Nature Journal: Part 8

For my eighth nature journal, I chose to write about my experience canoeing on the Trinity River at the Fort Worth Nature Center. Specifically, I chose to write about one shrub on the bank of the river that had somehow caught twelve cans and a number of other pieces of trash. Lexton and I first noticed this shrub after picking up a yellow aluminum can that was crushed in the middle and covered in green sludge from between two fallen trees. When we were backing out from between the trees, I looked up and saw the litter cluttered shrub. Lexton positioned the canoe so I could better reach my grabber into the shrub. The shrub had already dropped all of its leaves and was now no more than a ball of twigs. This ball was quite effective at grabbing any bottle, can, or bag that tumbled by. I then spent the next fifteen minutes maneuvering the grabber around the complex of twigs making up the shrub. It appeared that each piece of litter I took from the shrub was replaced with two more. After nearly filling our trash bag, we finally picked up all litter in the shrub. As we pulled away from the shoreline, I noticed that the bag started to move towards the side of the canoe. Apparently, one of the bottles we picked up was tied around the neck with fishing line and attached to the shrub. Unfortunately, all of the contents of the bag were emptied into the hull of our canoe. After a closer look, one of the bottles we picked up earlier was still filled with water. When I picked it up, all the sediment in the bottom got stirred up. The dirt, leaves, and sticks clouded the water. It was like I was holding a small world in my hand. Who knows what kind of bacteria and microscopic organisms were living in the bottle?