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Conservation Field Daze

Started by Phorester, June 05, 2005, 03:22:28 PM

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Phorester


We did our Conservation Field Days last week for all the 6th graders in one of my counties.  8 or 9 stations are set up around a school parking lot or ball field.  The actual participants vary every year, but will consist of organizations and agencies such as us (Dept. of Forestry), the Game Wardens, Friends of the Shenandoah River, beekeepers, the local high school Vo-Ag. class, usually talking about their class-built firewood splitter and what trees make the best firewood, how it's processed, snakes, a local State Park, county Recycling Coordinator, NRCS and SWCD reps, etc.

They are 15 minute talks, 8 or 9 in the morning, and repeated in the afternoon at a different school.  Fast and furious.  Two foresters "tag team" the forestry talk.  Our forestry talk consists of the tools a forester uses, and forest management in general.  We use tree cookies (cross-sections of trees)  to show growth rings and talk about how trees grow, demonstrate an increment borer (bores out a thin core of wood from a tree so we can see the growth rings) using a student volunteer as the 'tree", show aerial photos, topo maps.  Talk about forest management plans, thinning, clearcutting, tree planting, etc.  Demonstrate a tree planting bar.  We also demonstrate a Diameter tape and clinometer (to measure tree heights) and explain how these are based on the math formulas they learn in their own classes.  The teachers love it when we can show real-world examples of what they are teaching these kids in school.

This year we talked to 3 schools, for a total of almost 1,000 6th graders. Next year there will be 4 middle schools in the county.

Trying to show them their connection to the environment in general, and where their water, air, forest products, food, etc., comes from.


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