Rice Lake School District Outdoor Classroom

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Rice Lake School District Outdoor Classroom
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Objectives of this Power Point

• To share with viewers the history of the pond
  area and document how the school has used this
  area.

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Original Owners

• 1848 Wisconsin becomes a state the state is the
  first owner.
• Ezra Cornell bought the property from the state
  in 1866 and donated it to Cornell University in
  1874.
• The University sold it to Knapp-Stout Logging
  Company in 1878.
• Knapp-Stout sold it to John Olson Sten in 1895.
  The land had many owners from 1895 to about 1945
  when Edward Fronk bought it. Edward Fronk created
  the pond and farmed the area. It is believed that
  Fronk built the pond so he could enjoy nature.
• Jerome and Loreena Palmquist purchased the
  property from Edward Fronk around 1980.

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How the school became owners

• In 1983 Kris Schilling, Middle School Science
  Teacher, received permission from Jerome
  Palmquist to take her students to the pond to
  study nature.
• Mrs. Schilling had the students carry out several
  projects, one of her favorites was having the
  kids keep personal journals on the pond.

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Organisms Sighted by students at the Pond Over
the Years.

• Mammals
• deer, raccoon, opossum, skunk, cottontail
  rabbit, muskrat, several species of mice, moles
  and shrews, rats.

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• Amphibians/Reptiles
• green frog, leopard frog, painted turtle,
  American toad, spotted salamander, common garter
  snake, red bellied snake, snapping turtle, tree
  frogs

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• Birds
• Swallow, swamp sparrow, red-winged blackbird,
  yellow-headed blackbird, grackles, crows,
  robins, hummingbirds, nuthatches, various
  woodpeckers including a pileated woodpecker,
  chickadee, hawks, mallards, bluebirds, Canadian
  geese, owls and more.

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• This is a picture of three high school students
  helping five elementary students install bluebird
  houses around the perimeter of the pond for
  Environmental/Community Service Day in the spring
  of 2006. You can see the bluebird house in the
  background. There are about six or seven of these
  houses around the perimeter of the pond. To the
  right is a picture of Mr. Anderson helping
  elementary students find suitable locations for
  the bird houses they just built. Student points
  out bird nest in lower left picture.

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Water Critters known to students as
Macroinvertebrates found at the pond.

• Zooplankton include copepods and water fleas as
  well as others like mosquito larvae. Below is a
  digital picture taken from a digital microscope
  by a high school student of the breathing tube of
  a mosquito larvae found at the pond.

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• At one point in the mid 90s there were as many
  as 25-30 different macroinvertebrates found in
  the pond. Below is a picture of a cattail grub.
  This is larvae that spends the winter in a
  cattail then metamorphosis's into an adult in the
  spring, mates and lays eggs on the new cattail in
  the summer. The eggs hatch into these larvae
  which winter and feed on the cattail and the
  cycle continues. This picture was taken with a
  digital microscope.

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• Here are a couple more digital pictures. On the
  left is a fairy shrimp and on the right is a
  caddis fly larvae both found at the pond.

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• This is a picture of one of many Mr. Graffs many
  summer school classes while collecting
  macroinvertebrates at the pond in 2004.

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• More pictures of collecting macroinvertabrates.

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• This is a list of the various macroinvertabrates
  found at the pond
• Isopods
• Scuds
• 3 species of mayflies
• Several species of dragonfly and damselfly nymphs
• Several water bugs including marsh treaders,
  water scorpions, water striders, water boatman,
  giant waterbugs, pygmy backswimmers,
  backswimmers, whirlagig beetles, other beetles,
  caddisflies, mosquito larvae, phantom midges,
  craneflies, true midges, water mites and a couple
  kinds of snails.

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Bulldozers in 1992

• In 1992 Kris Schilling, middle school science
  teacher who had been using the pond area with her
  students, noticed bulldozers filling in the pond
  in preparation for development. She contacted
  the owner Jerome Palmquist and he agreed to sell
  the pond area to the school district for student
  learning.

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1993 Chlorox Grant

• In May of 1993 Kris was able to obtain a 10,000
  grant from the Chlorox Company Foundation.
• The pond area, 2.83 acres was purchased for
  school used for 5,000. from Jerome Palmquist in
  late 1993.
• The other 5,000 was used to make improvements.

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Late 1993 Stan Buchanon

• The problem at the time of purchase was How can
  we make it a pond again?
• The pond had been bulldozed and was being
  prepared for development and didnt exist. So it
  had to be rebuilt.
• Stan Buchanon, a board member for the school
  district was able to help with this problem.
• He was able to work out an agreement with county
  and state officials to have the pond built as a
  wetland mitigation project.
• About the time the pond was destroyed the
  Department of Transportation had been making
  improvements on county highway B near Silver Lake
  using federal funds. Some wetlands had been
  destroyed while making the road improvements so
  the Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
  required them to rebuild wetlands to make up for
  those filled in and damaged during road
  construction. Therefore, Stan Buchanon was able
  to get federal funding to pay for 80 of this
  wetland mitigation project, the county and school
  district paid the rest. The new pond was
  constructed by RUST Environmental for about
  115,000 in the summer of 1994.

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1994 Future Plans/Survey

• Kris Schilling had discussed ideas for the new
  design with her students here is a schematic for
  one idea.

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1994 Pond Construction Complete

• In 1994 Rust Environmental made plans for
  reconstructing the pond. These include a grade
  plan for elevation, the design for the release
  valve and a planting plan. The planting plan is
  the next slide.

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Pond Usage in the late 90s.

• The pond became a very important place to learn
  about various topics. During the late 90s many
  classes were making use of the pond. Here are
  some examples.
• Kindergarten was using the pond to discuss and
  observe the seasons. They took field trips in the
  fall, winter and spring.
• Some English classes were doing journaling
  projects.
• Agriculture classes used the area, several
  science classes utilized the area for things such
  as ecology scavenger hunts, observations, making
  plant improvements, and identifying organisms in
  and around the pond to name a few.
• Several other classes K-12 used the pond.
• There were at one time somewhere between 25-35
  different macroinvertabrates observed by high
  school aquatic ecology students.

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1999 Easement City/School District

• The area around the pond was being developed into
  the Royal Heights/Palmquist Addition around 1999
  and so the city made an easement with the school
  district to use the pond as a storm sewer holding
  area. This means the school district allowed the
  city to drain storm sewers into the pond from the
  new development. While this was not popular with
  some people because it caused some major
  ecological changes it was still a good thing
  overall because this reduces the amount of
  pollution going directly into Rice Lake or the
  Red Cedar River.

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The Following Years

• During the time between 1999 and 2004 several
  houses were developed in the area and with each
  big rain storm, sediment and other pollutants
  drained into the pond. This reduced the diversity
  of organisms considerably and plant growth
  increased dramatically changing the ecology of
  the pond.

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• By about 2003 the plants had filled up a large
  area of the pond and did a good job absorbing the
  incoming nutrients. Clean water from the pond
  drained to another sewer on the south end of the
  pond and eventually released into the river.
• It was getting increasingly difficult to get
  students (especially small elementary kids) close
  enough to the open water to take samples or make
  observations.
• Sierra Club and the Rice Lake Mens Club donated
  money to purchase a dock so students could carry
  out their lessons. The dock was purchased in the
  spring of 2004. Thanks ?

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• By 2005 the pond was getting very difficult to
  use with students and it was quite evident that
  some changes needed to be made.
• The city worked hard to dredge the pond and
  repair the outlet area as well as clean out the
  incoming storm sewer. They said there were many
  rats living in the sewer.
• The city, as part of the 1999 easement agreement
  is working hard to maintain the pond for both
  educational purposes and to filter storm sewage.

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• The following are pictures of the pond in the
  fall and summer of 2004.

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• This is a picture of an overgrown trail.

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• Another picture of an overgrown trail

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• This picture shows the over growth of plants with
  new development in the background.

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• The next 2 pictures are of the damaged outfall
  area where clean water from the pond is to drain
  to a storm sewer leading to the river. The drain
  is buried and clogged.

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• This is a picture of the clogged storm sewer
  draining into the pond.

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Dredging in the summer of 2005
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Fall 1995

• When Kris Schilling received the original grant
  in 1993 there wasnt enough money to finish all
  the plans. The trails were not ever really
  constructed and no bridges or benches were ever
  completed. So with the help of Mr. Majewski and
  Mr. Zuzek along with a the Barron Leadership
  County Committee we were able to obtain a 20,000
  environmental grant from 3M to do bioremediation
  and rehabilitation. Some of this money was used
  for the school forest and some was used to
  develop a trail and add native plants.

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• Here are some pictures of trail construction

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• The finished trail goes around the entire pond.
  The city made a ramp off Royal Crest road to make
  it handicap accessible.

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• The ground for the trail was compacted and gravel
  was added which would allow for infiltration. In
  late fall of 2005 several classes from high
  school science and middle school agriculture
  spent several days planting native plants
  recommended by Dragonfly Gardens. An estimated
  2500 plants were put in. Here is a list of the
  plants put in and some pictures of the students
  working on it.
• Wet species include Porcupine Sedge, Awl Fruit
  Sedge, Hop Sedge, Small Fruited Bullrush,
  Deflexed Bottlerush Sedge, Bebbs Sedge, Path
  Sedge, Torreys Rush, Ironweed, Sweet Black Eyed
  Susan, New England Aster, Flat Top Aster, Blue
  Lobelia, Blue Vervain
• Mesic species include Big Bluestem, Switch
  Grass, Indian Grass, Orange Coneflower, Anise
  Hyssop, Frost Aster, Grass Leaf Goldenrod

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• In 1996 students in Mr. Graff's homeroom built
  benches and Mr. Andersons students helped 5th
  graders build and place bluebird houses around
  the pond. This was done on Environmental/Community
  Service Day 2006. Here are some pictures.

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Tansy

• We are looking forward to a Tansy release project
  for Environmental/Community Service Day this
  spring. This plant is an exotic nuisance and is
  very invasive. It is taking over the pond area
  and we will be releasing about 15-20 students to
  pull this plants out so the natives arent
  threatened.This will keep the area as diverse as
  possible. Learn more about tansy
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tansy

http//www.mda.state.mn.us/plants/thicket/volume5n
o1/common_tansy.htm
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• The learning experiences at the pond or Outdoor
  Classroom would not be possible without all the
  work that Kris Schilling did to acquire the
  property and Stan Buchanon did to acquire the
  funds to rebuild. Many other organizations have
  contributed The Chlorox Company Foundation, 3M,
  Rice Lake Mens Club, City of Rice Lake and
  Sierra Club.
• This is information I could gather from my files
  but please keep in mind that this area is used my
  many other teachers and organizations.
• People living in the area use it as a walking
  trail.
• Local kids use it to discover nature in the
  summer.
• Thanks for your interest in the pond.
• Dan Graff, Rice Lake High School Biology Teacher.

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Zamberk Exchange Students
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• Thank you to our good friends and sister city of
  Zamberk, Czech Republic for sending us such
  wonderful students. I hope you enjoyed this
  presentation.