. I noticed a few badger holes. Then Lane told me that the place was called Rattlesnake Knob and I thought maybe there were rattlesnakes using them. But then I thought, no way do rattlesnakes live in Iowa. Well I was wrong. Scott, the land manager here at Broken Kettle, told us that this part of Iowa is the easternmost range of the endangered prairie rattlesnake, and that Rattlesnake Knob is a hibernaculum! In fact, this population is the only one in Iowa! Whoa. We were a mixture of bummed and relieved that we didn’t run into any.

And in closing, I just gotta mention my favorite time of the day, lunch time. We’ve had some pretty sweet lunch spots lately. Nice shady spot under some big ol’ cottonwoods, nice shady spot overlooking a valley, the key element always being shade.