Looking Ahead for Asylum Lake

LOOKING AHEAD FOR ASYLUM LAKE

Changes in the landscape: In the spring and summer of 2012, the Management Council of WMU contracted to have the path from the Winchell entrance past the end of the lake improved. 

The path was resurfaced, erosion control terracing and drainage were put in place, native plants planted along the path, and the berm was repaired and widened to its original size.

What’s in the future? The Management Council plans to continue to remove invasive plants and to encourage native plants.  A trail which will make the Preserve accessible to handicapped persons is being worked on and hopefully will become a reality in the near future.  

Since the preserve has at times in its history been an oak-savanna, farmland, residences for the State Hospital  and a natural area, “restoring the area to its natural state” is a complicated issue. 

However the goal of the Management Council and  ALPA is “to assure that the Preserve remains a natural space, to see that it is preserved as a habitat for wildlife, and for continued use by the whole community.” The many historical and ecological factors will be sorted out as we plan for the future care of the Preserve.

Each year the Management Council identifies, prioritizes and budgets for projects within the Preserve.

Join ALPA, come out and volunteer and stay in touch. We need you!

Controlled burns really are 'rocket science'

Control burns at Asylum Lake

You’re going to WHAT?

Many people greet the idea that prairies or forests are going to be purposely burned with disbelief, since we’ve been raised to understand that fires kill the valuable plants and animals in a forest or a prairie.

But the fact is that such fires occurred before we became the dominant species on this planet, and these fires actually helped keep the native plants strong.

Now we set fires to burn off invasive species and regenerate the prairie.

But, "prescribed burns" are, in the words of one expert, "rocket science!"

You don’t just go into a forest or onto a prairie and light a match.

Paul MacNellis, retired Director of Landscape Services at WMU and a controlled burn expert, says that such conditions as wind direction and speed, barometric pressure, relative humidity, solar gain, atmospheric mixing--up to 187 factors in some cases--have to be checked out before the go-ahead is given.

The prairie at the western edge of the Preserve has been overdue for a controlled burn, as it is being overwhelmed by invasive species and needs a “clearing out” to allow native plants whose seeds are under the ground to re-sprout.  So, a burn is planned for the future.  We will inform you of the date when it is set, when the weather conditions are just right

What's going on under the ground? Hydrogeology of Asylum Lake Preserve

Students learning hydrogeology at the Asylum Lake Preserve, on the right are students working at Asylum Lake

Hydrogeology. That's the scientific word for it. Back in the mid-'90s the Department of Geosciences at WMU developed a test site and buried metal drums and pipes in a distant corner of the prairie at the Preserve. Now, every summer, hydrologists from places such as Virginia, Minnesota, Peru, Japan, Denmark, and Norway, come to Kalamazoo for a seminar course that teaches them to monitor the level and quality of the groundwater, and how to detect oil drums, pipes and other items that have been buried underground which threaten the quality of the groundwater in places where the barrels or pipes are rusting or leaking.

Using electric, magnetic, and ground-penetrating radar tools they practice on a far corner of the prairie, learning how to detect the barrels and pipes. They take these skills back home to help clear the environment of buried trash that can cause pollution.

The barrels and pipes buried in the Preserve do not pose a threat to the Preserve. They are clean and nondegradable. You could think of them as "seeds" planted there to help train the growing number of professionals now being employed in the field of environmental studies and ecology.

A second project of the hydrogeology program in Asylum Lake Preserve studies its groundwater. Each summer a special seminar spends a week drawing samples from wells located in the preserve.

Wells? You may be wondering, will someone fall down one of these wells while innocently taking a walk or a run? The simple answer is "never."

These are not the kinds of open wells that people fall into. In fact, it would be a challenge to even find one of them, since the tops are covered with metal plates that are locked and bolted down flat to the surface.

When the water samples are taken to test the flow and quality of the groundwater, seminar students (people from all over the U.S. and the world) camp out in the field next to the wells. They take samples on regular intervals over a 40-hour period and work to protect the site.

To learn more about these efforts, you can visit the website of the WMU Department of Geology (https://wmich.edu/geology).

Poetry Inspired by Asylum Lake Preserve

Some people come to Asylum Lake Preserve for exercise. Some to walk the dog. Some to simply soak in the ever-changing sights of nature. Others come for inspiration. Whether it be artists, writers, or poets the lakes, trees and grasses encourage the muse.

The poems Green by Conrad Hilberry, and At Last Lynn Pattison, are examples of the inspiration nature provides.

Green

No one else can claim it.
Steep slope west of the path,
oaks, maples, dead grape vines

hanging on, and below, in a slant
of sun, my pond scum lake.
A hundred yards of tight valley,

bushes in the water, nothing
flowing in or out. Stalks bend
east, bowing to the wind

in their reedy way. A click
of cricket, or time
passing through. I frighten

a frog. He jumps and swims
slicing the green silence.
On the way back, a haunt

of notes from Jeff's melodion—
no keyboard, just air pressed out,
pulled in, and buttoned down,

music for an August afternoon.

— Conrad Hilbery

At Last



A woodchuck waddles from the thicket
to lunch on young shoots. The marsh rings
with cries of peepers---Easter creatures, a cross
on each tiny back. I want to wind the trunks

of saplings in blue ribbon, hang flags over
the gate. Soon we’ll clean feeders and brew thick syrup
for the hummingbirds eager for bee balm and bleeding
heart. A clutch of turkeys cuts

across the path, males fanning full displays
Under a mat of leaves daffodils nudge up, appraise
the light. I tie prayer scrolls in the sweet gum,
cut woody vines from trees. Soon,

a haze of green in the treetops and soil
softening. Time for wind chimes of hollow bones,
bottles that whistle in the wind. Mayapples
unfurling, Lilies of the Valley rising. Oven birds.

- Lynn Pattison