I've uploaded my BioBlitz Trip Report on our scout troop's BioBlitz weekend at Owasippe. This is a compilation of field notes I took while we serched for Wild Lupine, a critical plant in the Karner Blue Butterfly lifecycle. The Karner Blue is an ndnagered species. <br><br>This link will take you directly to the report page as I haven't updated the links on the index page. I also need to complete a BioBlitz sumary that explain the project and our activities in more detail as well as an anicdotal entry in my personal camping jounal on my personal site. <br><br>BTW, fellow Scouters, the summary page will tie in concepts from the BioBlitz and the Karner Blue with Environmental Science merit badge. For example, almost all of the definitions in Req. #1 can be demonstrated or explained using this species as an examlple. More later.

Bill, very interesting site. Are there many subspecies of lupine in your region? California has an abundance with several native varieties. Are there any efforts to repropagate for caterpillar habitat from harvested seeds?

I think there's on;y one in the midwest, but I'm not sure. Then there are the commercial cultivars you find at garden centers for home gardens.<br><br>There will be two majot outcomes from the BioBlitz. <br><br>One is a report on the habitats and species observed. The folks from TNC are excited because Owasippe, with approx. 5K acres, has the potential to hold a wide variey of life forms. They believe that the wet lands and waterways support every known species of turtle indiginious to Michigan, including the Blandings turtle, which is a threatened or endnagered species in many states. The cold weather (a low of 25F on Sat. night) prevented a lot of work in finding and identifying herps and insects. Even so, the total species count was over 300 plants and animals, and it will rise a bit higher after the botonist ID plant samples they collected. The birders sighted 115 species in the three days they were there!<br><br>Two is a series of recomendations for habitat restoration due later this summer. The Oak Forest and Oak Savanna communities (Michigan Natural Community Types) should naturally see fire every 50 years ago from lightning strikes. These fires leave most of the mature trees intact but clear saplings and invasive species. Without selective clearing and prescribed burns, the sunny clearings fill in and the habitat disappears. Research indicates that the karner Blue can travel approx. 2 miles to find clearings. But if no other suitable clearing exists, the population is restricted and will eventually die off as the habitat disappears.<br><br>I believe the Chicago Area Council, the owner of Owasippe, with the OSA and TNC help. Will cut trees in some areas and burn both the new clearings and selected existing habitats. There have been some areas where the camp has allowed selective cut logging. On paper, this sounds proper. But in reality, it's distructive as the partial clearings created fill in with secondary species, such as White Pine and Choke Cherry, increasing these species overall density in the community.<br><br>I will be remaining in touch with the folks so I will update the page with the final recommendations when they are available. It's actually quite exciting because I don't believe the camp has implemented a comprehensive environmental management plan. I'm also working on a set of recomendations for TNC and CAC on how they might include scouts in the program in an ongoing role. The potential impact is awesome.

I finally finished updating the pages regarding my troop's participation at the Owasippe BioBlitz. <br><br>The main page is a short synopsis with an added Environmental Science merit badge section to tie the effort to the badges definitions. It seems to work so far as a means for the scouts to visualize the terms and their relationships.<br><br>The content in the report page is basically the same. But I've redesigned the topo/aerial image pages to improve navigations.<br><br>Finally, I updated my personal journal with an accounting of th weekend mini-adventure, including how I managed to get my group locked in at one of the camps. This link takes you to the home page. Follow the link for Owasippe BioBlitz in the New section to get to the story. I haven't figured out the html or the proper syntax for a linke to load my frame set with a non-default page in the target frame. I'd love to hear if it's possible if any knows if it's possible.