Great Lakes Worm Watch training workshops for formal and non-formal educators are hosted periodically during the year and at different locations across the region. Check back for updates as new workshops are scheduled.
Contact our project coordinator, Ryan Hueffmeier <rhueffme@d.umn.edu>, if you would like to schedule a workshop in your area!
Typical workshops can be 3 hours to full day events and may include:
Introduction to the research, what it shows and how it led to Great Lakes Worm Watch.
Earthworm anatomy and identification of ecological groups and species.
Sample methods and strategies for designing a study of your own.
Getting into the field, hands on introduction to earthworm surveying/sampling options basic soil characteristics; describing habitat and vegetation in a site.
Learning activities you can use including instructions for conducting habitat, soil & earthworm surveys, Forest ecosystem game “Invasion of the exotic worm!” and making earthworm observatories
Volunteer Opportunities
Great Lakes Worm Watch will be providing volunteer opportunites this year for individuals and groups to get out in the field working side by side with researchers to conduct field sampling of earthworms, soils and plants. Join us for a day (or more) of earthworm sampling, learn about soil and forest ecosystems and get a first hand experience of what science is all about! Check the general schedule below for dates and locations, then if you want to get involved, contact Ryan Hueffmeier <rhueffme@d.umn.edu> or Dr. Cindy Hale <cmhale@d.umn.edu>
2nd Annual “Big Worming Week” with Great Lakes Worm Watch
September 27th- October 3rd
Join the force!
Throughout this year we will be offering a range of workshops geared towards preparing folks to participate in our "Big Worming Week". While we encourage sampling of earthworms at any time, by conducting your surveys during our "Big Worming Week", it minimized the seasonal variability of your data making it more comparable from year to year.
Various evening to full-day workshops will explore how exotic earthworms impacts forests of the Great Lakes region through a range of hands-on activities including a cool game showing how exotic earthworms affect forests and opportunties to conduct earthworm surveys. Learn about the research related to exotic earthworm invasions, how to identify earthworms using our new, fabulously illustrated book “Earthworms of the Great Lakes” and how to use earthworm observatories to create experiments, nature center displays or for science fair projects! Find out what you can do to prevent further spread of earthworms. Learn how to conduct earthworm surveys and contribute your work to this growing citizen science effort.
Upcoming Seminars, Workshops and Volunteer Opportunities in 2009
April 1-2 – “Western Great Lakes Research Conference ”, at the Northern Great Lakes Visitro Center, Ashland Wisconsin
Monitoring and Management Recommendations for Prevention and Early Detection of Asian Earthworms and Reducing the Spread of European Earthworms in Working Forests of the Western Great Lakes Region.
May 14-15th – “Lake Superior Youth Symposium ” at the College of St. Scholastica
Did you know that earthworms are not native to our area? Did you know that you can be involved in earthworm monitoring programs? If not, come and hear about this exciting opportunity.
May 15th: "Worm Watch" session 1:30-3:15pm
For more information and registration, contact:
Diane Podgornik <dpodgorn@proctor.k12.mn.us>
Proctor Schools
131 9th Ave., Proctor, MN 55810
Tel: 218-628-4926 Ext. 1515 Fax: 218-628-4937
Or, see the website at Lake Superior Youth Symposium
Thursday will include a full day workshop of collecting earthworms in the field and then identifying them back in the lab. Friday will include a series fo talk on soils, including discussion of the impacts of exotic earthworms.
For more information contact:
Cathi Lehn , program director <clehn@cbgarden.org>
September 17th-21st – Volunteer earthworm sampling on the Chippewa National Forests
Dr. Cindy Hale, her collegues Dr. Kyungsoo Yoo from the University of Delaware, Dr. Anthony Aufdenkampe from Stroud Water Research Center in Pennsylvania, and their graduate students will be conducting field work examining the impacts fo invasive earthworm species on soil organic and mineral processes. Join us for a day (or more) of earthworm sampling and you'll probably learn mroe about science and soils than you would ever have dreamed. Be prepared to perhaps sweat and swat a few bugs too, but all in the name of science!
September through October - Volunteer earthworm sampling in North Shore State Parks
Dr. Cindy Hale and her project coordinator, Ryan Hueffmeir, along with Minnesota Conservation Crews and UMD students will be conducting earthworm surveys in all 8 North Shore State Parks (Jay Cooke, Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock, Tettegouche, George Crosby Manitou, Temperance River, Cascade River and Judge Magney). Join us for a day (or more) in one of your favorite state parks to help conduct earthworm sampling. We will be posting dates for each park as they become available but if you are interesting in participating, let us know now so we can include you in the planning!
To volunteer for thr North Shore Parks project, contact Ryan Hueffmeier
October 10th – The Current State of Research on the Impacts of Invasive Earthworms in Northern Temperate Forests
Dr. Hale will speak about what the past decade of research has revealed about the impacts of invasive earthworms in the Great Lakes region, new avenues of research that are just beginning and need for the future.
11:00-noon: Dr. Hale will discuss the nature of invasive earthworms, both the old players (European species) and the new kids on the block (Asian species), and their relative impacts on Northern Forest soils. She will explore what this may mean for the future of hardwood forests in Minnesota and the western Great Lakes region, new avenues of research that are just beginning and need for the future.
