A few images from the 11 acres of prime swampland I bought in Huron County, from top to bottom.
* A mud minnow trapped (and released) from teh big swamp at the back. About 3 inches long, they apparently are not decisively predatory on amphibian eggs and larvae, as numerous frogs and some salamanders share this swamp.
* Among the frogs are Wood Frogs, shown here in amplexus (March 19) in a spot in the big swamp. The males cluck out their breeding call and when a female responds he climbs onto her back in an hours-long embrace, helping to squeeze the eggs out of her and fertilizing them with his milt when they emerge.
* A group of Wood Frogs in breeding frenzy. I tried to load the video I took of this - simply amazing! - but it wouldn't fit on the blog page.
* The mossy long oon which i sat while watching the Wood Frog lovefest.
* A skunk Cabbage bloom
* Tiger Salamander egss - the second record found in Huron County!

Wetlands Education Team West Geauga Local Schools

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Wetlands Education Team West Geauga Local Schools

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Wetlands Education Team

Irene McMullen sent this updated report.

The Wetlands Education Team is happy to report that we testified at a House Hearing for Bill 57 on March 25, 2009. Our testimony in favor of making the Spotted Salamander Ohio's state amphibian was very well received. Students from Central Intermediate School in Wadsworth and representatives from the Ohio Environmental Council and the Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District also spoke. We will all be in Columbus again on April 21, 2009 to testify before the Senate Committee on Senate Bill 81. Senator Grendell has been very helpful in this regard. Senate Bill 81 is also co-sponsored by Senator Hughes, the Chair of the Committee. The Wetlands Education Team will be traveling to Washington DC on May 11, 2009 to receive the President's Environmental Youth Award. We will meet with representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency and our legislators to talk to them about the importance of wetlands to all Ohioans. WET would like to thank everyone at FOWL for bringing so much support to the effort to have the Spotted Salamander designated as Ohio's state amphibian. We believe it will happen in this session because of your help and the assistance of many other dedicated citizens from around the state. So, thank you, FOWL!

It was a treat to meet Irene's young and dedicated students at the workshop. They are an inspiration.
See Teens for Planet Earth
also Christopher Columbus Awards
and U.S. Dept. of the Interior

Lisa Jackson at the National Press Club

Kathleen forwarded this article published in Greenwire (a subscription service). I have edited it down to a few exerpts. Other articles on the topic can be found at:
prnewswire.com
watertechonline.com

Lisa Jackson's speech from yesterday's event--featured in today's Greenwire.

U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson called on Congress yesterday to pass legislation that would set clear boundaries for federal wetland regulators. The federal regulatory scheme for wetlands has been a mess since the Supreme Court's fractured 2006 Rapanos-Carabell decision.
"There is anything but clarity on whether water means water and what wetlands are regulated," Jackson said at the screening of a PBS documentary on water pollution at the National Press Club in Washington. Wetlands are protected under the Clean Water Act as habitat for wildlife, buffers for coastal storms, sponges for pollution and recharge areas for aquifers.

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sens. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) last week introduced a bill they say would restore Clean Water Act protections for many wetlands excluded after Rapanos and the 2001 Supreme Court decision, Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Jackson also said EPA needs to re-examine its policies on concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. "We need change," she said. "We need change in everything from policy to enforcement." CAFOs are considered major contributors of nutrients to waterways. Excessive nutrients overfertilize waters, spurring algal blooms and lowering levels of dissolved oxygen that aquatic life needs to survive.

EPA predicts the CAFO regulation will prevent 56 million pounds of phosphorus, 110 million pounds of nitrogen and 2 billion pounds of sediment from entering streams, lakes and other waters each year.

John says that there will be another newsletter soon so I composed an article about the OOS meeting. If you would like to read and respond to it before going to print this would be your chance to be editor/critic and help me make it better.
In my search for an image of the Giant Helicopter Damselfly I discovered the Encyclopedia of Life. It has the longest wingspan of any extant odonate, 7+ inches. Normally the damselflies are considered smaller, and more diminutive cousins to the dragonflies.

For your preview and feedback OOS-2009_draft.pdf

Green Eggs and Jam

Nina Harfmann has shared with the OVPP some of her explorations. You can find her on her blog, NatureRemains.
She provided this link to an explanation about the algae symbiosis in salamander eggs.