During the month of September I decided to go examine and explore the Blunn Creek Preserve. The overall environmental change stated pretty consistent from week to week. Other than the naturally occurring changes in the environment, there was no major change to the environment or landscape. The only difference from week to week were mostly miniscule and mainly dealt with the rain fall and change in temperature. During the first visit to Blunn creek I found conditions temperature wise to be very hot and dry at the top of a little cliff in the reserve. At the top of this cliff were a bunch of dry plants and shrubs that were dying from a lack of water. High up in the trees were flocks of birds flying to their nests back to the communities of other birds within the trees. There were not many different species of bird that I could see with my eyes, only small birds like jays or sparrows, but I could hear many more different birds that were communicating with each other by chirping. Going back for my second visit I came to the same spot except this time I went while it started to rain. This time most of the birds that I saw and heard were not flying in the open. They were staying inside their nests since they knew the rain would get worse pretty soon. Looking over the edge of the drop I saw a slight path down and a tiny stream below. I decided to climb down the next time I went to see how things were at the bottom. Returning for my third time to progress down the drop I came across the stream from the last visit. Being the later weeks of September the temperate had gone down somewhat, and it definitely felt cooler than the previous weeks. Before heading down it was obvious that the rain from last week did not do much to help the dying plants. Once at the bottom there was a notable change in temperature from only a 20 or 30 foot climb down most likely due to the shade given of from the trees above. Moving closer to the water and watching it give life to the plants that grew near the stream such as moss, I could see there were little groups of minnows swimming in the stream. Things near the bottom it was much damper and cool compared to the top that received a good amount of sunlight. As I returned for my last time things really had not changed much at all everything and stayed consistent with the visits in earlier weeks. Even though there was a lot a beauty with in the nature of this preserve it was apparent some people who visited some the same spots did not feel the same way about it. In the effort of recording my data I saw some litter scattered all over the bottom of the cliff that mainly consisted of beer bottles, plastic bags, and many other non-biodegradable items that do not belong. The litter did effect the environment when the big piles would block certain areas of the stream that damned it up causing it to be cut into little sections. “We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” As I collected my data I realized that there is a lot in nature that is interesting and that should be respected. Going back ever week mad me learn to appreciate this and notice things I would not been looking for. Still there are those who would disrespect the land we have and not take time to appreciate it fully.
