Traipsing around a cemetery in the middle of winter, right as the sun is setting may not be most people’s idea of a good time. It’s cold, it’s kind of creepy, (it’s dark and there are dead people there!) who knows what kind of weird noises one might hear??

If you take a stroll in the lower Arb, you may notice the distinctive smell of freshly cut pine lingering in the air or the presence of a few ungainly stumps where stately Red and White Pines once stood. These missing trees are part of a plan to remove an entire stand of pine trees located at the edge of the prairie. If the mild winter weather persists, all of the pines may be gone before spring. But why cut down healthy, mature trees?

Despite the looming marathon of late-nights and library sessions that inevitably come with finals, now that we’ve reached the end of 9^th week, winter break is truly just around the corner.

To find out about Carleton’s past, the obvious first stop is the Carleton Archives, where digitized copies of the Carletonian, official records, past lectures and interviews, and photos of campus (often missing its current, familiar structures) are at one’s fingertips. Digging through these pieces of evidence can help us figure out what Carleton as a community was like years ago, but where do we turn to find out more about Carleton’s natural history?

          This year, we’re turning six acres of monoculture soybean fields in the Upper Arb into prairie ecosystems. Are you curious about the process?

For the past few weeks, the Geology of Soils class here has been attempting to characterize and describe the soils in the Arboretum. The experience has been continually surprising.

Under the cover of darkness, hordes of furry critters emerge from their underground hideouts and venture onto the prairie in search of a meal. These unheralded rodents often dismissed as repulsive pests are actually some of the most important species in the Arboretum.

Habitat restoration takes a long time. When you plant an oak tree, it won’t reach its full girth for at least a century. Often, it seems like restorationists carry out their work with a vision that won’t be realized in their lifetime. This is why it’s so satisfying to discover (or rediscover) species that are a part of the vision that restorationists work toward. There have been a few species recorded for the first time this summer and fall that have that satisfying quality.

This past Friday the Naturalists got a chance to learn about some of the work being done with birds in the Arboretum. For three summers now Owen McMurtrey ('12) has been coming out once a week at the break of dawn to count birds in the Arb.

While working in the Arb during the New Student Week freshman service project, I was asked by several 2015ers why we are getting rid of buckthorn. The answer to the common new student week question about buckthorn is couched in a broader question about restoration: Why do we engage in ecosystem restoration at all?

 As I sit here thinking of the seemingly hundreds of things that I must complete over the next two weeks, I realize that I am losing sight of the bigger picture. There is very little that I have done lately that will be lasting. In ten years, my professors will possibly remember my name but no one will recall the thesis in my ten-page paper. Similarly, my surroundings have a sort of volatile sense to them. Even in my three years here at Carleton, three new buildings have been built/repurposed, houses have been torn down, sidewalks reconfigured, and so on. The general shape of campus stays the same (barring that the Cannon River doesn’t return to it’s paleo-valley on the football field) yet the structure is ever changing. New technology, new people, new ideas are constantly justification for the alteration of what exists.

Last Saturday was Rotblatt 145, Frisbee Reunion, Rugby Reunion, and “Birder’s Reunion”, the annual Carleton Arboretum Bird Count that brings back birding alums to campus. At 6am, as people were staggering back from Rotblatt for a nap, a group of birdwatchers, alums and local enthusiasts, gathered at the Arb Office to hear the details of their mission.