Teal Ridge Wetland EarthCache
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Located at Walnut Street and 19th Avenue in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Teal Ridge Wetland is a 23 acre wetland demonstration site within the Stillwater Creek floodplain.
In an effort to assist paperless Geocacher’s, all questions required to be answered to claim this cache as a find are posted at the beginning of the cache listing.
At the coordinates listed for this cache, answer the following questions:
(1) What is the object located at the coordinates?
(2) What does the object provide?
(3) Why was the Teal Ridge Wetland Created? (4 Answers Required as shown on sign)?
(4) When the wetland has SOME standing water, what animals can be found at the wetland?
HINT: All answers above can be found on signs at this coordinates.
At the following coordinates, N 36 06.067, W 097 04.903, answer the following questions:
(5) What are you standing on?
(6) What does your GPS say your elevation is at this location?
At the following coordinates, N 36 06.023, W 097 04.953, answer the following questions:
(7) What is located here??
(8) On the sign at this location, what is the first thing you are requested to do?
NOTE: While it is not required any pictures of you or your GPSr to share your adventures, THAT DO NOT COMPROMISE QUESTIONS ABOVE, are always appreciated! CACHE ON!!!
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A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON THE TEAL RIDGE WETLAND:? (SOURCE: (visit link)
The management goals of the Teal Ridge Wetland Urban Restoration Project are to:
- Provide a diverse marsh habitat for wetland birds such as ducks, shorebirds and wading birds as well as other wetland-dependent species such as songbirds, toads, frogs and bats.
- Provide the public with recreational and educational opportunities to enjoy the wildlife using the area.
To attain these goals, a method known as moist soil management will be employed. Moist soil management involves a variety of management tools and techniques. These tools include:
- Sufficient water to provide diverse habitats
- Water level manipulation capabilities
- Maintenance of water depths and vegetation within given pools
- Sufficient equipment and human resources to use all other tools
The Teal Ridge Wetland will have functions and benefits that are found in all wetlands. For example, wetlands help maintain water quality, contribute to groundwater recharge and help in flood control by holding floodwaters for slow release. Teal Ridge Wetland will provide opportunities for birdwatching, research and nature study for people of all ages.
WHAT ARE WETLANDS: (SOURCE: (visit link)
Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season. Water saturation (hydrology) largely determines how the soil develops and the types of plant and animal communities living in and on the soil. Wetlands may support both aquatic and terrestrial species. The prolonged presence of water creates conditions that favor the growth of specially adapted plants (hydrophytes) and promote the development of characteristic wetland (hydric) soils.
Wetlands vary widely because of regional and local differences in soils, topography, climate, hydrology, water chemistry, vegetation, and other factors, including human disturbance. Indeed, wetlands are found from the tundra to the tropics and on every continent except Antarctica. Two general categories of wetlands are recognized: coastal or tidal wetlands and inland or non-tidal wetlands.
WHAT IS AN INLAND WETLAND: (SOURCE: (visit link)
Inland wetlands, like Teal Ridge, are most common on floodplains along rivers and streams (riparian wetlands), in isolated depressions surrounded by dry land (for example, playas, basins, and "potholes"), along the margins of lakes and ponds, and in other low-lying areas where the groundwater intercepts the soil surface or where precipitation sufficiently saturates the soil (vernal pools and bogs). Inland wetlands include marshes and wet meadows dominated by herbaceous plants, swamps dominated by shrubs, and wooded swamps dominated by trees.
Many of these wetlands are seasonal (they are dry one or more seasons every year), and, particularly in the arid and semiarid West, may be wet only periodically. The quantity of water present and the timing of its presence in part determine the functions of a wetland and its role in the environment. Even wetlands that appear dry at times for significant parts of the year -- such as vernal pools-- often provide critical habitat for wildlife adapted to breeding exclusively in these areas.
WETLANDS AND NATURE: (SOURCE: (visit link)
Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, comparable to rain forests and coral reefs. An immense variety of species of microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, and mammals can be part of a wetland ecosystem. Physical and chemical features such as climate, landscape shape (topology), geology, and the movement and abundance of water help to determine the plants and animals that inhabit each wetland. The complex, dynamic relationships among the organisms inhabiting the wetland environment are referred to as food webs. This is why wetlands in Texas, North Carolina, and Alaska differ from one another.
Wetlands can be thought of as "biological supermarkets." They provide great volumes of food that attract many animal species. These animals use wetlands for part of or all of their life-cycle. Dead plant leaves and stems break down in the water to form small particles of organic material called "detritus." This enriched material feeds many small aquatic insects, shellfish, and small fish that are food for larger predatory fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.
The functions of a wetland and the values of these functions to human society depend on a complex set of relationships between the wetland and the other ecosystems in the watershed. A watershed is a geographic area in which water, sediments, and dissolved materials drain from higher elevations to a common low-lying outlet or basin a point on a larger stream, lake, underlying aquifer, or estuary.
Wetlands play an integral role in the ecology of the watershed. The combination of shallow water, high levels of nutrients, and primary productivity is ideal for the development of organisms that form the base of the food web and feed many species of fish, amphibians, shellfish, and insects. Many species of birds and mammals rely on wetlands for food, water, and shelter, especially during migration and breeding.
Wetlands' microbes, plants, and wildlife are part of global cycles for water, nitrogen, and sulfur. Furthermore, scientists are beginning to realize that atmospheric maintenance may be an additional wetlands function. Wetlands store carbon within their plant communities and soil instead of releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Thus wetlands help to moderate global climate conditions.
FISH AND WILDLIFE HABITAT: (SOURCE: (visit link)
Did you know that more than one-third of the United States' threatened and endangered species live only in wetlands, and nearly half use wetlands at some point in their lives? Many other animals and plants depend on wetlands for survival.
Estuarine and marine fish and shellfish, various birds, and certain mammals must have coastal wetlands to survive. Most commercial and game fish breed and raise their young in coastal marshes and estuaries. Menhaden, flounder, sea trout, spot, croaker, and striped bass are among the more familiar fish that depend on coastal wetlands. Shrimp, oysters, clams, and blue and Dungeness crabs likewise need these wetlands for food, shelter, and breeding grounds.
For many animals and plants, like wood ducks, muskrat, cattails, and swamp rose, inland wetlands are the only places they can live. Beaver may actually create their own wetlands. For others, such as striped bass, peregrine falcon, otter, black bear, raccoon, and deer, wetlands provide important food, water, or shelter. Many of the U.S. breeding bird populations-- including ducks, geese, woodpeckers, hawks, wading birds, and many song-birds-- feed, nest, and raise their young in wetlands. Migratory waterfowl use coastal and inland wetlands as resting, feeding, breeding, or nesting grounds for at least part of the year. Indeed, an international agreement to protect wetlands of international importance was developed because some species of migratory birds are completely dependent on certain wetlands and would become extinct if those wetlands were destroyed.
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