The October meeting will be on Thursday, October 19th, at UMD. Terri P. will lead a walk around Rock Pond at the Bagley Nature Center at UMD. Following the walk, Terri will give a slide presentation in the Sports and Health Center, Room 119.

On the walk around Rock Pond, Terri will point out the critical issues facing the University relating to restoration of the pond.

1. What contributes to the pond and what contaminants may be associated with that runoff? What impact will that have on the plants attempting to live in/around the pond?
2. How is the area around the pond used today and is future use different? Historical use will contribute to things like soil compaction (increasing difficulty of plant establishment, increasing potential for exotics) and future use will define what areas can be restored (ski hill, sunbathing area, hiking trail, etc).
3. What exotics are currently present, which were removed this past summer, and what priority exotics remain to be removed?
4. Will the hiking trail be altered?
5. What plants would be recommended for introduction in the aquatic and transitional zones?
6. What changes could be made to reduce flowrate of surface water runoff into the pond?
7. What changes should be made to the stormwater retention section of the pond (currently way too small) to accomodate typical rain-events/snowmelts?
8. What do folks like about the pond today?

The Bagley Nature Center is located northwest of UMD, off Buffalo Street. Buffalo Street connects St. Marie Street (north side of the campus) with Junction Avenue (west side of the campus.)

The Sports and Health Center building is located between "Ordean Court" and the west side of Campus Center Drive between Parking Lots H and C, and is across from the Field House & outdoor tennis courts. Ordean Court and the street leading to it are not visible on the map. However, the building labeled "MPAC" is directly across the street (Ordean Court) from the Sports and Health Center. Ordean Court can be accessed from Stadium Drive. A yellow arrow points to what would be the front entrance to the Sports and Health Center. There is an arch in front which looks a little like a miniature of the "Gateway Arch" of St. Louis. The Campus Center Drive can be accessed from either College Street & University Drive (south side of the campus), or St. Marie Street & Stadium Drive (north side of the campus).

Click here to view a map of the UMD campus. (Note that the Campus Center Drive, Stadium Drive, and the tennis courts are not labeled on the map. Campus Center Drive is a curving street, with baseball fields shown on the east side, and buildings labeled as "DAdB", "Campus Center", and "Sports and Health" along the west side. The tennis courts are located just south of the Field House, on the east side of Campus Center Drive. The prominent, new Library building is not yet shown on this map; it occupies most of what was Parking Lot D.)

Parking and possible shuttle arrangements.
Candice R. has researched the "options" and has discovered that Parking Lot T-2 (not labeled on the map, but is located near the intersection of Buffalo St., East University Circle (also not labeled on the map), and St. Marie St.) is a "Green" Permit Lot (only for students living in on-campus residence halls.) At the back Lot T-2, by Rock Pond, are four "guest" parking meter spots. She suggests that if we are leaving from SpHC 119, people could park in "Pay Lot G" (off St. Marie St. - $1.00) or at a parking meter spot along Stadium Drive. People could also park along St. Marie St. between Stadium Drive and Oakland Ave. - with a little longer walk. We should gather in Ordean Court in front of Sports & Health Center and we can shuttle to Rock Pond from there. Candice has a van that seats six, and Deb and Roger can take at least two more.

Return to the Past Meeting and Field Trip Announcements.