Beven McWilliams

Ecology, Dr. Kestler

September 10, 2006

I greatly appreciated the opportunity to explore such delicate ecosystems. Being from the west, I have not had much experience with the different plant and animal species of the south. I thought that the swampy ghost river portion of the wolf river was some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. I have never seen so many Bald cypress trees.

I enjoyed the company for my classmates. I feel like I am getting to know them all very well and that makes all of the experiences even more enjoyable because I can share them with people I care about. I thought Dr. Kesler’s friend, Larry Smith, was extremely fascinating and I was very glad to hang around him. I had never canoed in such large canoes before and found the experience very challenging yet very exhilarating at the same time.

As far as the river was concerned, I noticed huge differences between the upper and lower portions of the river. The upper portion was very swampy. The bank was not high and in the Ghost River portion there were no close banks. The upper portion had a large amount of Bald cypress trees and beautiful landscape.

However, the lower portion was noticeably different. From the very beginning you could see the boulders placed by the core of engineers like a scar on the landscape trying to make up for their past mistakes. The river had very tall and steep banks where the Memphis sands were exposed after the head cutting on the lower end. I did not see the mass of Bald cypress that I had noted before. Every so often I would see more horrific rocks disrupting the scenery. I do know that the rocks are good and help delay the inevitable equilibrium that the river is striving to achieve. The river is gouging out to level with the head cut portion. The flooding would have ceased and the swamp ecosystem that has been thriving there for hundreds of years would have been replaced by prime realistate (what is this? real estate?) if it weren’t for the efforts of the Wolf River Conservationists and I am very thankful for organizations such as theirs.

Unfortunately, I am disgusted with humanity and the need for large houses and huge cars that only rarely have more than one person occupying them at any given time. I feel that people have no sense of what the environment does for them and their way of life. I feel that the human population is doomed. Witnessing the blatant destruction of such a beautiful habitat makes me sad that more isn’t being done, but thankful that I got to see such things, like the Ghost River, in my life time.

In conclusion, I am very glad that I had this experience. I never knew that such beauty was in such close proximity. I am going to try to get out again before the end of the semester and hopefully again in the spring. I feel that ecology is very important to the way we live and our impact on the environment. I am glad that I got to see first hand the utter importance of ecology on something so close to home, so early in the semester. The impact of people has really gotten to me. I am very thankful for this trip. I feel that it was one of the most important experiences I have had thus far at Rhodes.