I am pleased to report that a number of schools in the Tri-County Regional School Boad area are getting involved in environmental field studies.
In Barrington we have Evelyn Richardson Memorial Elementary School, Forest Ridge Academy, Cape Sable Island Elementary and Barrington Memorial High School partnering with the Barrington River Committee, a community group on the adopt-a-stream project for the Barrington River.
In Yarmouth we have Centennial Elementary and Yarmouth Junior High School in partnership with the Tusket River Environmental Protection Association on the adopt-a-stream project on Broad Brook. Trout Unlimited is involved with both of these studies.
Islands Consolidated on Digby Neck is adopting the Northeast Cove watershed. They are working closely with the Nova Scotia Community College’s Center of Geographic Sciences.
The teams of students working on these projects get to take their learning experience out into the field for real hands-on experience. They are learning about mapping, different types of habitats, identifying flora and fauna, and taking measurements of water quality. They also engage in environmental clean-up projects. The YJHS team has started a blog (http://yjhsea.blogspot.com/) to share information with the public. Please visit and comment. They would love to hear from you.
A number of these teams will be participating in a Gulf of Maine Institute mini-conference at Acadia University at the end of May to learn more about Applied Community Mapping. Some will also be joining in the Institute’s summer workhop in New Hampshire in July. They will meet other student teams from around the Gulf to gain environmental science and leadership skills. See (gulfofmaineinstitute.org) for more information.
In all of these experiences the students are working with and getting support from community organizations, doing field work on real community issues, working in adult/student teams, finding out about career choices in the environmental sciences, and gaining understanding of their town and region in the greater Gulf of Maine bioregion.
