GRADE 8 FIELD TRIP Jack, May th,2011 Table of Contents Learning About the Red River-5 pg Oak Hammock Marsh-3 pg Fort Whyte Center-2 pg St.Leon Windmills- 2 pg Evaluation of Experience-3 pg er Soils of the Red River- The soil of the red river is clay which cannot grow plants and cannot hold together well. This soil doesnt absorb water but floats and floods on top. This lets water be able to sit on top of the solid soil. A watershed is a basin-like landform that goes into lower elevations and stream valleys. A watershed carries water "shed" from the land after rain falls and snow melts. Water is put into soils, ground waters, creeks, and streams, making its way to larger rivers and eventually to the sea. The important thing about watersheds is: what we do on the land affects water quality for all communities living downstream. Lock and Dam- Its located on the Red river On Lockport Road and River Road in Winnipeg. The Lock port is owned by the Manitoba Government. Its proper name is St. Andrews Lock and Dam. Built in It works by lowering large curtains in the water to slow the flow of the river to a controlled speed. Red river floodways- Is located in western Canada, and its purpose is flood control waterway. It works by moving large gates in front of the water, like a dam to slow the flow of the water to prevent from flood further down river. My Thoughts- The technologies have help greatly because this year there has been lots of flood trouble but with these dams have helped to control water speed and level by slowing the raging waters. This way people can stop water if the water speed is too much. The best part about this is that the lock and dam also creates a bridge over top of the dam and river. Problems with these technologies is that it is dangerous to build on raging waters, especially when cars are crossing. Also this would cost the city a lot of money. Plus it would be a long process to fix the dam once it was broken, because of safety. OAK HAMMOCK MARSH Oak Hammock was drained by the 1960s, to make room for crop production. Oak Hammock was almost not built because they thought that surrounding farmers needed the land for farming and that the chemical sprays being used by farmers would kill wildlife. Oak Hammock was remade in The role of oak Hammock in the ecosystem is to create a safe living environment for migrating birds and different species..At oak Hammock 300 different species of birds have been recorded, also have 30 species of mammals, 7 species of fish, 5 species of amphibians, 3 species of reptiles and hundreds if not thousands of species of invertebrates. So jackfish, deer, insects, beaver, fox, birds, Pickerel, mice, rat, muskrat. I am precipitating in canoeing, constellations, and staying in a cabin. Paragraph of 5 sentences about oak hammock- We got to the cabin, ate went canoeing, talked about constellations and went to bed. I liked canoeing the best. It was fun, and im glad that we got to fit half the class in one canoe. I learned a lot about the constellations. The next day we had breakfast and then went into the oak hammock building. We go to see lots of cool stuff including high powered binoculars and fishing gear. FORT WHITE Started as a claymine, with man made lakes. Clay was used to make cement. Fort white started in the 1900s. When noticing that ducks lived in the water it was bought in 1950 to be used for nature. Fort white building was built in 1980s. The centre provides habitat for animals with wetlands to clean water. Providing air from trees. Animals that live in Fort White are fox,mink,Geese,duck,breebs,peicans, deer,coyotes, micro organisms,cattails,misquitos,Jackfish,fish flies, ect. We are doing the program Blue Planet. St.Leon Windmills Each windmill costs about 2.5 million. The farmers are provided with Animal payments of 4000 dollars. The amount of electricity St.leon produces is 99 megawatts. Windmills are better that coil energy because they dont release as much co2. A turbine spins at a speed of 14 revolutions per minute. The wind speed must be at least 10km/h to spin the turbine. If the wind speed reaches over 94km/h the windmill will automatically shut down due to the extreme speeds. The blades on the turbine are made from balsa wood. A problem with the turbines in storms is that lightening will strike the blades. To solve this problem, lightening rod substations were put out. The power is then sent underground to Manitoba Hydro. Another source of power is the Hydro Dam. What I liked best was to see inside the towering structure and get close enough to feel the blades swish past. I have learned a lot about water equipment from River watch program. I learned how to use the tools and how to safely find results. The water powerpoints helped up realize the values of water, and how we cannot waste water. The webquest on flooding has updated us on the world around us. The wiki reassured that we new our stuff and taught it to us better. The field trip was the best part, which we learned the most on. We got to learn about River water systems, Oak Hammock, Fort whyte, St.leon windmills and other water related topics. All of these projects have better helped us with water, water conservation, the importance of water. Day One Wind turbines blasted our surprised faces. We were at the St.Leon Windmills. The large windmills amazed me both the inside and outside. The inside was filled with technical stuff, but on the outside stood tall large structures. These structures stretched far down the fields around. After the windmills, we traveled on bus to Lock Port. The huge curtain-like material, hung down beneath the dam, and dangled in the water. These were used to slow the flow of water. The large dam was the bottom structure of a bridge that crossed over the raging rapids below. As we walked along the Red River we got to see the rapids near the dam, which weren't nearly as bad as the other rapids up River. When we decided wed seen enough of the dam we moved along to Oak Hammock Marsh, to eat lunch. When we finished the home-cooked meal we walked over to the canoes. We then splashed our way down and around the reeds, until we caught up with the other canoe. As we arrived back alive we were told that we were to go talk about constellations. We got to hear stories and got to learn about constellations and stars around. We even made constellation papers to help us remember and find them. Finally we crashed back at the cabin, had a fire, and went to sleep. I liked canoeing and windmills the best that day because I havent ever been so close to a windmill and the canoeing was just fun. Some improvements that could be fixed for future years is to have activates at Lockport to keep everyone involved. Day Two We got up and made breakfast, and then ate. After we walked to the Oak Hammock building to learn about artifacts, and water. We got some free time to look around in the building before we walked to the grass covered roof. On the roof we saw Oak Hammock from a better view. After we went to Fort Whyte. We walked along a water bridge (which we sank) and got to walk the waters of Fort whyte. We recorded many animals and got to see lots of animals, but mostly ducks. Finally we went to the pool. We changed and went to the pool. We got to swim and jump from high diving boards. When I went in the sauna I could hardly breathe. The air was so thick and the doors were closed. After we went to Subway and dairy queen. Lastly we headed home. We played B.S. on the bus for the whole way home. When we arrived back we unpacked and played games. All of river watch was really fun and I got to learn a lot about the wildlife that I never knew before. I liked Constellations because the Instructor told funny stories. I also liked making pancakes and learning how to make them. I would have liked a Dollarama to have been on the way to pick up stuff for the pool, but it was alright.