What surprised you about Merry Lea that has changed the perceptions you had of it as a "nature center?" (For those with significant experience at Merry Lea— "What new insights have you gained about Merry Lea'?)
Given our collective experience, what would you like to know more about Merry Lea?
Your first Restoration Ecology field lab will be at Merry Lea.
A mini-GC bus will be departing at noon from the Physical Plant. Once we arrive, we will meet briefly in Merry Lea's Farmstead Barn Gathering Room for an introduction to Merry Lea and the field activity. You should bring pencil/pen and a notebook to write in to use for completing your field lab reflection questions. Also consider a water bottle, sun protection, and insect repellant. We return to campus a bit before 4 p.m.
We will spend our time hiking across a portion of Merry Lea to get introduced to a landscape that has experienced historic human disturbance and has been in the process of regeneration/restoration in fulfillment of part of Merry Lea's mission. This orientation will serve as a basis for further field lab experiences you will have at Merry Lea and other locations in the region.
To have the best experience you should wear sturdy close-toed footwear, as we will be off-trail toward the end of our hike. Consider wearing long pants, as off-trail vegetation at the end of our hike will be knee-high.
The address of our location for this lab is: 2152 S 425 W, Albion, IN. Enter the lower drive that leads to the back of the Farmstead Barn.
Preparations (first aid kit, fanny pack, water bottle, bug dope, sun screen)
Arrange for GC bus to be driven to LL
Set up KB tables and chairs
Distrib ML brochures on tables; outline route on brochure maps
ML Air Photo Display on easel w/ glacial lake cut out & corn field photo
Copies of lab questions (11)
Arrival (12:45 pm –leave key in bus visor)
Use Restroom Building, then lock
Introduction to Hike
Hike across a portion of property to get overview of the land and its ecosystems within which we will be working in this semester, and some of what a restored landscape can look like.
Vehicle will be shuttled to completion point for us to return to campus
Distribute lab reflection questions for today’s lab (also on today’s Moodle page)