My Backyard. Their Backyard. Our Backyard.
Brooke Welsh
Author
03/04/2016
Added
223
Plays
Description
Fourth Place in the Undergraduate category and the overall Audience Choice Award of the 2016 School of Natural Resources Elevator Speech Contest. Brooke is a senior majoring in Fisheries and Wildlife (Conservation Ecology) & Environmental Studies (Natural Resources)
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- [00:00:00.013](applause)
- [00:00:04.585]We're no strangers to human wildlife conflict.
- [00:00:07.267]Whether it's having deer in our gardens,
- [00:00:08.994]or even garter snakes in our basement,
- [00:00:11.147]these interactions are a part of our lives.
- [00:00:13.464]But what if we could live in harmony with our furry,
- [00:00:15.983]scaly or slimy neighbors?
- [00:00:17.749]My research over the last several years
- [00:00:19.924]has revolved around conservation practices
- [00:00:21.651]for Nebraska's barred tiger salamander,
- [00:00:23.967]a species of amphibian that's native to Nebraska,
- [00:00:27.359]and is in decline in the eastern part of the state,
- [00:00:29.797]which is worrisome, because these sensitive amphibians
- [00:00:32.032]are some of the first responders
- [00:00:33.882]to declining ecosystem health.
- [00:00:35.853]Without their populations in place,
- [00:00:37.416]we often have to find different
- [00:00:38.838]and much more expensive methods
- [00:00:40.384]of judging water quality, soil erosion,
- [00:00:42.476]land use management and more.
- [00:00:45.178]The zoo, Omaha's Henry Doorly,
- [00:00:47.534]they asked me to build salamander translocation ponds.
- [00:00:50.277]These ponds are our first attempt
- [00:00:51.761]to build sustainable and urban-friendly environments
- [00:00:54.585]for salamanders.
- [00:00:56.048]No one has attempted to build ponds for this species before.
- [00:01:00.602]The ponds were designed to be able
- [00:01:01.925]to sustain themselves fully and be able to have
- [00:01:04.911]populations in an urban community.
- [00:01:08.407]So as you can expect when attempting a new project
- [00:01:11.174]in the real world, things didn't quite work out
- [00:01:13.521]how we anticipated.
- [00:01:14.982]Between trying to organize volunteer groups
- [00:01:17.401]to carry 700 pounds of sand by hand,
- [00:01:20.083]or ordering supplies correctly the first time,
- [00:01:23.312]our biggest challenge was learning that the zoo
- [00:01:25.589]was actually built on an old retired landfill.
- [00:01:27.966]So we can't build a pond in that type of substrate
- [00:01:30.262]for an organism that can draw toxins in through its skin.
- [00:01:33.797]But this was a great challenge for us to face,
- [00:01:35.909]as most people don't actually have land
- [00:01:37.515]that's suitable for building conservation ponds.
- [00:01:41.282]In order to overcome the challenge,
- [00:01:42.398]we lined the pond with a mixture of sand
- [00:01:44.754]and a naturally absorbent clay material called betonite.
- [00:01:47.944]We also monitored the pond once we filled it
- [00:01:50.687]for pH and temperature as it filled.
- [00:01:53.816]We seeded the surrounding area
- [00:01:55.400]and transplanted some native vegetation
- [00:01:57.331]to provide both cover and nutrients for the pond,
- [00:01:59.626]and by the end of construction we could already tell
- [00:02:01.536]that it was successful for many insects, lots of insects,
- [00:02:06.006]and even other amphibian species.
- [00:02:10.076]The hardest part of waiting is that I can't control time,
- [00:02:13.517]but when the spring finally comes and stays thawed,
- [00:02:17.092]I'll be able to determine how successful
- [00:02:19.673]our efforts truly were.
- [00:02:21.359]I'll be able to go in and survey for survivorship
- [00:02:23.330]for about the dozen or two larval salamanders
- [00:02:25.504]that we released into the pond.
- [00:02:28.376]I'll also be able to tell whether or not
- [00:02:29.948]the pond is sustainable, and if we're gonna be able
- [00:02:32.609]to continue and expand this type of project
- [00:02:34.701]into future projects as well.
- [00:02:38.561]The hardest part for education
- [00:02:40.790]is getting people to understand what it means.
- [00:02:43.282]But the pond here is useful, because not only
- [00:02:46.003]can the zoo talk about education with the general public,
- [00:02:48.787]because it's on zoo grounds,
- [00:02:50.269]but I'm also helping to establish a set procedure
- [00:02:55.370]for conservation of salamanders in this part of the state.
- [00:02:58.254]I can't think of anything more heartbreaking
- [00:03:00.368]than having only people as my neighbors.
- [00:03:04.053]But without having ways to integrate
- [00:03:07.219]these organisms into our lives today,
- [00:03:09.149]I fear that might be the future that we're facing.
- [00:03:11.629]So dwell on that the next time you complain
- [00:03:13.396]about having squirrels or songbirds in your backyard.
- [00:03:15.936]Thank you.
- [00:03:16.688](applause)
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