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In addition to a reconnection with nature, wilderness trips help me to live more simply. I’ve learned that I really don’t need so many things to be happy, because when traveling with a backpack, keeping it light is the secret to enjoying the journey. “The less I carry, the more I enjoy the trip,” has become my new mantra for life. Wilderness teaches me to consume less. I’m always surprised at how little water is needed, for instance, to take a bath or brush my teeth and how satisfied I am eating simple, one course meals.

Returning, a few weeks ago, to a soft bed, warm shower, and meal of fresh fruit and vegetables, was delightful. But these pleasures will forever be tempered with the memory of living lightly in the wilderness. I have come home more determined than ever to slow down, savor every day, use all of my senses, consume less, build greater community with my friends and family, and increase my efforts to share the joy of simple living.

I hope you will take every opportunity to go outside, and let nature be your teacher, too!

Naturally yours,

Jean Lomino

One thing most people don’t realize is how breeding recommendations work. It’s quite simple because all captive Red Wolves’ pedigrees are kept in a computer program that allows us to make virtual pairings to determine whether a particular pair will increase diversity or not. Prior to the meeting, it is determined how many births are needed to offset deaths and maintain the current population size and how many births are needed to grow the population at a rate of 2%. We assume a litter size of 4 and a 25% probability of successful reproducing – these numbers drive our decisions of how many breeding pairs to create. Another important factor is space to house these animals. We can breed Red Wolves and have many pups, but there must be a place to house them. In a perfect world, all the cooperators would have unlimited funds and space to build big enclosures to house, care for and feed all the pups and parents! (The CNC’s latest Red Wolf enclosure cost approximately $15,000!)

The fostering process helps with the space issue if the timing is right. Sometimes a breeding pair is identified as a potential fostering opportunity—whose pups may be fostered into a wild den. After the captive litter is born, the Red Wolf biologists look for a wild litter with pups the same age as the captive pups. Usually this captive litter is in close proximity to the wild refuge so the transfer can happen quickly; the pups must be less than two weeks old. The fostering process also introduces the captive bloodline to the wild bloodline which creates diversity.

Last year, the father of our 2007 pups had a litter of 4 which was to be fostered, but the litter was born early in the season and there was not a wild den available. The three males from this litter are transferring to CNC! We are holding 1275F, 1566M and 1567M. Red Wolf 1377F will transfer to another facility and we will be receiving 1370F to pair with CNC’s 1408M as a breeding pair! Our pack will be 8 strong with the possibility of 2010 pups!

CNC continues to be one of the most engaged cooperators of the RWSSP and our attendance at this meeting each year confirms our strong association and allows us to be an integral part of the decision making process.

Billy Ewton with Ewton Fence Company has donated hours and hours of his time and labor as well as fencing materials. He has built and repaired many feet of fencing and recently donated his labor, time and materials to build an off-exhibit, outdoor, warm weather enclosure for our woodchuck. This much needed, new enclosure allows the woodchuck to spend beautiful summer days outside digging happily in his new home! This enclosure will also double as an opossum enclosure when the woodchuck is not at home. MANY thanks to Billy Ewton for taking care of all our fencing needs and for his love of the Nature Center!

Chuck Harbin came by the Nature Center one day and filled out a volunteer form. When we saw his extensive building background with animal enclosures, we asked if he would be willing to build one of the new enclosures made possible by the recent lumber donation from Bell Development. He and his sons, Ryan and Adam have been working very hard ever since! We are incredibly fortunate to find such a generous and talented family to take on this very large task. Chuck’s building skills have created an awesome new enclosure for our barn owls and our great-horned female owl, who will be much more visible to the public. This enclosure allowed us to move some birds around into new spaces and free up some space as well.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to Chuck, Ryan and Adam, for their dedication, skills and willingness to work in the heat so our animal ambassadors can live in luxury!

These fun and family-friendly events include our 10th annual Festival of the Jack O’Lanterns and our 5th annual Holiday in the Woods.

Volunteers are needed during both events for the game and activity booths; they are also needed on days before and after the events for preparations, setup, teardown, and cleanup. These are great volunteer opportunities for individuals, families, and groups.

Best of all, volunteers can attend the events they work, for FREE!

Festival of the Jack O’Lanterns:

• Sat, Oct 17 from 2 – 9 pm
• Sun, Oct 18 from 1 – 6 pm

To volunteer for the Festival, please contact Kristiina Braden at kristiinabraden@gmail.com

Holiday in the Woods:

• Fri, Dec 4 from 4 – 9 pm
  
• Sat, Dec 5 from 9 am – 5 pm

To volunteer for the Holiday in the Woods, please contact Diane Morgan at dmorgan@chattanature.org or 821-1160 x111

Protecting public lands is a uniquely American idea dating back to the mid 1800’s. Tennessee has played no small role in that history. In 1863, General U.S. Grant was here in Chattanooga for the Battle of Lookout Mountain. On March 1, 1872, legislation to establish the world’s first National Park – Yellowstone – was signed into law by President Grant. In 1890, several additional National Parks were established including Sequoia, Yosemite, and Chickamauga Chattanooga National Military Park. Chattanooga’s Military Park, including parts of Lookout Mountain, was the first National Park created to study the Civil War here in America.

In the years that followed, the US Forest Service was established (1905), and the National Park Service was created (1916). While the establishment of these new federal agencies was an idea whose time had come, there were some who argued that it was not enough. Our nation was expanding rapidly and our natural heritage was at risk. As early as 1921, Aldo Leopold expressed concern that “the parks are being networked with roads and trails as rapidly as possible.” Leopold and other Americans wanted some parts of our wild landscape permanently protected from road building, dams, timber harvest, mining, and other development activities. In 1935, Leopold, Harvey Broome (from Knoxville, TN), Benton MacKaye (the originator of the Appalachian Trail concept), and Robert “Bob” Marshall (the Chief of Recreation and Lands for the Forest Service) formed The Wilderness Society (TWS) to push for greater protection for our public lands. The next year (1936), the Cherokee National Forest was established in Tennessee.

As a result of hard work by a dedicated group of individuals, the Wilderness Act of 1964 was enacted. This historic piece of legislation established our nation’s beloved Wilderness Preservation System, and offers protection “in perpetuity” for portions of our public lands here in the United States. Since then, tens of millions of acres have been protected as wilderness, including the Joyce Kilmer Slickrock Wilderness (1975). In 1984, the Bald River Gorge Wilderness, Citico Creek Wilderness, and Big Frog Wilderness areas were created. In 1986, the Little Frog Wilderness was added to the wilderness system. These lands provide clean water, vital wildlife habitat, and places for Americans to recreate quietly, away from the hustle and bustle of modern society.

It has been 23 years since new wilderness areas have been established in Tennessee. In 2004, the Forest Service recommended expanding wilderness protection in the Cherokee National Forest. A citizen’s group – Tennessee Wild – has since formed to advocate for federal legislation to formalize the Forest Service recommendations. We have also recommended some modest additions to the Forest Service’s recommendations. In total, Tennessee Wild is seeking wilderness protection for nearly 18,000 acres of the Cherokee. All of these lands are currently in public ownership. The Chattanooga Nature Center recently endorsed Tennessee Wild’s conservation vision, and wants you, the members of Chattanooga Nature Center, to help to make this a reality. In order to accomplish this goal, we need to pass federal legislation to protect the Cherokee for both current and future generations.

Starting on September 5, 2009, the Chattanooga Nature Center will offer a series of five hikes in six weeks to areas where we are seeking wilderness protection. These hikes are free and open to the public. I encourage you to join me along with staff from Chattanooga Nature Center, as we explore Tennessee’s wildlands. These lands are rugged and wild, and home to an incredible array of flora and fauna. Even if you can’t join us for a hike, there are things that you can do to make a difference. A Wilderness Workshop planned for October 31, 2009 at the Nature Center will teach the skills necessary to expand wilderness here in Tennessee.

Please join us. Together, we can make a difference.

Jeffrey Hunter is the Southeast Field Coordinator for the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition. He is an avid hiker, an aspiring naturalist, and trail maintainer who walked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in 2000. In addition, he has backpacked in wilderness areas all across America including parts of the Continental Divide Trail and Pacific Crest Trail with his daughter Martha. He and his wife Suzanne live in the Caretaker’s Cabin at Reflection Riding Arboretum & Botanical Garden.

For more information about wilderness in Tennessee, please visit http://tnwild.org.

There is a purpose for all creatures, and here are some interesting benefits of maggots:

• Some types of maggots can be of great use to forensic scientists. By their stage of development, these maggots can be used to give an indication of the time elapsed since death, as well as the place the organism died. Maggot species can be identified using their DNA. At the height of the summer season, a generation of flies (egg to adult) may be produced in 12–14 days. It is important to note that the lack of maggot presence is also telling in an investigation. Some other families of Insecta, such as Histeridae, feed on maggots. Thus, the lack of maggots would increase the estimated time of death.
• Other types of maggots are bred commercially, as a popular bait in fishing and a food for carnivorous pets such as reptiles or birds.
• Maggots have been used in medicine to clean out necrotic wounds, and in food production, particularly of cheeses (casu marzu).

So there you have it! Even though they are pretty disgusting, maggots do have an important place in the web of life.

Looking forward to winter…

The oak apple galls are created by Cynipid wasps which have an unusual life cycle. Winged adult wasps emerge from these galls sometime in June or July. They mate and then drop to the ground. There, the females burrow into the soil and inject eggs into the roots of the oak tree. Wasp larvae hatch and feed on the roots for about a year and then form a pupa. Only wingless female wasps emerge from the underground pupae and crawl out of the ground and up the tree trunk sometime in early spring. They inject one egg into the midrib of a leaf that is just starting to grow. The larvae hatch inside the leaf and release a chemical as they grow that causes the leaf to mutate into a round green ball around the larvae. There the larva feeds while protected from predators. As the larva grows, so does the gall. When the larva is done growing, it pupates and later emerges as an adult wasp by drilling a small hole in the gall, and the cycle starts again.

These wasps only lay their eggs in oak trees and are particularly fond of black oaks, red oaks and scarlet oaks. Their activities do not harm the tree but many of these wasps on one tree could cause the tree to lose their leaves early that fall.

Wet t-shirt relay

You will need two buckets of water and two t-shirts. Immerse the t-shirts in the water. Have your friends divide into two equal teams. The first person in each line runs to the bucket and puts on the wet t-shirt. He will then run back, touch the hand of the next friend waiting in line, and then run back to the bucket, take off the wet t-shirt and yell “GO” to the next friend waiting. Each friend in line repeats this relay until everyone has had a turn. The team that finishes first is the winner.

Fun with Ice Cubes

• Fill a bucket with ice cubes and have your friends take turns picking them up with their toes. How many cubes can you pick up in one minute?
• Have your friend sit on a towel wearing a bathing suit. Use an ice cube to write a word or a message on your friend’s back. Have your friend guess the answer.
• Grab a handful of ice. Count how many seconds everyone can hold the ice in his bare hands. How many ice cubes can you balance on your head? Put the ice cubes in your pockets for a slow cool down!

Give a squirt!

• Fill water guns or a spray bottle with water and play squirt tag!
• Set up a pyramid of plastic cups and see who can knock all down the cups in the shortest amount of time. Move cups farther away after each round. Try this game blindfolded.
• Each player gets a squirt gun and a blown up balloon. Designate a starting line and a finish line. Each player must move his balloon by squirting it across the finish line. Try to keep a balloon airborne with the squirt bottles.

Keeping Kool!

• Soak a bandana in water, wring it out and put it in the freezer to wear later.
• Have your friends twirl a jump rope while another friend holds a cup of water and tries to jump rope 10 times. After everyone has a turn, the winner is the girl with the most water left in her cup.
• Fill a latex glove with water, tie a knot at the top, and freeze it! Set the glove out to thaw just long enough to loosen the glove and then discard it. Play with your new frozen hand.
• See how many wet sponges you can balance on your head!
• Cut the top off of an empty milk carton. Make a giant ice cube by filling it with water. Add small plastic toys and freeze it. Throw the giant cube in the pool and dive for the toys as the ice melts.