ogtumble:

Where You At? A Bioregional Quiz
Developed by Leonard Charles, Jim Dodge, Lynn Milliman, and Victoria Stockley.
Originally published in
Coevolution Quarterly 32 (Winter 1981): 1.

1. Trace the water you drink from precipiation to tap.
2. How many days til the moon is full? (Slack of 2 days allowed.)

3. What soil series are you standing on?

4. What was the total rainfall in your area last year (July-June)? (Slack: 1 inch for every 20 inches.)

5. When was the last time a fire burned in your area?

6. What were the primary subsistence techniques of the culture that lived in your area before you?

7. Name 5 edible plants in your region and their season(s) of availability.
8. From what direction do winter storms generally come in your region?

9. Where does your garbage go?

10. How long is the growing season where you live?

11. On what day of the year are the shadows the shortest where you live?

12. When do the deer rut in your region, and when are the young born?

13. Name five grasses in your area. Are any of them native?

14. Name five resident and five migratory birds in your area.

15. What is the land use history of where you live?

16. What primary ecological event/process influenced the land form where you live? (Bonus special: what’s the evidence?)

17. What species have become extinct in your area?

18. What are the major plant associations in your region?

19. From where you’re reading this, point north.

20. What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom where you live?

Scoring
• 0-3 You have your head up your ***.

• 4-7 It’s hard to be in two places at once when you’re not anywhere at all.

• 8-12 A firm grasp of the obvious.

• 13-16 You’re paying attention.

• 17-19 You know where you’re at.

• 20 You not only know where you’re at, you know where it’s at.

A copy of this quiz is currently available as a PDF at (Copy & paste into a new tab):
http://dces.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2013/08/Where-You-At-Quiz.pdf

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Passing this quiz cold isn’t the point, snarky scoring commentary notwithstanding. Instead, use it to learn the realities of where you live and incorporate them into your relationship with the land where you dwell. Your local anthropologists, botanical gardens, county extension agencies, historians, libraries, meteorologists, natural museums, community waste disposal programs, and Wikipedia can help you find the answers to these questions. You’ll discover a wealth of more information about where you live in the process.