We are involved in a
number of volunteer-supported projects.
Please continue to watch our website for
announcements of newly scheduled events from
now through the fall. For convenience, you
can register as a volunteer and receive
e-mail notification of planned events by
signing up on our
Volunteer
Registration Page.
Don’t Miss Wessie Fest!
On Saturday, August 28, from 10 am- 2 pm will be
the Fourth Annual Wessie Fest at Otterbein Lake in
Westerville. Free outdoor family fun featuring
children's activities, live native animals
amphibians, fish, & other critters, educational
exhibits from Friends of Alum Creek & Tributaries
(FACT),
park and wildlife groups, music and entertainment.
Grilled food & beverages are available for purchase.
Stop by the MAD Scientist & Associates’ tent to see
what has been caught in the Lake.
Otterbein Lake is located along the Alum Creek
greenway path - just south of E. Main Street, east
side of Collegeview Road (behind Ameri Cheer). Avoid
using a car; try walking to bicycling to the
festival. Contact us at 614-818-9156 for more
information. Please note the detour route with the
Main St. bridge being out.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Main Street in Westerville
closed on July 12th. Here’s a
link
to the official DETOUR route.
Otterbein Lake Shoreline Improvements
On July 17, our Incredible Group of Recruits
(IGOR) worked to restore the shoreline at Otterbein
Lake by planting shrubs, trees and wetland plants.
It was another hot day in central Ohio, so we were
fortunate to get a great turnout, including some of
our dedicated volunteers as well as some fresh
faces, including a sizable crew from Johnson
Controls. Thanks to our fabulous IGOR team for their
participation and to the City of Westerville Parks
and Recreation Department for supporting this event.
We are making continuing progress at the lake:
vegetation is becoming established and working to
decrease erosion by buffering the shore from wave
action. In the process, the lake’s perimeter is
becoming greener with native plants and providing
increasing habitat for aquatic wildlife such as
dragonflies, damselflies, frogs, and turtles. Shade
from new trees and colorful blooms through the
summer make it a more pedestrian-friendly place too!
Please continue to check our news page for
upcoming events and autumn eco-restoration
activities, and if you haven’t already, please sign
up join MAD Scientist & Associates’ IGOR.
Participation in ten (10) hours of our conservation
service projects will earn you your very own IGOR
t-shirt!
Best Regards,
The MAD
Scientist & Associates Team
July - 2010
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Otterbein Lake – restoring the
shore! |
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Planting plants that will attract
butterflies |
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Invasive species removal to make way for new
trees |
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Planting wetland plants in the protected
shoreline area |
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Volunteers help distribute
wetland plants |
 Boyer Nature Preserve
Improvement Day
Thanks to all members of our Incredible Group of
Recruits who came out and worked diligently to
remove invasive shrubs from Boyer Nature Preserve.
Special thanks go to the City of Westerville Parks
and Recreation Department for supporting this event
and to Friends of Alum Creek & Tributaries (FACT)
for their involvement. We made significant progress
in removing invasive honeysuckle and other invasive
shrubs using hand tools, weed wrenches, honeysuckle
poppers, and other equipment, covering approximately
1 acre!
Your efforts will allow for the natural
regeneration of native wildflowers. To ensure the
success of this effort and to prevent honeysuckle
from re-establishing, we will follow up by planting
an assortment of native shrubs in the cleared areas.
Please visit the preserve later this summer to enjoy
the results of your labor!
If you enjoyed contributing to this day of
ecological restoration, please consider joining us
for the next restoration effort at
Otterbein Lake. See
the announcement on this page for details!
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*Volunteers who log a total of ten (10) hours on
three or more volunteer work days organized by MAD
Scientist & Associates will earn their official
“I.G.O.R.” t-shirt!
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Our wonderful volunteers/t-shirt models are Jerry Holloway and Kellie Chenault.
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Boyer Voluneer |
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Boyer Opening |
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Boyer Pile |
Earth Day Planting Event at
Millstone Creek Park was a success!
On Saturday, April 17th, volunteers celebrated
Earth Day by working at Millstone Creek Park in
Westerville. Volunteers and wetland experts from MAD
Scientist & Associates planted a newly-created
wetland with native shrubs, sedges, rushes, and
colorful forbs. We worked simultaneously and
alongside members of the City of Westerville staff
and volunteers, who were installing plants and
spreading mulch in other areas of this innovative
new park, which facilitates hands-on interaction
with nature. Although weather conditions were brisk
and the stream water cold, the sun was shining and
we succeeded in installing all of the plants. Thanks
to everyone that participated to make this a
successful event!
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Earth Day Volunteers turned out despite
the cool temperatures. |
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City of Westerville Staff & Volunteers
planted numerous plants and shrubs |
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MAD staff guided volunteers as to where
plants should be planted. |
We began 2010 with the introduction of a blog
that will enable us to share our experiences as
Specialists in Ecological and Wetland Consulting.
Through this new outreach mechanism, we hope to
share information and insights about current
wetland, ecological, and environmental topics, as
well as interesting news and observations from our
collective experiences in the consulting world. We
hope you will check in frequently!
Mark has been busy with
Dragonfly and Damselfly Identification for OOS
A self-nomination led to Mark’s election to serve
on the Ohio Odonata Society’s Photo Records Review
Committee. He has been enjoying the challenge of
verifying potential county records for Ohio
dragonflies and damselflies that have been
documented photographically (rather than from
preserved/mounted specimens). This past year was a
prolific one for photo record submittals, so Mark
was busy toward the end of 2009 reviewing and
evaluating photographs and providing his rationale
for accepting or denying individual records.
Reviewing exceptional Odonata photos from some of
the best photographers around the state has been a
treat, but the biggest thrill for Mark has been the
opportunity to “rub elbows” (in the virtual sense –
everything is handled via e-mail!) with some of the
big names in Odonata taxonomy and research in Ohio.
His fellow committee members are Bob Glotzhober
(Ohio Historical Society), Judy Semroc (Cleveland
Museum of Natural History), Tom Schultz (Denison
University), Shane Myers, and John Pogacnik (Lake
Metro Parks). A brief article can be found at the
link below. If you are interested in dragonflies and
damselflies in Ohio, consider joining this society!
» Read Article
Want to learn more about the
benefits of Wetlands?
Mark Dilley has a photo of kids on a boardwalk at
Boyer Nature Preserve featured in the publication
attached to this link about
Benefits of Wetlands
from National Association of Counties and U.S. EPA.
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