Two nest boxes and a feeder stand were recently installed in the backyard of the new Tree House SLU (small living unit) on Rowland Ave., on campus.
Two nest boxes and a feeder stand were recently installed in the backyard of the new Tree House SLU (small living unit) on Rowland Ave., on campus. Alumni Dick Tuttle and student Eva Blockstein installed the boxes and are maintaining them. The nest boxes were taken from the old Tree House SLU where they raised Carolina Chickadees and House Wrens during their stay there. The feeder stand’s top is many decades old but it has a new layer of paint.
Nest box 2 is facing the sidewalk on Rowland Ave. so students can see it as they walk to-and-from classes. Number-2’s label should cause the curious to ask, “So, where is number 1?”
Eva filled a feeder with sunflower seed and it now hangs from the feeder stand. The second feeder will be seen by veteran birds and will speed up the use of the new offerings.
For the Spring of 2018, Dr. Amador-Rowley and Dr. Allen along with student Janelle Valdinger have organized a “group independent study” course focused on creating better maps for areas of rural Tanzania through a non-profit organization called Crowd2Map.
For the Spring of 2018, Dr. Amador-Rowley and Dr. Allen along with student Janelle Valdinger have organized a “group independent study” course focused on creating better maps for areas of rural Tanzania through a non-profit organization called Crowd2Map.
No experience necessary!
You can take the class either Tuesday (Dr. Amador-Rowley) or Thursday (Dr. Allen) afternoon.
Space is limited!
Contact Dr. Rowley (nsamador@owu.edu) or Dr. Allen (alallen@owu.edu) ASAP.
Probably best if you fill out a Change-of-Schedule Form from the Registrar’s site and use that to enroll in the class.
Independent Study Description: Students will help create better maps of rural Tanzania, particularly those areas where girls are at risk of Female Genital Mutilation. Students will liaise with volunteers in Tanzania and worldwide. Adding roads and buildings from satellite images into OpenStreetMap will allow activists to better protect girls at risk of FGM and allow better delivery and monitoring of services, as well as improved navigation. After training, students will also give feedback to new mappers and assist with validation. They will liaise with community mappers on the ground and also create village level printable maps using QGIS. We will work with small communities that do not typically show up on maps. The open-source map developed in this independent study effort will be open to everyone and help better planning of services. No previous mapping experience necessary!!
It took us more than a year but we now are able to offer an ACTV (Activity Course) with sustainability content. This started as a student initiative.
For the spring of 2018, this course will be offered during the first and second module for .25 credit. Thus the course is a great add-on to your normal class load.
Please sign up for the class, and urge others to do so. We can offer additional topics (organic gardening, repair, etc.) in the future if this one flies.
The instructor is Aleks Ilik: he is an OWU grad and happens to be married to Kristina Bogdanov (Art). Aleks runs the Blue House Worm Farm in town and is currently working with students Matt Burke and Peyton Hardesty on a worm composting table at MTSO. One goal for the course is to expand this effort to OWU’s campus.
Chris Fink of HHK is listed as the instructor, but that is only because Aleks is not yet in the OWU system.
Meetings are scheduled Wednesday, noon-1 and Friday 2:10-4pm. Location TBA.
The Activity course will expand this effort, working with AVI and other folks to reduce waste on campus.
Presented at the ELDAAG Fall 2018 Regional Division Meeting, Ohio Northern University
Using DJI Phantom 4 drones, we captured high-resolution imagery off the coast of Belize. This provides geospatial data to help explain observed land surface changes. Imagery gathered during the data collection process replaces outdated and low-resolution satellite imagery. We use ESRI’s Drone2Map software to process data and create orthomosaics of individual islands. These orthomosaics are used for digitizing to identify several aspects of the islands. We interviewed locals that either reside, work, or visit the islands. After analyzing the latter information, some themes include: how island boundaries have changed over the years, the effects of mangrove loss, and information on structures (seawalls, buildings, docks). All data is open to being used for the betterment of these island communities. The work has significant implications for using geospatial technologies in Belize and globally, to provide much needed local knowledge on the impacts and adaptations of these islands.
Keeping the Culture Alive: Using Representation to Combat Gentrification in Urban Communities
Presented at the ELDAAG Fall 2018 Regional Division Meeting, Ohio Northern University
This poster summarizes research done in Baltimore, Washington D.C. and San Francisco in Summer 2017. I examined the importance of urban murals and gardens as representations of real Black, Latinx, and Asian communities rather than tourist attractions. I found that many recent gentrification efforts have caused concern for these minority communities because they do not want to have to leave a place where their roots are so deeply sewn, yet tourism is important to maintain each neighborhood’s economic structure. The murals display residents’ pride and connection to their communities. Often, they depict minority leaders whose work was impactful or inspirational. The gardens show the citizen’s efforts in not only trying to stay in their communities but bettering their communities. While many of these neighborhoods are seen as run down and unwelcoming, they are actually representative of culturally rich areas at risk of being negatively impacted by gentrification.
The worm composting table constructed by Matt Burke (right) intern at MTSO and member of the Summer Sustainability Practicum. A few of the other practicum members are shown in the photograph, on MTSO’s Seminary Hill Farm, where the practicum is held. The worm table construction was guided by Aleks Ilic of Blue House Worm Farms, in Delaware Ohio.
Students: It’s time to act together for Spring 2019 externships and Summer 2019 internships in the OWU region. These opportunities are available to any student, freshmen through senior.
We would like you to take the initiative and contact us if you are interested, as soon as possible, so we can work to line up opportunities for you.
Externships happen during the semester, typically unpaid and for credit (GEOG 495 or ENVS 495) and are about 8 hours a week.
Internships happen during the summer, typically paid and can be for credit (GEOG 495 or ENVS 495) and range from part to full time.
We are always adding partners and work to find specific opportunities if we know students are interested.
Please contact Dr. John Krygier (jbkrygier@owu.edu) ASAP if you are interested.
Below find some internship/externship opportunities: This is not a complete list!
Summer Sustainability Seminar & Practicum:
Tentatively scheduled for 3 hours a week for 10 weeks over the summer, meeting (and eating) on MTSO’s campus. This seminar can be taken for credit if you wish. We hope to get many of the area summer interns together, including students from Otterbein and MTSO.
If you are interested in this funded, 10-week research program with OWU faclty (for students between their junior and senior years) please review information about the program here and talk to faculty you are interested in working with. If you are unsure, ask Dr. Krygier or Dr. Anderson. Students may attend the summer Sustainability Seminar and Practicum as part of the SSRP.
MTSO is a leader in food and environmental justice and this summer are tentatively offering several full-time internships which come with lodging, a stipend, and some food. Work last summer included the development of a worm composting table, work on pond restoration and assistance on the farm and with the farm’s food justice efforts. A great place to get all hot and sweaty working on a real farm growing real food for a noble purpose.
Delaware Public Utilities and GIS Department:
Typically working with OWU student and Public Utility employee (and all around terrific person) Janelle Valdinger, on various environmental and sustainability efforts. Recent student-involved projects include bio-retention cell planning and construction, utilities tracking and mapping, stormwater drain netting, green-roofed bike racks, composting and
Delaware Watershed and Sustainability Coordinator’s Office: Caroline Cicerchi:
Caroline and Janelle (Public Utilities) work closely together on sustainability, environmental and ecological projects. Caroline, like Janelle, is a masterful project coordinator and terrific to work with.
One of the longest-running relationships with our program is with the Stratford Ecological Center and Farm, just south of campus. OWU typically has 3-5 externships each semester, and several full-time internships each summer. Work is on projects related to the Center farm, its plants, and animals, its nature preserve, as well as environmental education with the many K-8 summer camps offered at Stratford.
With nine parks county-wide and more on the horizon, Preservation Parks is the primary organization developing and maintaining a range of green spaces which also include a working farm. A range of semester externships and summer internships focused on ecological projects, environmental education, outreach and other efforts. If you like to dress up like a 1930s farmer, this is your gig.
One of the largest water companies in the state of Ohio, both semester externships and summer internships are typically available. Projects include water infrastructure mapping, water sampling and analysis, and water education.
If your idea of summer fun is driving large tractors and bulldozers, look no further. Price Farms Organics is a regional leader in composting and typically employes a student or two to help with the practical aspects of large-scale composting.
We are pleased to announce that rising junior Janelle Valdinger has been awarded the 2018-19 Libby Reed Scholarship, currently $9,000 per academic year, to be extended through her senior year at OWU.
“The most selective colleges and universities, such as Ohio Wesleyan, have students and professors whose thirst for knowledge surpasses those of most of their peers. They are eager to transcend the ordinary challenge of everyday courses and laboratory work and adopt a pace appropriate to their extraordinary talents and motivation. Incredible professors make indelible imprints on these lives. Professor Libby Reed exemplified such a thirst for learning complemented by an intense desire and talent for teaching.”
“In recognition of Professor Reed’s enthusiasm and dedication to education and her persistence in teaching him to write, Richard Alexander ‘ 82 established The Libby Reed Scholarship in the Geosciences. The income from this endowed fund will be used annually to award a scholarship to a rising Junior who exemplifies academic excellence and who shows promise and dedication to the study of the geosciences.”
Janelle Valdinger
Janelle works for the City of Delaware Public Utilities Department, as a GIS Technician, and chose to finish her undergraduate coursework (started at OSU) at OWU last year. In the short time Janelle has been at OWU she has had a profound impact on campus by engaging with faculty, staff, and students on collaborative projects of interest to both OWU and the City of Delaware.
In the Fall of 2017 she developed a project proposal to install two bio-retention cells (rain gardens) on OWU’s campus, near Branch Ricky Arena. The cells were installed in the spring of 2018. Funds for the gardens came from a City of Delaware grant, and OWU contributes to the maintenance of the gardens. An OWU press release written by Cole Hatcher details the project and Janelle’s collaborators on the project: “Purposeful Plantings.”
John Krygier, co-director of the Environment & Sustainability Program at OWU has been working with Janelle, city Watershed and Sustainability Coordinator Caroline Cicerchi on a series of student collaborative projects, internships and externships. The ultimate goal is to provide students with engaged, OWU Connection experiences that are intellectually and practically challenging and that benefit OWU and the City.
Projects guided by Valdinger, Cicerchi and Krygier underway this semester include:
City Public Utilities Externship: Genaro Garcia (Environmental Studies, ’20): Gain practical knowledge in watershed planning, water quality monitoring efforts, water quality improvement initiatives, storm-water management planning, MS4 permit implementation, the use of GIS software and equipment, reading/understanding record drawings, grant research, community outreach, professional conferences, and formal meetings. Build critical thinking, research, and writing skills by assisting with multiple projects developed in collaboration with Public Utilities staff, and submitting a final report on this work.
Bio-Retention Cells: Kayla Adolph (Geography, Politics & Government ’19): Assess and develop a plan for a bio-retention cell near OWU’s Merrick Hall and one near OWU’s Citizens of the World House.
Green-Roofed Bike Racks: Celeste Wallick (Environmental Studies, ’20): Develop a plan and budget for one or two covered bike racks on OWU’s campus and in Delaware. Ideally, these bike racks would have a green, living roof, which would allow OWU students to do research on the plants on an actual green roof.
Delaware Food Scraps Composting Project: Kait Aromy (Botany, Environmental Studies, ’20): Working with Worthington (OH)-based Compost Exchange/Innovative Organics on a drop-off program for food scraps at the Delaware Farmer’s Market.
Storm Drain Net Project: Brianna Graber (Zoology, ’20): Working with City Public Utilities to fund and install a storm drain net over one or two major storm drains in the City of Delaware. These nets catch larger items washed into the storm drains before they get into the Olentangy River. The material caught by the net will be analyzed to develop a sense of the kinds of larger waste being washed into the Olentangy via the storm drain sewers, leading to strategies to reduce such waste at the origin.
E Coli Testing for Delaware Run: Ashley McCracken (Chemistry, ’19): Delaware Run, which flows along OWU’s campus and empties into the Olentangy River, has had a notable increase in e coli detected by tests on Run water done over the past few years. The e coli counts are particularly high during the increasing number of storm events. Ashley McCracken, a senior Chemistry major and Geography minor is developing a procedure for a lower-cost method to test for e coli, allowing us to do more sampling and testing of the water and, hopefully, determine the source of the e coli contamination.
Storm Water Awareness: Cole Petty (Business, ’19): Developing an interactive presentation and short “field” experience for city of Delaware 4th grade students, focused on understanding the problem of stormwater pollution. The effort includes an exploration of stormwater drains near the elementary schools, which will be marked with “Drains to the River” plaques.
Trashy Art: Shayla Scheitler (Environmental Studies, ’20): An environmental art project, using an array of spectacular and mundane items extracted from waterways in the city of Delaware. An assemblage will be partially created with these items, and a Peace and Justice House (SLU) open house held, where students and other visitors can manipulate the items and ponder the role of waste in our environment.
“City of Delaware Public Utilities Department geographic information system (GIS) technician Janelle Valdinger, left, shows co-worker Ron Spring how to update work orders in the field using one of the department’s new tablets.”
World-famous OSU researcher Lonnie G. Thompson is coming to Delaware this October.
He will speak on “Past and Contemporary Climate Change: The Evidence, People, and Our Options” on Thurs., Oct. 25 (7-9 pm) at the Andrews House, 39 W. Winter St. The event is sponsored by the Central Ohio Communities Project, Sustainable Delaware Ohio & the Delaware Chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
Paleoclimatologist Thompson is best known for drilling and analyzing ice cores from ice caps and mountain glaciers in all continents, including in the tropical areas. Miles of his ice cores are stored at OSU where Thompson works at the Byrd Polar Research Center. Closely observing and measuring ice caps and glaciers around the world, Thompson noticed they were steadily retreating and even vanishing. Ice that was thousands of years old has now disappeared. These variations were far outside normal weather and climate variability and served as proof that the world’s climate is indeed warming.
Thompson has written 165 papers (according to Wikipedia) and received countless grants, awards, and honors. In 2008, Time Magazine named him as one of the “Heroes of the Environment.” A fellow researcher, Mark Bowen, published a book on Lonnie Thompson in 2005, called Thin Ice: Unlocking the Secrets of Climate in the World’s Highest Mountains.
Born in 1948, Thompson is now 70. After a successful heart transplant in 2012, which was national front-page news, he appears to be healthy and active again. He and his wife, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, also a paleoclimatologist, live in Clintonville.
Above (from left): Emily Howald, Holly Keating, Kait Aromy, and Eva Blockstein
Emily Howald received the 2018 Richard B. Alexander Award for Excellence in Environmental Studies at the Environment & Sustainability Program’s year-end event, in April of 2018. Emily is currently a Graduate Fellow at The Ohio State University, in the Department of Environment & Natural Resources.
Emily exceeded the requirements of the Alexander Award, which includes
GPA: 3.5 or above
If an ES major is elected to Phi Beta Kappa then that student should also receive the Alexander Award
Campus environmental activism
Statewide or national activism
Emily also received E&S Program Honors for her research project and paper entitled “An Unlikely Alliance: Endangered Species Conservation on the Military Estate.”
Emily’s accomplishments also include, Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, Mortar Board, Phi Eta Sigma and she was awarded the Bridge Builder Golden Bishop Award.
While at OWU, Emily was instrumental in the three-year process behind our recently adopted Sustainability Plan. The plan was largely the work of students in collaboration with faculty and staff at OWU. The last year consisted of Emily meeting with diverse groups and individuals across campus, including administrators, faculty committees, campus Buildings & Grounds, food service, cleaning service, student organizations, and student government. The effort concluded with a lunch with Rock Jones, President of OWU, where she convinced him to support the adoption of the Plan.
Emily and faculty member John Krygier co-wrote a book chapter on experiences getting sustainability on the agenda at OWU with grass-roots, campus-wide efforts. The chapter was published in a book edited by OWU alumni Woody Clark (’67). Clark has been long involved with environmental and sustainability efforts. The second edition of his Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook (December 2017 info here and here) contains the book chapter, entitled “‘Scrappy” Sustainability at Ohio Wesleyan University.”
Emily was the Sustainability intern during her senior year and co-chaired OWU’s Sustainability Task Force. She was involved in dozens of campus sustainability projects and exemplifies the spirit of “scrappy sustainability” at OWU. She was also involved in statewide student environmental efforts.
Eva Blockstein at the Spring 2018 Environment & Sustainability program get-together.
Branch Rickey Rain Garden (Bio-retention) Development on OWU Campus
Participants: Janelle Valdinger (City of Delaware, OWU), Dr. John Krygier (OWU Geography & Environment & Sustainability), Brad Stanton (City of Delaware), Perry Mickley (City of Delaware), Department of Parks and Recreation (City of Delaware), Department of Engineering (City of Delaware), Carolyn Cicerichi (City of Delaware)
Contact: Janelle Valdinger (JValdinger@delawareohio.net), John Krygier (jbkrygier@owu.edu)
This rain garden project is the outcome of an Environment & Sustainability program student project, in collaboration with the campus Sustainability Task Force, OWU Buildings & Grounds, and the City of Delaware.
Ohio Wesleyan University was established in 1842, in one building (Elliot Hall). Elliot was built near a sulfur spring, which flowed into the Delaware Run, near the earliest settlements in the area (upper green oval, below) The proposed rain garden is located along an unnamed stream just south of the sulfur spring and Delaware Run. The stream was buried sometime in the early 1900s. The area was developed as an athletic field for Ohio Wesleyan shortly afterward. Branch Rickey Arena was built on the site in 1976.
What is a Bio-Retention Cell? MS4 Permit/Storm-water Project: The City of Delaware works diligently to keep waterways healthy. One way this is achieved is through compliance with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s (OEPA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program. The City has a permit with the OEPA for stormwater discharges, which are generated by runoff from land and impervious surfaces such as parking lots and rooftops. This bio-retention cell helps keep the City in compliance with its permit by treating stormwater pollutants before they reach streams, rivers, and other waterways.
Rain gardens are designed and developed to improve water quality in nearby bodies of water to ensure rainwater becomes available for plants as groundwater rather than being sent through storm-water drains out to local tributaries. Rain gardens have the ability to reduce the amount of pollution reaching nearby streams and rivers by 30%. The purpose of this project is to design and implement two rain gardens located on the north side of Branch Rickey Arena/Gordon Field House.
Two storm basins have were located and inspected by the City of Delaware Department of Public Utilities as approved project sites. Two planning meetings took place with the Department of Engineering, Department of Parks and Recreation, and management to determine the design, layout, plant requirements, grading requirements, and labor needed for the said project. Calculations were made to determine the exact design layout.
Drawing by Jonathan Stechschulte
A quote from the City Arborist placed a $12,500 price tag on this project, and the funding was from a City of Delaware grant. OSU Landscape Architecture graduate student Jonathan Stechschulte provided the excellent drawings of the project, which OWU’s administration required before moving forward with the project.
Fall 2018: 95% of plants planted in the spring survived, with a minimum of maintenance.
Maintenance after the project has been completed will be shared by OWU’s Buildings & Grounds as well as being part of a semester and summer internship (focused on watershed issues). Interns will monitor, maintain, and report on the rain gardens, along with assisting our Watershed Coordinator and Department of Public Utilities employees with other tasks.
This project is part of a larger effort to create a more sustainable, and green infrastructure within the City of Delaware and especially on OWU’s campus. The possibility of this kind of project spreading to more locations on and around campus is high. Students can come back to this project year after year, choose a single storm basin or a collection of storm basins, create a design and implementation plan, and present it to the Department of Public Utilities. The Department of Public Utilities creates a capital improvement budget, along with a working budget every year to every five years, creating a constant allocation of funds for projects similar to this.
Building the bio-retention cell, Spring 2018:
Dustin Braden points to the future location of one of the two bio-retention cells, Spring 2018. Damn cold that day.Dustin Braden and Janelle Valdinger admire the stakes which will mark the boundaries of the bio-retention cells.One of the two cells, right after being planted in the Spring of 2018.
Two signs (above) describe the way bio-retention cells work, and the history of the location: a buried stream runs under/near both cells. See the old map of campus (above).
