Adam Teer
9-10-’06
This trip was quite an
experience. The first section we navigated was the Ghost Section, which
was not at all like I expected it to be. I thought the river was going to
look more like the disturbed headcut section, which we visited second. Before
this trip, I had never been on an undisturbed river like we saw in the Ghost
Section. It was really remarkable to see an environment like that and the
interaction between all of the species. In the Ghost Section, when we first
went into an area with trees enclosing the river and blocking out the sunlight,
I was truly amazed.
When I compared what I saw in the
Ghost Section to what I saw in the headcut section, it did not even look like
the same river. The Ghost Section was tranquil, beautiful, and
undisturbed. It was the river ecosystem in its pure state. The Army
Corps of Engineers channelized sections of the Wolf
River. Now certain sections are eating deeper down into the bottom of the
river, causing its water level to drop. Flooding can occur in the
regions. [RC1] The
headcutting caused the second section of the river to become a wasteland of
dead trees that protruded from the shallow water. It changed from being
enclosed and scenic to being wide open and decrepit.[RC2] It
was the dumping ground for sewage and a graveyard for garbage and dead
trees. One of the canoes in our group found an empty keg floating along
the shore. The head cut section was not secluded from human life like the
Ghost Section. It went right next to streets and by houses etc. It
was a completely different environment and did not look like what a river
should look like.
The one thing I did enjoy about the
headcut region was the diversity of birds we saw. We saw a wood duck, a
great blue heron, and a belted kingfisher all within twenty seconds. We
also heard a woodpecker. In the Ghost section we only saw herons.
Originally I was not looking
forward to canoeing. But what I learned and experienced on both trips really
struck me. It was an awesome experience, so much so that I volunteered to
go back and help Dr. Kesler with further data gathering. The only
downsides to the canoeing trips were maneuvering through the mess of dead trees
in the headcut section,
and falling into the river while lifting our canoe over a log in the Ghost
Section. The water was really cold and seemed really grimy. Sitting
soaking wet in my canoe for the rest of the day was not a pleasant
experience. P.S. It took my pants 5 days to dry out fully.
What do you
mean by this? Do you mean flooding is less likely to occur here, or
flooding is more likely to occur further downstream