This worked well last semester, so lets give it a go again.

CourseBook TitleAuthorISBN
BIO 205/206 Ecology & Lab - Elements of Ecology by Smith & Smith (ISBN 0-8053-4830-1)
EVT 102 Basic Water Treatment* - Water Treatment Plant Operation Vol I Sacramento (ISBN 1-5971-004-6)
EVT 108 Basic Physical/Chemical Wastewater Treatment* - Industrial Waste Treatment Vol I Sacramento (1-59371-028-3)
EVT 255 Solid & Hazardous Waste - Basics of Solid & Hazardous Waste Management Technology by Shah (ISBN 0-13-960378-6); OPTIONAL Hazardous Waste Chemistry, Toxicology, and Treatment by Manahan (ISBN 0-87371-209-9)
EVT 260 Air Pollution Control Systems - Air Quality by Godish (ISBN 1-56670-586-X)
EVT 261 Special Topics - No book, but don't worry...I'm going to make you WORK!!

* Students enrolled in the certificate classes (EVT 102 & 108) can call Sue at the SCETC to order their books. (803) 778-6656

The second question is a little more complicated. Gone are the days when you walked into a stale smelling university bookstore with your class schedule to pay exorbitant prices for shiny new books. Now you can pay those exorbitant prices from the comfort of your own home! Actually, there is a world of options out there for those in the know. Here are just a few of them:
Traditional - for those of you who really enjoy that 'real college' experience, we do still have a bookstore. Depending on availability the bookstore sometimes carries used books with a discounted pricetag. While you're in there don't forget to pick up some awesome CCTC swag. The jackets are hot this semester.

A slightly more popular method for those of you who can't just drop everything and drive to Sumter (although I'm sure I'd enjoy your visit) is to buy books online. There are several sights that you can visit, and I'm not sure one is any better than the other. Because you're shopping online, you can take a little time and shop around for the best deal. The two most often mentioned pages are Amazon and Ebay's Half.com.

Don't feel like buying a book that you will only use for a semester before you go through the hassle of selling it? (I didn't even mention it in the previous sections, but you can sell your books by either of the previous methods...with various levels of difficulty and return on investment) Have you considered renting? Several sites (such as Chegg) allow you rent books for the semester that you need them.

You could just not bother with books at all. I mean who needs them?! If you want I can simply cut the top of your skull off and inject the knowledge directly into your frontal lobe. You'd never have to worry about reading or studying again.

The Bountiful Ocean

I know...it's been a while since I posted. What can I say? I'm just a slacker.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go shrimping in Beaufort with my dad and brother(We put in near the historic Penn Center). I have to tell you...it was like a homecoming. I hadn't been back in those creeks in years, yet the shore birds, Spartina, and fluff mud seemed as if I'd never left. As we all got into that familiar rhythm of poling and casting, it was as if I was 10 again. I rarely find that place...I was completely at peace.

After about four hours of intense work we had about 20 quarts of shrimp (well below the legal limit of 48 quarts). We decided we'd had enough 'hard work' for one day (my arm felt like it was going to fall off), so we sat down, fired up the Mercury, and headed to a larger channel that looked promising for some fishing. We set anchor near the mouth of a creek and sacrificed a few of our shrimp (plus a finger mullet or two that we had caught). Fishing was slow, with the exception of a couple of bluntnose stingrays that Dad and Bubba landed after a brief fight. Mostly I just stared at the creek, memories of awe from the past washing over me like a tide. I remembered why I loved this so much. Each cast of the net; each tug at the line held the promise of a marvelous surprise. Would your net come up empty, brimming with shrimp, or with some strange fish that looked like it came from the set of Star Trek? When your line finally broke the surface would your adversary be a stingray, guitar fish, flounder, drum, or (my favorite) a shark? Most of the time we just landed the fish, admired the amazing attributes that fit it perfectly for its environment, and sent it on its merry way (although Mom would kill us if we let a good looking flounder go. I think it's her favorite).

As we loaded the boat and got back into the truck to head home, the pleasant haze of memory was slowly replaced with a harsher reality. The shrimping and fishing, though fun, hadn't really been that productive. Why? Maybe we just didn't have a stellar day, but then maybe something more sinister was going on. When I was fishing in the boat as a 10 year old, I imagined the channels to be hundreds of feet deep, brimming with innumerable fish of every description. Even now when I gaze into the ocean it's not too hard to think that. Even wordly explorers like Alexander von Humboldt (On par with Charles Darwin as far as I'm concerned) thought that the ocean's bounty was without end. How could little ol' Homo sapiens have an effect on ANYTHING as vast as the estuaries of the Atlantic Coast, let alone the oceans of the world?

I'm a little older now, so I can look at numbers and have a better sense of reality. Those fathomless channels are only a few meters deep. And the innumerable fish are declining. Prime spawning habitat is being lost at an alarming rate. Marshes are viewed by the general public as worthless, smelly, wastes of space. Wouldn't they be much nicer if we filled them with sand and built a beach house on it? Marshes are also EXCELLENT for natural pollution remediation...but they are being severly overworked. Our world fisheries are also being fished intensively. According to one report from the World Resource Institute the average world citizen consumes 13.4 kg (~30 pounds) of fish annually. If you do the math that works out to being 198 BILLION pounds of fish being harvested from our waters every year. I can hear the interjections now..."but we have laws in place to protect fish. We can't over harvest them." Yes, we do have laws, but no, that doesn't prevent overfishing. For an excellent read on that you should try Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish by G. Bruce Knecht. It's a true story, and it's an interesting and fast read.

I guess I can't blame my small catch ENTIRELY on a weakened fishery. But I must say that the reality of fisheries collapsing is a sobering one. If you are interested in learning more or becoming a part of the solution, get involved. There are plenty of good conservation groups that focus on these critical marine resources. Try your local Coastal Conservation Associtation (CCA) chapter, or visit the SC Aquarium's Sustainable Seafood page. Until next time...happy fishing.

Books! Books! Books!

Every semester I get the same question, so I'm giving this a try. The two most common questions that I get this time of year (other than 'How can I pass your class?') are "what books do I need for next semester?" and "Where can I get my books?". The first answer is easy enough: just look at the list below to determine which books you will need for the particular classes that you are registered for (don't forget to REGISTER!!).

Course
Book Title
Author
ISBN

EVT 105
Environmental Sampling and Analysis Lab Manual
Csuros
1-56670-178-3

EVT 201
Essential Environment: The science behind the stories
Withgott & Brennan
978-0-13-604531-1

EVT 206
Environmental Law 6th ed
Kubasek & Silverman
978-0-13-614216-4

EVT 215
Applied Aquatic Ecosystem Concepts
Mackie
0-7575-0883-9

EVT 225
Sustainable Practice for the Facilities Manager
Shah
1-4051-3557-3

EVT 253
Occupational Safety & Health for Technologists, Engineers, and Managers
Goetsch
978-0-13-239760-5

EVT 254
Industrial Safety and Emergency Resp
HMTRI
HMTRI

The second question is a little more complicated. Gone are the days when you walked into a stale smelling university bookstore with your class schedule to pay exorbitant prices for shiny new books. Now you can pay those exorbitant prices from the comfort of your own home! Actually, there is a world of options out there for those in the know. Here are just a few of them:

1. Traditional - for those of you who really enjoy that 'real college' experience, we do still have a bookstore. Depending on availability the bookstore sometimes carries used books with a discounted pricetag. While you're in there don't forget to pick up some awesome CCTC swag. The t-shirts are smokin' this semester.


2. A slightly more popular method for those of you who can't just drop everything and drive to Sumter (although I'm sure I'd enjoy your visit) is to buy books online. There are several sights that you can visit, and I'm not sure one is any better than the other. Because you're shopping online, you can take a little time and shop around for the best deal. The two most often mentioned pages are Amazon and Ebay's Half.com.


3. Don't feel like buying a book that you will only use for a semester before you go through the hassle of selling it*? (I didn't even mention it in the previous sections, but you can sell your books by either of the previous methods...with various levels of difficulty and return on investment) Have you considered renting? Several sites (such as Chegg) allow you rent books for the semester that you need them.


4. You could just not bother with books at all. I mean who needs them?! If you want I can simply cut the top of your skull off and inject the knowledge directly into your frontal lobe. You'd never have to worry about reading or studying again.

*Side note - I know you would never do that to any of the books for my classes. They make such good reference material. :-)

Ramblings on Rights and Responsibilities

“I have gained this by philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.” – Aristotle
“The people's good is the highest law.” – Cicero
“The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law.” – Andrew Jackson

Prior to my vacation last week I had been in several discussions with various people about rights, The Constitution, law, and our roles as citizens in a Representative Democracy. Next semester many of you will be taking my Environmental Law course. While at the beach I read a good book - The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America by Phillip K. Howard. Saturday we all celebrated Independence Day. Do you sense a common theme here?

Of course the topic of Law in America is far too expansive for me to cover in one blog, or even in a lifetime of blogs. But I will share with you some thoughts that I had while baking in the Sandlapper Sun. (But first a disclaimer – I am not now, nor have I ever been, nor do I plan on being a Lawyer. I am just an Environmental Program Manager who also happens to think about the Law of the Land). I will begin with a story that I am certain at least a few of you are familiar with.

Daniel was a very wise man, and was also honest and hard working. These qualities were as uncommon in Daniel’s time as they are in ours, so King Darius took note and placed Daniel in the highest of positions where Daniel served him very well. Of course where there is position, there is jealousy. The Kings other wise men sought to get rid of Daniel … but how? Knowing that Daniel was a religious man the other governors tricked King Darius into making a law that they knew Daniel would break (a side note here – religious intolerance has been around for a long time…but very few people notice it unless it is intolerance against their own religion – just something to think about). "O great king, you are so wonderful that no one should pray to anyone but you." They said. The king gave in to his conceit (a trait that is as common now as it ever has been) not thinking about the ramifications. Anybody who didn’t worship the king was to be thrown into the lions den. The king made his decree in such a way that nobody, not even he, could change it. As soon as Daniel knelt for evening prayer, his enemies had him arrested. The king was distraught and ashamed, because he knew that he had been tricked into sacrificing his best and most loyal subject.

Luckily for Daniel, the story has a happy ending. Daniel’s God knew that he was a righteous man, and saved him from the lions. Justice was served when the King found Daniel alive the next day; he ordered the other Governors be thrown into the lions den. A good preacher could deliver a lot of sermons on this topic, but luckily for you I’m not a good preacher. My purpose for introducing this to you is the concept of Common Sense in Law. We are lucky enough to live in a country where people are not thrown to the lions for their religious (or political, social, or other) views. We have a system. It’s far from perfect, but it is arguably the best in the world. But I am going to have to go with Philip Howard…we need a little more common sense infused in our system. As King Darius discovered, rigid laws lead to bad situations.

Surely, the USA doesn’t have such asinine and rigid rules, right? Our founding fathers framed our Constitution in such a way as to allow maximum freedoms (speech, religion, bear arms, assembly, etc.) while still allowing for future changes (the Bill of Rights being a major one). That’s not too rigid at all. Since the time of our independence, though, we have put the yoke of law on ourselves, sometimes to a fault. Two perfect examples – In 1988 Nuns of the Missionaries of Charity (an order headed by Mother Teresa herself) planned on building a homeless shelter in South Bronx. When they found a Madonna in a fire gutted building they thought that perhaps their mission was being blessed by The Almighty Himself. They met with the Mayor, bought the building (and one right beside it) for $1 each from New York City, and set aside $500,000 (a large sum, especially in 1988) for renovations. All was going well until their building permit was denied. The nuns, in addition to their vow of poverty, avoid the use of modern conveniences. Thus there were no appliances in the plan…and no elevators. New York City requires elevators in any new or renovated multistory building. The additional cost (plus the hassle of all of the hearings to get a waiver) caused the nuns to reconsider. Their efforts could be spent helping people elsewhere, without the hindrance of bureaucracy. Thus the homeless of South Bronx remained homeless, for want of an elevator.

The EPA usually does a fine job protecting the environment, but occasionally even they miss the mark. In one case they tried desperately to control benzene emissions. After much debate between scientists and technicians, they required specific equipment to be placed in the smokestack of particular facilities to control the benzene. One particular company was glad to comply, but to the tune of $31 Million at one of their refineries. A chance encounter a few years later led to an EPA agent sitting on the dock talking with an official from the company. The company had significant benzene emissions, but not from the smoke stack. The fugitive emissions were coming from the dock where the fuel was transferred. A simple (and relatively inexpensive) fix later, and the problem was abated. The goal of that Law (cleaner and safer air) was noble by anyone’s standard. The specifics of the law, however, totally missed the mark. They were specific, costly, and failed to solve the problem. Rigidity, as Darius discovered, is usually doomed to failure.

Philip Howard summarizes it nicely in his book when he says “Conquering human nature was not the idea when our founders devised a new nation around the freedom of each human. Avoiding coercion by making law into a detailed manual only assures another form of coercion. Modernizing democracy with a huge legal document crushes what may be one of democracy’s most important qualities, continual trial and error”. So I think it is high time that we start injecting a little of that common sense back into our system. We can start by educating the general public. Then we can start holding people responsible for their decisions. That includes holding ourselves responsible for our own actions. For every right that we claim, we must claim an equal responsibility. The Right to Bear Arms must be tempered with the responsibility to carry them safely, using them for the purposes of food or protection. The right to keep pets must be tempered with the responsibility to keep them safely, securely, and humanely. The right to speak freely must be tempered by the responsibility of thinking about the consequences of our words before they leave us. And the right to live in this free nation comes with the responsibility of working for it. To quote Ralf Nader “The only place where democracy comes before work is in the dictionary.”

Spring Break and Earth Week

What did you do for spring break? When I wasn't working on my house, creating curriculum, or just slaving away in general I actually took some time to enjoy my favorite pass time - being outdoors!

Early last week I got the chance to visit the nearest National Park - Congaree Swamp National Park . Despite the relative proximity to this park (slightly more than an hour drive) I am ashamed to say that I had NEVER been to visit! My friend and mentor Rudy Mancke told me that I would love it - and he was right on the money! Between the champion trees, the great weather, and the well placed boardwalks I was in heaven. The only thing that would have made it better would be finding snakes. But alas, it wasn't meant to be that day. On the positive side the kids loved the nature center, and they even became Junior Rangers!

Later on in the week I visited a State Natural Area that I hadn't been to in a couple of decades. Lee State Natural Area (formerly Lee State Park) is a beautiful park nestled along the Lynches River. Once again the weather was perfect. We saw one little snake (a banded water snake), an eastern fence lizard, and a whole bunch of Cricket Frogs (pictured above), all of which I photographed, GPS'd and sent to the Carolina Herp Atlas (more on this in a later post).

So now, here I am at the beginning of another Earth Week. Thanks (in large part) to my adventures into the 'wilderness' I have a renewed sense of why I do what I do. To quote poet and naturalist Baba Dioum: "In the end, we will protect only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." I am here to teach the next generation about what I love...and hope that they will protect it.

But we have to more than just hope that the next generation will take care of our problems in the future. We have to take actions now that will benefit us AND future generations (Sustainability). I think that is a large part of what Earthday (April 22nd) is about. So this week I have a long list of things to. Tomorrow I will be giving two talks to the college about sustainability in the form of energy conservation. I have some goodies to give away (CFL light bulbs, canvas grocery bags, and Earthday t-shirts to name a few), so we may get some interest. On Earthday I will be teaching elementary school kids about birds at Oakland Primary School. Why birds? Mr. Dioum said it best. While I'm away some of my students are going to be on campus educating others about our campus recycling program. After hours we are all headed to Downtown Sumter, where we are going to take part in the Climate Change spotlight conversation from ICLEI. Finally, on Saturday, we'll have a booth set up at Swan Lake as part of the Sustainable Sumter: Going Green is Living Green family day event.

It's going to be a busy week. I hope to see some of you out and about, perpetrating random acts of 'green'

Redneck Green

Are you feeling a little overwhelmed trying to protect our environment? Has Spring Fever seeped into your very essence, preventing you any 'real' progress at work? Are there large, unsightly old tractor tires in your neighborhood begging for a renewed lease on life? If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions then I have the solution for you!!!

Last weekend my wife wanted me to make some raised beds for our organic vegetable garden and a new strawberry garden that she wanted. I could have easily gone to the garden center of one of the many big box stores around town (Lowes, Wal-mart, K-mart, etc.) to buy ties or blocks to build the raised bed...but I had a different idea. Instead I went to the local tire dealer. That's right. The tire dealer. I still have a ways to go to get the garden done, but here are the humble beginnings:

Above you see the front two tires are the strawberry garden. The back two are going to be the jalapenos, cilantro, tomatillos, tomatoes, etc. Below you see the herb garden from last year. I hacked the rosemary back, but that is one TOUGH herb. I have a rosemary chicken recipe if anyone is interested.

And finally, a closeup of one of the raised bed 'containers' This particular tire came from an ISO 14001 factory. That means that it was produced as environmentally soundly as possible - and now its environmental life has been extended! A little horse manure mixed in with some ditch spoil and these babies will be ready to produce!

So get out there and garden! Avoid insecticides whenever possible (neonicotinoids have been linked to Colony Colapse Disorder (CCD)).

Once you finish your garden, if you still have energy and that 'engineering' drive, you should try to build a solar water heater or solar cooker. Or you could take all of those used tires to make a tire bale house.

Environmental Gradients; Poinsett State Park ATBI

Friday couldn't have been a better day for a lab! The weather was perfect, and I suspected that we may get lucky and see a herp or two. I was not disappointed. Our first goal for the day was to measure some environmental gradients, but before I could do that I had to take my students to check the old mill ruins on the downstream side of the lake. It's usually pretty snakey down there and I wanted to try my luck early. This is what we found:

My students tried to ID this as a copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix), but I told them that it is actually a close relative...the cottonmouth (A. piscivorus). Some people call this snake a water moccasin, but the correct common name is cottonmouth. While we we observing this individual another (probably a sibling of this one) snuck out from a crevice near my students. After the ensuing mayhem-students scattered in every direction- we managed to find two more cottonmouths in that same area. As much fun as I was having I knew we had work to do...so it was off to Coquina Trail. For some reason after the cottonmouth surprise my students were VERY focused on where they placed their feet. When we got to half way point I sent my students down into the gulley to start measuring their gradients

They started at the base of the gulley, which has a small stram running through the middle of it. I am not 100% certain as to the origin of this stream, but I suspect that it is an artesian well due to the unique terrain of Poinsett. Then they ran transects up the hill. For each square meter they determined the plant species present, the number of each species, and the diameter of any trees. Basic ecology states that abiotic factors (such as climate, soil type, moisture, and available minerals) will determine the flora types in an area. The flora types will determine fauna (of course this is a gross oversimplication, but I don't have enough space here for that lesson).

While my students busied themselves with their transects, I did a little survey for Poinsett's All Taxon Biodiversity Inventory. This is basically just a list of all species that have ever been found at Poinsett. It is a useful tool for writing management plans. I found sever species...but these were my favorite:

I found this little Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) near the peaks of one of the hills framing the half way point of Coquina Trail. She was very inquizitive.

This little cricket frog (Acris crepitans) was down in the drainage basin, happily hiding among the leaf litter.

This Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) is probably not the largest example of this species that I have ever seen, but with a 11.5 foot circumferece it was very impressive.

After a quick break for lunch we went back out to run a few more transects. At the shelter on Coquina Trail some of my truly devoted students found out the hard way that some environmental gradients are more sudden than others. This particular transect ran at better than a 45 degree slope from the lake

After all of our data was gathered we sat in the adirondack chairs at the ranger station and talked about the lab reports that I would, of course, expect from them. I hope that this was a genuine learning experience for my students. I have just one more picture that I want to leave you with. I found these to cottonmouths in the Beidler Impound during a brief exploratory journey that I took after lunch while I waited for my students return.

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

While some of you went all out to show your valentines that you care with the traditional chocolate and roses I gave my wife the gift that keeps on giving - BIODIVERSITY!! Several years ago a late icestorm killed this pine. My wife wanted me to cut it down, but it was far enough away from the house and the dog pens that I convinced her to let me leave it. Lucky her - she got the opportunity to photograph this beautiful pileated woodpecker!

We need to recognize that in order to sustain biodiversity we need to have a variety of habitats and microhabitats - and that includes old dead pines. I can't recall where - but I certainly recall reading that in terms of biomass dead logs are some of the most productive microhabitats. So next year when you're shopping for that perfect valentines gift, give the gift of biodiversity. And maybe instead of roses and chocolate you can get your significant other organic chocolate and live native plants for the yard :).

Ripples in a pond

Whenever I begin to lose hope about the future of the world SOMETHING always happens to restore it. This Saturday was my most recent moment. I traveled to Clemson's Sandhill REC to a coaches workshop for the SC Envirothon. This is the first year that I've helped out with it, and I am very impressed thus far. The teacher/coaches that showed up gave up a precious Saturday so that they could get their students enthused about the environment. Now THAT is dedication. I promised those teachers that I would have some information for them here to take to their students...so here we go:

They should know what ecosystem services are http://www.uvm.edu/giee/publications/Nature_Paper.pdf
They should know where most of our medicine comes from.
http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/ftc_MYarticle.pdf

They should be familiar with some of the major threatened and endangered species in South Carolina (Species of Concern) – Examples: shortnose sturgeon, flatwoods salamander, bog turtle, Schweinitz’s sunflower, Carolina heelsplitter, wood stork, red-cockaded woodpecker, mountain sweet pitcher plant, manatee, longleaf pine
a. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/cwcs/pdf/scwildlifearticle.pdf
b. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/cwcs/plan/Chapter2.pdf
c. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/cwcs/index.html


Biodiversity
· ESA Biodiversity Fact Sheet - http://www.esa.org/education_diversity/factsheets.php
· ESA Issues in Ecology, Number 4, 1999. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Maintaining Natural Life Support Processes. http://www.esa.org/science_resources/issues/FileEnglish/issue4.pdf
·

Ecosystem Services
· ESA Ecosystem Services Fact Sheet - http://www.esa.org/education_diversity/factsheets.php
· ESA Issues in Ecology, Number 4, 1999. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Maintaining Natural Life Support Processes. Ecosystem Services: Benetifts Supplied to Human Societies by Natural Ecosystems. http://www.esa.org/science_resources/issues/FileEnglish/issue2.pdf
·

Medicinal Plants
· New Scientist article - http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126903.200-medicinal-plants-on-verge-of-extinction.html
· World Health Organization - http://www.who.int/topics/plants_medicinal/en/index.html
· List of drugs derived from plants from about.com - http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa061403a.htm

Endangered Species Act
· Fish and Wildlife Service- main page- http://www.fws.gov/endangered/whatwedo.html
· Fish and Wildlife Service – brief overview - http://www.fws.gov/endangered/factsheets/ESA_basics.pdf

Biodiversity and Climate Change
· United Nations Environmental Program - http://www.unep-wcmc.org/climate/default.aspx

Well, there's a beginning for you. The camcorder died, so I won't be able to get the actual presentation to you all, but I am working on alternative means. Keep your eyes on this space, and as I gather more information I will get it out to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me. Thank you all for being ripples in the pond.

Bream Buster Ecology; my name is dirt

Well, anytime I run a lab for my students something has to go wrong. It's one of those laws of nature. This Ecology Lab was no different. After Meeting at the South Carolina Environmental Training Center for some last minute instructions we caravaned Manchester State Forest's Toumey Tract.

This Area was purchased by the state of South Carolina fairly recently, and converted from agriculture to silviculture. The Forestry Comission had a few difficulties with this Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) stand, so we came to check it out. Our job was to determine if the soil pH was proper for this species (longleaf pines prefer acidic soils).

After a very informative talk from our local soil experts (from the USDA/NRCS) we set out to collect some data. After hours of grueling sampling we ran into the major glitch for this lab. Our pH probe had lost its calibration while bumping down the dirt roads of Wedgefield SC. In the words of Homer Simpson "D'oh" No worries. Luckily our sampling methodology was such that I can sample the pH Monday. Yeah for me!

When we broke for lunch the 'old folks' hung around Toumey for some bologna sandwiches, boiled p-nuts, chips, and pretzels (anything tastes like gourmet when you're out in the field). The younger crowd jumped in their trucks and headed to Batens for lunch. To my knowledge none of them was brave enough to try fried 'gator tail. It's pretty tasty, but probably not a good idea when you're in the field, far away from modern conveniences.

After lunch we investigated seedling survivorship in some other tracts around Toumey. Our experts from the SC Forestry Commission taught us how to use their secret weapon, a bream buster, to calculate survivorship (hey, nobody ever said that science had to be super technical). By extending the bream buster 11.8' and counting the surviving seedlings within that area you can figure out how many seedlings have survived in 1/100th of an acre. After you take a representative sample you can then extrapolate to the entire area.

All in all, it was an excellent day. I would like to extend a special thanks to Jackie and Caleb from the USDA/NRCS and Scott and Mike from the South Carolina Forestry Commission for their time and expertise. Thanks guys!

First blog & testudines

Well, welcome to my first blog!!! I have found, after several semesters in an online environment, that one thing that I miss about the traditional classroom is sitting around before (or after) a class shootin' the breeze. I found that those times are best for connecting with students and sharing ideas that are mostly just peripherally related to the class. Enter the Blog - I can now share ideas and happenings throughout the CCTC EVT program, as well as other environmental issues that come to my attention. I can share ideas and get feedback. This is going to be fun!

I've had a lot on my mind this week, but one issue keeps popping up. See this beautiful old turtle? Doesn't she look delicious? Well, not to me, but to many Asian people she's a mobile meal on the half shell. I certainly don't have any problems with people eating turtles...per se. The problem seems to be unregulated collection of this and other 'non-game' species. You see, if I were to walk out of the woods with a bag full of quail I would be arrested and fined BIG. Conversely, If I were to walk out of the woods with a bag full of turtles hardly anybody would bat an eyelash. If it were a bag full of venomous snakes I'd probably get some strange looks and a few 'atta boys' for ridding the woods of such a 'horrible' creature. I am afraid that the general population just doesn't understand Ecology sufficiently to comprehend exactly what happens when ANY species is removed from an area en masse. It's just NOT a good thing. What we need is for all of the stakeholders (Asian food market providers, pet trade collectors, personal pet collectors, wildlife biologists, conservationists, and DNR/government) need to get together and have a little chat. We want everybodies needs to be met now - and in the future. That's a little concept we 'tree huggers' call SUSTAINABILITY :-)

Well that's enough of a rant for today. My next planned blog will probably be this weekend when I show and tell everybody about our field trip to Manchester State Forest. Hope to see you then.