Oak-o-logy
: area of knowledge : theory : science related to the genus Quercus.
Wisconsin DNR Conservation Biologist Jared Urban is one of the preeminent Oakologists in the state. Restoring and preserving oak savannahs and woodlands is an important goal of the DNR’s Endangered Resources Bureau, which has been newly christened as the Natural Heritage Conservation Bureau, and Jared has been focusing on this as he helps manage the State Natural Areas in Southeastern Wisconsin. Organizing volunteers is an important part of this effort and I had the pleasure of participating yesterday, along with the UW Whitewater Ecology Club, in a work day at the Oak Opening SNA in the southern unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest.
The skies were threatening rain as Jared, and fellow Oakologists Ginny Coburn, Zach Kastern and Diane filled ingeniously engineered stump poison delivery dauber devices. Note the use of a sawdust filled tray to catch any spills (thanks Zach!)
By the way, if you are receiving this post via email, you should be able to double click the video frame above to watch it on the internet. Much to my chagrin, being a 25 year I.T. veteran, none of the links to embedded Youtube videos delivered via email posts have worked since July 1 of this year. Oh well… if you want to see any of the cool videos I have linked to since then, you’ll have to visit this site. Hopefully the video links in the emails are working now.
Jared explains what we are trying to do and how we will do it.
The UW Whitewater Ecology club made an excellent contribution!
The rain arrived just after noon and I took shelter in Jared’s truck as we shared lunch and conversation. I wanted to finish cutting a swath of brush between two of the brush piles we started, and around 2:00pm the rain quit and I was able to get after it. Here is what it looked like at the end of the day.
The sun made a brief appearance and I saw blue skies behind the gray clouds that were rushing by so I headed over to Bald Bluff hoping to see a cool sunset.
Sundown at Bald Bluff.
Instead, the rain returned and chased me back to my truck. Nevertheless, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day.
See you at The Springs!
Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail 
Sorry, my first attempt to fix the problem with embedded youtube videos did not work so I had to post this story again to your email inbox. I confirmed that youtube links are working now in the emails delivered to subscribers.
paul
This is the first time I have re-posted a story and when I deleted the first version of the post, all of the full-size JPG files corresponding to the pictures were also moved to the trash bin leaving only thumbnails behind. Thus, if you click or double click any of the photos in the new version of this post that was delivered to your email, it will not be able to find the corresponding full resolution picture. I had to reload all of the pictures and re-add them to this post to get the thumbnail picture visible in the post correctly associated with the corresponding full-size image.
paul
Jared explained that he helps manage the State Natural Areas in Southern Wisconsin. Nate Fayram is the southern Wisconsin SNA manager.
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