Dear Friends, 
Please visit the website to see the new posting
Mr. Leki

https://www.watersecology.org/ecology-news/
​

​Dear Ecology Volunteers!
Below I have re-printed 3 volunteer ecology offerings. The first is from Jeff Skrentney co-steward at Sauganash / LaBagh inviting you to participate in a series of workdays!

2nd is an offering from the Forest Preserve District to learn about the problem of poaching in the Preserves.

Finally, an invitation to attend training workshops to gain certification to be on a prescription burn crew.

Pandemic lemons to lemonade!
Mr. Leki

1st
GREAT NEWS!  The FPCC has opened up restrictions, and we can get back to holding public restoration events with volunteers outside our core team of volunteers, including NEW volunteers.

As with most of our workdays in 2020, these events are INVITATION ONLY.  You must express interest in attending, and then RSVP to the email invitation you will receive the week before the workday you are invited to join. 

We had hoped to have workdays this coming Sunday, February 7th, but it looks like it will be too cold even for our hearty group of core volunteers.  The following Saturday, February 13th, we also have a workday planned, but again, the cold weather forecast makes that workday look tenuous.  


Here are the upcoming LaBagh Workdays:
February 21st & 27th
March 7th & 13th
March 21st & 27th
April 4th, 17th & 25th (possible planting day)
May 2nd, 22nd & 30th (all possible planting days)

If you are interested and available, please express your interest to me with an email or a text message to me at 773.677.8852.  Right now, I am looking for volunteers for our February and March dates.  I will not be keeping lists of volunteers for workdays beyond that.  

We have missed you all, have you missed us?  Send me an email, shoot me a text message, and share with me when you would like to volunteer.  I will get you on our invitation lists so you can attend our upcoming February and March workdays.  

Really looking forward to getting back to a regular schedule of workdays, and we hope to see you all over the next few weeks.  We can’t accomplish the LaBagh restoration without our volunteers!  

THANK YOU!

-jrrs
Jeff Skrentny
Chicago Ornithological Society (COS) Board of Directors
lead LaBagh Woods restoration volunteer



AND, 2nd
The Phantom Menace:
Poaching in the Preserves
February 17, 2021 • Noon–1pm
 
John McCabe Director of Resource Management
presents with Mike Parzygnat from Law Enforcement
 
Join us to learn why poaching is a threat to our natural areas and how
you can help us protect the natural resources in the Preserves. During
this presentation, you will hear information on vulnerable plant and
animal populations and archaeological sites, as well as learn why
protecting these resources is critical. You will also learn how to identify
the tools and techniques used by poachers so you too can help stop
this destructive behavior.
 
Register on the training page of our volunteer website. Don’t have an account? RSVP to Alex.Horvath@cookcountyil.gov by next Tuesday, February 16. 
 


Finally 3rd, 
From: Brooke Thurau <brooke.thurau@TNC.ORG>
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2021 4:48 PM
Subject: VSN Scholarships Available for CW Prescription Burn Crew Training

 
Good afternoon!
I wanted to let you know that there are still plenty of spaces in The Morton Arboretum’s online Prescription Burn Crew Training and the VSN has scholarship funds to pay for the course. If you know of any volunteers that could benefit from the course, please have them register here.
 
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
My best,
Brooke
 

Chicago Wilderness Prescription Burn Crew Training (Online)

Chicago Wilderness offers the Midwest Ecological Prescription Burn Crew Member Training class online through The Morton Arboretum. Based on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s (NWCG) S-130 and S-190 courses, this two-day training covers the basics of such topics as fire behavior, controlled burn techniques, and smoke management. Registration closes at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Feb 25. 

 

Thursday, February 25, 2021, noon (Central time): Access self-paced materials online

Thursday and Friday, March 4 and 5, 2021, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Central time): Attend live sessions online.

Hello Ecofriends,
At this time of year we traditionally, with the Kindergardeners, begin a little project on growing spider plants, Chlorophytum comosum. These tropical plants have long, narrow,  arching leaves. When they are ready,they develop long arching stems dotted with delicate white flowers. When the flowers are finished,  they leave behind the primordial beginnings of a new plants, clinging to the stem,  miniatures of their mother, complete with leaves and a straggle of roots hanging down. The leaves and the roots vaguely resemble spiders. The babies can be clipped from this umbillicus, and set in a jar of water where they will steadily increase in size, both leaves and roots. After a few months they are ready for planting in soil, and beginning the cycle again.


That is what we normally do with the kinder kids, and if you have a spider plant, and a kindergartener, you might try it at home. A very low risk experiment.  When I showed the kinder-kids a spiderplant this week, one child burst out: "We have that! You gave one to my sister and now it is HUGE!"

The project comes with a slightly absurd and a-scientific song and story about a spider that falls in love with a palm tree, gets married and has kids. It is on the watersecology.org website under Kindergarden, and is linked here. The song, I wrote, and the recording is of my grandaughter Nicole and I. The artwork was done by my grandson Salim.
https://vimeo.com/507811909

(BTW, the weird crusty, crackling part in the middle is when I ask the kids to make the sound of a spider walking up a palm tree)
Some years ago I asked my son Jamal to translate the song into Spanish, and what he produced far exceeded the original. Apparently, in Latin America, the name for Chlorophytum comosum is Lazo de amor, a ribbon of love. In Jamal's version,  a ribbon is vaulted aloft in the air by a wind, and is tangled in the leaves of a palm tree. So wonderful was this experience that the ribbon and palm married, and the children that resulted were "lazo de amor", spider plants. This wonderful song ends with a chorus that says: 
Between the ribbon and palm tree
There is a lazo de amor
Between a tree and the earth,
There is a lazo de amor
Between the clouds and the trees
There is a lazo de amor
Between you and your mother
There is a lazo de amor.....

It is a wonderful thing to think about how many things can be paired in this way,
things held together by un lazo de amor, extending the song to infinity.
I stopped singing this song several years back because the fast clip of the spanish verse is daunting for kindergarten kids. But the choro  (the response) at the end is easy:  "Hay un lazo de amor". I hope they, and you, will try it, and that you will invent new pairings, things held together by "un lazo de amor".

Be well, stay well,
Mr. Leki

Dear Friends, 
Normally at this time of year we would be rehearsing with our 1st grade actors to put on the play: 
The Legend of Snake and Turtle.
We found a version of the play performed and filmed and edited by Waters Media Lab students supervised by Julie Peterson and Vicky Mendoza from more than ten years ago.  It was their first time using the technique of "green screen". These students have now graduated high school! The second clip is the accompanying song with some great stills showing Waters School history. I have been sharing these with the primary grades classes and they are all linked at 
watersecology.org
Old Waters Media Lab-Two Friends and the Legend of Snake and Turtle
Old Waters Media Lab- Two Friends Song


Enjoy
Mr. Leki

Dear Friends,
I do love the intersection of science and art. I try to lock the two together in my life and teaching. A friend recently introduced me to a remarkable film about the life of a little known, ground breaking artist:  Hilma Af Klindt.  Not only is her art striking and revolutionary for the period, but it reflects the ongoing revelations that were occurring in the natural sciences. Please find time to view this wonderful  film :Beyond the Visible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGw9sAxhXXw

K-5 Ecology Activities!
On line, full time ecology teaching has forced and allowed me to cover new subject areas, to go deeper and further afield. Remember that all past and current lesson plans and links can be accessed at watersecology.org.Here’s a little sampling of what I am doing :In Kindergarten…. we’re mostly singing and story telling. I wish the whole curriculum could be taught in song and story. I’m beginning to tell the story of Snake and Turtle, the history of our school and river. Children this age love visits from animals (stuffed or live!). We learned about cottontail rabbits this past week in the context of winter survival of animals. The visiting rabbit had long conversations with the kids. They came up with names for the 10 bunnies she’s expecting this spring. I told the kids to look for bunny prints in the snow that was predicted that evening. The next day, Ms. Frieswyk told me the kids were shocked that the snow didn’t appear. “Mr. Leki said it would snow!”
In First grade, we continued with our ninth out of eleven trees. Ash. I taught them the song about the 11 neighborhood trees. One mom recognized it as a corrido, a traditional mexican song form that often includes very emotional crying: “So many ash trees are dying!!! Because of a small emerald beetle.” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_yGeLgQa6X-KXDLNzDpgoYsIzU8yjHDFRylO7kJgH8Y/edit?usp=sharingThe kids are doing very well, and take the subject very seriously. I recently posted  a gallery of the trees we’ve covered so far. I spent alot of time on the drawings because 1) I have a lot of time to spend, and 2) I want to model the fact that the drawings can be both science AND art, if we work on it. Check them out.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hxImLBHi-X3iLe75E9R1r94ORuzBl7yh4Z9pXf1r58I/edit?usp=sharing  
Second grade is learning our take on the Yoko Ono song “We’re All Water!”https://docs.google.com/document/d/12b683W8UvfCipiLAXcWiIXekRX8u78GTv2j6dHqvPoI/edit?usp=sharing  
We are focusing right now on the almost magical properties of water, a result of its interesting atomic / molecular configuration.  We did demonstrations of water’s ability to :diffract white light into a rainbow;diffuse dyes and act as a solvent, witnessing Brownian motion;cohesion ~ we floated a paper clip on water showing surface tension;and adhesion ~ water flowing uphill, against gravity, because of its attraction to the tiny fibers in a paper towel, or the microtubule walls (xylem and phloem) in a tree. Here’s Miles running the experiments at home, on his own!​





​
Third grade Mighty Acorns learned about winter survival strategies of plants, bids and other animals (humans!) We looked at track sheets showing many of the animals that are active in the forest in winter.  Animal tracks in winter are also magical in the sense that they open for us a window into the past. We can see where an animal had been and where it was going to, who or what it met up with and what it did! I asked the students to ask their parents to take them to a wild place, after a fresh snowfall, and to find animal tracks that tell a story:Rabbit tracks in the prairie (hop, hop). Coyotes track on intercept course. Rabbit takes evasive course. Both increase their stride. Rabbit tracks disappear! Sprinkles of blood, rabbit fur!. Coyote walks away!I’m happy to share that Oliver and family visited Sauganash and went skating on the slough!
​
Fourth Grade Mighty Acorns learned how to ID the invasive species European Buckthorn. Ask them about the 6 ways to know Buckthorn. Sadly we won’t be cutting with our students this winter. But, they would still benefit from a visit to Sauganash to seek out this invader and testing your knowledge. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FBh-7kHyOkJffPvqNFrBb5DNmqNx3j-9ze3vNJKJr7E/edit?usp=sharing  
Fifth Grade has used the power of graphing to illustrate an example of Population Dynamics, the effect of interactions of species on population counts. In this case we have compared populations of deer, mountain lions and humans, 1800 – 2000. The graph reveals more than numbers. The data set represent correlations, causal relationships between the species, anddisjuncts, moments when normal patterns are disrupted. They beg explanation. Please ask your fifth grader to explain!https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PKy_GsIUqOl9rI5EOxyY8Xg13-OqMbXZoGIdmTGkjOM/edit?usp=sharing  ​

Dear Friends, 

​Our students in the 7th and 8th Grade have been engaged in an effort to expand the Montrose Point Dunes Natural Area to provide a safe haven for the endangered Piping Plovers that have nested there for the past two years. We have studied the plovers, watched a documentary, worked at the dune, and remembered our ecology lessons about natural areas being like “islands”. And our students have taken action. Under the guidance of their teachers they have written and sent scores and scores of letters to the Chicago Park District Board, who are deliberating on this proposal.
Tomorrow morning at 11:30 the CPD Board meets on Zoom to take public comment. I will try my best to represent our school, community, and students: their urgency and passion, in my testimony. You can join the meeting at:
https://rebrand.ly/CPDLive_Board_Meeting_12-2-20
Here are my comments:
  Hello. My name is Pete Leki and I am the Director of Ecology programs at Waters Elementary School in Chicago. I want first to commend the CPD and the Natural Areas management groups for the fabulous work you have been doing over the past decade.  I will try to convey to you the sentiments of the 7th and 8th grade classes that have been engaged in advocating for the expansion of the Montrose Point Dune natural Area to accommodate  nesting for Piping Plovers.We have been visiting, working and studying at Montrose Point for more than 20 years. We are greatly invested in securing its health and survival. Our students, in their many messages to the CPD Board express great anxiety that the small enclaves of natural areas that support species like the Piping Plovers  (and many other threatened species) may not be there in the future. Their future. Their future planet may be bereft of the treasures of evolution and biodiversity because we have failed to protect habitat, and halt climate catastrophe. A basic concept of ecology that I teach is that natural areas in our highly developed region act like islands. And we know that islands that are bigger and closer to each other are more likely to sustain biodiversity than islands that are small and farther apart. So we support every effort to expand the “islands”, the natural areas, to improve the odds that diverse life will find refuge there. Montrose Point is a great example of a natural area that is open to the public, and manages to thrive alongside multiple uses. It is a great  bonus for beach goers, cafe diners, and volleyball players to encounter rare wonders of nature on every visit. We ask that you work with the Montrose Point stewards and birding community to guarantee a safe and secure welcome place for the Plovers, and add another piece to the jigsaw puzzle of natural areas that will be needed to sustain biodiversity in our land, into the future.  We will be ready to help.
Below is a link to a video of our students working at Montrose Point
https://vimeo.com/462458571  
Be well, stay well, Mr. Leki
Read more at this link about how Waters Students and local environmentalists are working together to convince the Park District to protect the Piping Plover.

​Hello Dear School Community and Ecology volunteers,
This year has seen a fundamental shift in the way our ecology program works.
In previous years I organized field experiences for every class at every grade level. Together we ventured forth into the wild places. I did classes before the trip to prep them, and often after the trip to debrief.  I sent out weekly messages telling my schedule and asking for parent volunteers to help lead the explorations. Those messages were sent to my EcologyVolunteers email list, and often re-printed in Green Notes as Mr. Leki's Blog, and in the Waters Elementary School website. 
This year all that has changed. I have taken on a full class load (17 classes per week), virtually. All the lesson plans have been posted on the watersecology.org website. These are updated daily, and it is a working document, a work in progress, open to our community.  For the past ten weeks Jules Peterson-Green and I have been producing video segments to use in the virtual ecology program. This means that songs, field excursions, science shorts,  invitations, interviews are all posted and available for our families to view, and re-view.  It has been a big shift for us. Very different and difficult. Our videos make it possible for us to show things, rather than just talk about them, and to introduce our students to places and concepts with a familiar figure guiding them. Because all the clips are available to our school families, we hope that our students are sharing them with you. Each lesson has special messages aimed at parents and families.
We cannot bring your child out to the wild places. But you can. 

This is how the program has emerged. Imagine each segment as part of a cycle that repeats:

Waters Virtual Ecology Program

*Waters Ecology produces lessons and video and present to classes;
  *watersecology.org posts all the lesson plans, resources and messages on website;
     *parents, students, families check out the website and the suggestions for outings;
       *families venture forth to the wild places to explore content provided by the lesson and website;
         *families self document their outings with video, journal work, and/or photos;
           *families and students share their documentation and adventures during classroom meet ups;
              *watersecology adds the new content to the website;
                 *new lessons are created and shared during the next meeting; 
Repeat! Until the end of pandemic!

So, you can see that this year every family has become essential to the student's experience of field ecology. 
We know that every family cannot go on all the field offerings, but many can, and have. Many have, and will, share with their classmates. 
This puts a special load on parents, but it also opens up a unique role and experience. It is an avenue for families
 to have reason to get out into our wild and special places more often, with a task and a goal in mind, but also with an open-ended invitation to experience
the serendipity of exploration, the surprise of discovery. 

We welcome you to this mutual adventure and welcome your feedback. Remember that the watersecology.org website is a working document and archive of the entire ecology program. Please visit, and re-visit. Learn the songs and sing along. Offer up your own art, poetry and music for us to add.

Our most recent video posting was the story that I normally tell around the campfire at Waters garden, with baked potatoes and hot cider. 
This year it is on video, and we have included a written version for you to use and share.  We hope you enjoy it.

We're Okay! How are you?
https://vimeo.com/472068011/6b975ed8ca  

written copy
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13AyZ7pG2EEzckpjtBj3F5S-hh9VqK5oB/edit  


Blessing of the season to all, the first snow on colored leaves, first frost coming, 
 Pete Leki and  the Team Waters Ecology

​Right after the storm, 
I rode around on my bike 
tree branches occupied the streets and parkways.
It altered the cultural landscape,
from mowed, tidy lawns, 
to wild organic chaos.
"Who does your landscaping?"

I asked. 
The broken limbs were full or glistening green leaves. 
Two days later they would start to brown and crisp. Not as lovely. 

At the river we had many, many large branches and trees go down,
blocking streets and alleys. 
We got to work, like so many other neighbors, 
sawing and piling and clearing a way for emergency vehicles. 
The crew from MWRD showed up two days later to haul and chip and do the heavy lifting to clear massive trunks and branches. 
They were great. Careful not to trample and damage the bank. 
But also, very, very willing to leave trunks of trees on site, on the bank, 
as we requested.
We did so to minimize the damage done by the workers on a steep bank, 
but also because, these trunks and branches, 
this sequestered CO2 is a precious part of the ecosystem.
It is congealed solar power captured by photosynthesis.
It wilill slowly decompose through the actions of insects, animals, fungi and lichen. 
It is the mark of an intact ecosystem. 

So, 
why not leave that trunk, 
those special branches ON YOUR PARKWAY?
Nature playspace for your kids, the fungi, animals and bugs! 
Eventually, depending on the tree-type, and diameter, 
it will collapse into a lovely humus, 
a wonderful soil amendment., 
It will mark out our time on earth as we watch it (and ourselves) weather, and crumble.
So much better than being hauled to a landfill. 

Mr. Leki