{"id":42603,"date":"2019-07-16T12:29:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T16:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=42603"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:45:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:45:59","slug":"a-live-project-for-environmental-sustainability-students-and-the-community-park-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/a-live-project-for-environmental-sustainability-students-and-the-community-park-woods\/","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018live project\u2019 for environmental sustainability students: Park Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first, Park Woods seemed \u2026 pretty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust having this little piece of the woods to come and kind of escape to was so valuable to me,\u201d senior <\/span>Bekah Mongold<\/b> said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019d come to Eastern Mennonite University from Mathias, West Virginia \u2013 \u201cI am very much not a city girl, so living in Harrisonburg was like a culture shock to me,\u201d she said \u2013 and the 13-acre woods nestled between the EMU\u2019s Park Wood Apartments and track and the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) reminded her of her rural home.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the more time that Mongold spent in Park Woods \u2013 not only for respite but also as part of her spring semester studies \u2013 the more she realized that not everything about the woods was as it should \u2013 or could \u2013 be.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mongold and five other students taking the spring environmental sustainability capstone course focused their research on the woods, and presented findings and proposals during the EMU <\/span>Academic and Creative Excellence Festival<\/span><\/a> in April.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me a little bit sad cause like I know when you when you just walk through, you think, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s so green! It\u2019s so pretty!\u2019 And then when you start noticing <\/span>what<\/span><\/i> is green, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s maybe not quite as healthy as it should be,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The urban forest offers space for immersing oneself in nature, seeking spiritual renewal, learning about the environment and running, hiking and playing. But as Mongold and her classmates learned, it also encapsulates the sometimes-problematic interactions of social and ecological systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

A live project<\/b><\/h3>\n

Assessing the ecological needs of the wood\u2019s flora and fauna and the broader community was a \u201clive project,\u201d applied social sciences professor <\/span>Jenni Holsinger<\/b><\/a> said, that involved \u201creal research and real problems that come along with the research process.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Seniors Nidhi Vinod (left) and Bekah Mongold assessed forest management needs and possibilities in EMU’s Park Woods, including the deadly impact of emerald ash borer on ash trees.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mongold and fellow senior <\/span>Nidhi Vinod<\/b> assessed forest management needs and possibilities in Park Woods, while <\/span>Ethan Mathews<\/b> and <\/span>John Dudley<\/b> focused on water management, and <\/span>Victoria Barnes <\/b>and <\/span>Xander Silva<\/b> mapped the stakeholders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Park Woods is plagued with the invasive bush honeysuckle, plus emerald ash borer, which has caused the death of nearly all of the ash trees there. It also faces frequent flooding from rainfall runoff from elevated surroundings; a diversion dike along its southeast edge retains water in order to prevent flooding of and the dispersion of sediments into the Harrisonburg creek Blacks Run.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with the dead ash trees, that flooding threatens or destroys parts of the Park Woods walking path, a winding trail that, along with the fire circle, the pavilion, and, in years past, Park Cabin, is responsible for attracting many of the woods\u2019 stakeholders: VMRC residents, nearby community members, Eastern Mennonite School students, and EMU alumni and student groups. One alumni group, Friends of Park Woods, was organized a few years ago by Paul Lehman<\/strong> and Professor Emeritus Kenton Brubaker<\/strong> and has done much to bring attention to the plight of the woods.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving forward<\/b><\/h3>\n

The capstone students pointed to possible interventions in Park Woods, including community volunteers and even goats to remove invasive plant species.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Ethan Mathews (left) and John Dudley focused on water management in Park Woods. This diversion dike along its southeast edge retains water from rainfall runoff from elevated surroundings.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For water management, defining waterways and constructing a wet pond would make the woods both more healthy and attractive, said Mathews, with the pond in particular becoming \u201ca nice place for anybody to come enjoy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even with a limited budget, Barnes said, small improvements \u2013 in signage, for example \u2013 would promote student use of the woods. And adding bathrooms in Park Cabin would benefit guests, as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Intervening, though, takes balance, said Silva.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing I learned was finding the line between maximum utility of a space and keeping it a natural ecosystem,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are a lot of things that we could do here that would make it a lot more appealing for students and just humans in general, but I also think there are a lot of things that are really special about this place that we really shouldn\u2019t change. … you kind of have to step back and say this space has its own ideas of what it wants to do, and that has to be taken into account.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to come back in 10 years and seeing more than just honeysuckle and ivy,\u201d Mongold said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That may be doable \u2013 but other hopes are less likely.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would really like to see some ash trees through here,\u201d she added, \u201cbut I don\u2019t think that\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first, Park Woods seemed \u2026 pretty.\u00a0 \u201cJust having this little piece of the woods to come and kind of escape to was so valuable to me,\u201d senior Bekah Mongold ... read more about A \u2018live project\u2019 for environmental sustainability students: Park Woods<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":42607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14715,17562,5643,5708,5730],"tags":[15112,17585,10709,9271,17705],"feature":[17427,17423,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-42603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-digest","category-environmental-sustainability","category-sustainability","category-undergraduate-programs","tag-ed-lehman","tag-jenni-holsinger","tag-jim-yoder","tag-kenton-brubaker","tag-paul-lehman","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-featured-undergrad","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nA \u2018live project\u2019 for environmental sustainability students: Park Woods - 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