How do you move 44 tons of soil from 88 mesocosm tubs in 2.5 hours?
On August 20th, 250 Freshman volunteers participating in the OSU Pay It Forward day of service event arrived at the Schiermeier Wetlands eager to work. As OARDC-funded renovations to the facility's mesocosm research compound progressed this summer, it became apparent that the labor required to empty soil from each of the 88 100-gallon tubs was significant - heavy equipment was not an option.
Thanks to hundreds of hard-working students, all 88 tubs were emptied in 2.5 hours! The group was so motivated, they also had time to remove invasive species, pick-up trash, install a gravel parking berm and weed barriers under the new mesocosm tank platforms, and paint two large storage containers. These amazing students and their leaders donated the equivalent of 600 hours of labor to the Schiermeier Wetlands! To put that into perspective, the combined total hours worked annually by all student employees at the site is 700 hours.
Thank you to everyone that participated in this day of service!
