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Habitat Restoration at Oak Lane Day School: Elementary Environmental Education Delaware Estuary Environmental Summit 2007 January 23, 2007
Blue Bell, Pennsylvania Dottie Baumgarten [email protected]
Presentation Outline •
• • •
Habitat restoration, initial need: Assessment and professional development, September 2000 Sense of Place Habitat restoration project, spring 2004 Hopes 2004/2005: Hopes achieved Hopes 2007: Sustainability
Habitat Restoration: Beginning, September 2000 • Context: – excellent elementary science education – appropriate use of land resources
• Needs: – assessment of resources – professional education
Initial Need: Assessment
Thank you to Jason Hunt Philadelphia Water Dept.
Thank you to Jason Hunt Philadelphia Water Dept.
Habitat: marsh and hedgerow Square stemmed monkey flower
Habitat: meadow
Activities: butterfly catching, plant and animal observation
Spring-fed pond, beloved by the school community
Activities: frog catching, macroinvertebrate studies
Habitat: spring-fed creek, leading to the pond
Activities: animal and plant observation and study, water testing Habitat improvement: including Sense of Place Project, June 2004
Habitat: natural woods and creek
Habitat: crabapple forest
Initial Need: Professional Development • Workshops • Meetings/ conferences • Informal interactions
Finding fish at Bell’s Mill Bridge, Wissahickon Creek
Workshops: Multiple and Varied • Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association, Pennsylvania Songbirds • Schuylkill Environmental Education Center, Macroinvertebrates • Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, Internet for Teachers • Lancaster County Environmental Center, Reptiles and Amphibians • The Academy of Natural Sciences and The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, 7th Annual Teachers Workshop
Meetings and Informal Interactions • • • • • • •
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Schuylkill Action Network (SAN) Friends Environmental Education Network (FEEN) Grant writing (DEP mini-grants) Curriculum development Community connections Mentoring
Community-Based Action • Community service monthly activities including Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association (WVWA) • Care of our land in the Watershed • Desire to provide further adult education
Community service
Riparian buffer project
Community-Based Connections: Initial and Continuing • • • • •
•
Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Sense of Place Consortium for the Scientific Assistance to Watersheds (C-SAW) Chestnut Hill College, Professor Robert Meyer Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association Department of Environmental Protection, Environmental Education Grant Program Whitpain Township Shade Tree Commission
2003/2004
Restoration Project by spring-fed creek
Sense of Place June 2004 Plant delivery fourth grade students
Class activities matched to age and experience of children
Digging humus: soil, insects, roots, plants pre-primary grades
Riparian restoration second grade students
Parent support
Parent support
first grade students
Digging holes was a favorite task
third grade students
Study of age appropriate topics: •Watershed •Water quality •Plant details
Moving plants and humus fifth grade students
Japanese knotweed
Japanese knotweed removal, May 2004
Weeping willow wood chips used as mulch
June 2004 summer camp
Sustainable habitat August 2004
June 2005
Japanese knotweed June 2005
Continuing events: Removing invasive plants, adding native plants, spring 2005
Target grant tools
Spice trees from Greene Street Friends School
DEP equipment grant 2004/2005
2004/2005 Hopes • Sense of Place: new native trees and bushes • Native plant propagation: new skills • Whitpain Township Shade Tree Commission: tree inventory
Sense of Place and Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust: native trees and bushes, hopes exceeded, fall 2005
Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust Fall 2005 Native plant propagation
Hopes exceeded: •Plant advice. •Seed collection. •Mentoring of our staff.
Whitpain Township Shade Tree Commission Tree inventory, summer 2005 Hopes exceeded: 60 unique trees identified •4 magnificent trees: Sycamore, Lacebark pine, River birch, Burr oak
•Student activities: •Adopted trees •New educational ring of logs •Care of trees: •Removal of invasive trees • Norway maple •Cabling of several large trees •Future direction
Continuing events: Earthweek April 2006
Support from Partnership for the Delaware Estuary and Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust: Earth week, April 2006
2007 Needs/Concerns: Sustainability Future hopes
• Long term planning • Funding • Maintenance: - gardening care - deer browse • Balance needs: - trees, watershed - education, time • Specific: - volunteer gardeners
Habitat Restoration at Oak Lane Day School: Elementary Environmental Education Dottie Baumgarten [email protected]
Blue Bell, Pennsylvania Dottie Baumgarten [email protected]
Presentation Outline •
• • •
Habitat restoration, initial need: Assessment and professional development, September 2000 Sense of Place Habitat restoration project, spring 2004 Hopes 2004/2005: Hopes achieved Hopes 2007: Sustainability
Habitat Restoration: Beginning, September 2000 • Context: – excellent elementary science education – appropriate use of land resources
• Needs: – assessment of resources – professional education
Initial Need: Assessment
Thank you to Jason Hunt Philadelphia Water Dept.
Thank you to Jason Hunt Philadelphia Water Dept.
Habitat: marsh and hedgerow Square stemmed monkey flower
Habitat: meadow
Activities: butterfly catching, plant and animal observation
Spring-fed pond, beloved by the school community
Activities: frog catching, macroinvertebrate studies
Habitat: spring-fed creek, leading to the pond
Activities: animal and plant observation and study, water testing Habitat improvement: including Sense of Place Project, June 2004
Habitat: natural woods and creek
Habitat: crabapple forest
Initial Need: Professional Development • Workshops • Meetings/ conferences • Informal interactions
Finding fish at Bell’s Mill Bridge, Wissahickon Creek
Workshops: Multiple and Varied • Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association, Pennsylvania Songbirds • Schuylkill Environmental Education Center, Macroinvertebrates • Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, Internet for Teachers • Lancaster County Environmental Center, Reptiles and Amphibians • The Academy of Natural Sciences and The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, 7th Annual Teachers Workshop
Meetings and Informal Interactions • • • • • • •
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Schuylkill Action Network (SAN) Friends Environmental Education Network (FEEN) Grant writing (DEP mini-grants) Curriculum development Community connections Mentoring
Community-Based Action • Community service monthly activities including Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association (WVWA) • Care of our land in the Watershed • Desire to provide further adult education
Community service
Riparian buffer project
Community-Based Connections: Initial and Continuing • • • • •
•
Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Sense of Place Consortium for the Scientific Assistance to Watersheds (C-SAW) Chestnut Hill College, Professor Robert Meyer Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association Department of Environmental Protection, Environmental Education Grant Program Whitpain Township Shade Tree Commission
2003/2004
Restoration Project by spring-fed creek
Sense of Place June 2004 Plant delivery fourth grade students
Class activities matched to age and experience of children
Digging humus: soil, insects, roots, plants pre-primary grades
Riparian restoration second grade students
Parent support
Parent support
first grade students
Digging holes was a favorite task
third grade students
Study of age appropriate topics: •Watershed •Water quality •Plant details
Moving plants and humus fifth grade students
Japanese knotweed
Japanese knotweed removal, May 2004
Weeping willow wood chips used as mulch
June 2004 summer camp
Sustainable habitat August 2004
June 2005
Japanese knotweed June 2005
Continuing events: Removing invasive plants, adding native plants, spring 2005
Target grant tools
Spice trees from Greene Street Friends School
DEP equipment grant 2004/2005
2004/2005 Hopes • Sense of Place: new native trees and bushes • Native plant propagation: new skills • Whitpain Township Shade Tree Commission: tree inventory
Sense of Place and Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust: native trees and bushes, hopes exceeded, fall 2005
Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust Fall 2005 Native plant propagation
Hopes exceeded: •Plant advice. •Seed collection. •Mentoring of our staff.
Whitpain Township Shade Tree Commission Tree inventory, summer 2005 Hopes exceeded: 60 unique trees identified •4 magnificent trees: Sycamore, Lacebark pine, River birch, Burr oak
•Student activities: •Adopted trees •New educational ring of logs •Care of trees: •Removal of invasive trees • Norway maple •Cabling of several large trees •Future direction
Continuing events: Earthweek April 2006
Support from Partnership for the Delaware Estuary and Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust: Earth week, April 2006
2007 Needs/Concerns: Sustainability Future hopes
• Long term planning • Funding • Maintenance: - gardening care - deer browse • Balance needs: - trees, watershed - education, time • Specific: - volunteer gardeners
Habitat Restoration at Oak Lane Day School: Elementary Environmental Education Dottie Baumgarten [email protected]
