National Environmental Education Week: Ocean Connections April 10-16, 2011

National Environmental Education Week: Ocean Connections April 10-16, 2011

Green Reading for Educators http://www.eeweek.org/resources/green_reading_educators.htm  The following books explore different philosophies of environmental education and different approaches to integrating environmental education into your curricula. Also see our list of green reading for kids. http://www.eeweek.org/resources/green_reading.htm

Island Water Protection

Just wanted to share these resources from the Nantucket Land Council for Nantucket Island residents that educates about the link between their sandy soil, their water quality and pesticides/fertilizers.  I hope there might be interest at Sandy Island in promoting awareness of the ecology of Sandy's water-well field and sewer system.

I especially like the information on Nantucket Island's Watersheds and Water Protection http://www.nantucketlandcouncil.org/WaterProt.html

"The Nantucket Land Council has mapped all the watersheds on Nantucket. You can find out which body of water, for example Madaket Harbor or Hummock Pond, the water under your house is flowing toward. Call us for a watershed map & brochure, or see it online at www.nantucketlandcouncil.org."  She the
Watershed Map: http://www.nantucketlandcouncil.org/WtrShedMap.html

Brochure
http://www.nantucketlandcouncil.org/Reports/ORGANIC%20GARDENING-2010.pdf

Your Lawn, Our Water
When rain falls, or when you irrigate your garden, excess fertilizers and pesticides will leach down into our sandy soils, eventually flowing into the ocean, a harbor, a pond or a drinking water well. The direction of the water flow on your property determines which “watershed” area you live in.

Reading The Sea Around Us

Revisiting Rachel Carson's 'The Sea Around Us' SouthCoastToday.com
June 2010 is an especially poignant time to be teaching Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us" (1951) to teachers. 

By LAURIE ROBERTSON-LORANT, Dr. Laurie Robertson-Lorant, English Department adjunct, Bridgewater State College, is a Melville biographer and poet who has taught sustainability education at UMass Dartmouth.

June 26, 2010

 

June 2010 is an especially poignant time to be teaching Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us" (1951) to teachers. The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a wake-up call to end our deadly addiction to fossil fuels and a tragic reminder of how little we have learned about the ocean since Carson's masterpiece appeared more than half a century ago. A masterful writer, marine biologist Carson combines informed observation, solid scientific knowledge and mindful contemplation of the geology, history and biodiversity of our ocean.

Read More

PollinatorLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure

While pollinators may come in small sizes, they play a large and often undervalued role in the production of the food we eat, the health of flowering plants, and the future of wildlife. A decline in the numbers and health of pollinators over the last several years poses a significant threat to the integrity of biodiversity, to global food webs, and to human health, according to scientists.

http://pollinatorlive.pwnet.org

Includes great activities including:

Bee Hunt
Bumble Bee Nest Survey
Goldenrod Challenge
Great Sunflower Project
Hands on the Land
Journey North
Lost Ladybug Project
Monarch Larva Monitoring Project
MonarchHealth
Monarch Watch Tagging and Waystations
Project BudBurst
USA – National Phenology Network
Vanessa Migration Project

Improving Children's Health Through Nature

Improving Children's Health Through Nature  

NEEF's Children and Nature Initiative educates health professionals on health benefits for children who participate in outdoor activities and connect with nature. In partnership with the National Audubon Society and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, NEEF encourages pediatric health care professionals to "prescribe" nature to their patients in order to create and encourage opportunities for outdoor play in the natural environment. The initiative was presented at the Children and Nature Network's 2009 Grassroots Gathering in September. The initiative and related materials were also exhibited at the CDC's National Environmental Public Health Conference in Atlanta in October. The initiative was featured in Nickelodeon's Playbook for World Wide Day of Play. Our article titled "Building on Partnerships: Reconnecting Kids with Nature for Health Benefits" highlights our Children and Nature Initiative. It has been accepted for publication in Health Promotion Practice and the abstract is currently available on PubMed.

Sindy's SANDY ISLAND PLANT INVENTORY

This past summer Sindy Hempstead joined her family at Sandy Island.  Thanks to Sindy we now have a comprehensive Sandy Island Plant Inventory that captures the exciting variety of Sandy Island's natural environment.

http://caringforsandyisland.blogspot.com/2009/12/sindy-hempsteads-plant-inventory-sandy.html

Sindy spent the week creating a fascinating list of Sandy's trees, bushes, shrubs, ferns, moss, seedlings and saplings in five different areas:  East Shore North of the Lodge, the Micro-burst area, North Shore, Central Forest, and Southeast Corner/South Shore.
 
No one has looked so closely or so scientifically at our island since 1998 when students from the University of New Hampshire Department of Natural Resources did an ecology audit of Sandy
While the Latin names are like tongue twisters, many of the English names are familiar friends such as Eastern Hemlock, Paper Birch, Red Maple and American Beech.

Many other names sound intriguingly strange-- Hop-sedge, Pipewort, Tall Rattlesnake-Root, Meadowsweet, Jewelweed, Daisy-fleabane, Boneset, Joe-pye-weed and many more.  The list notes if a plant was native to Sandy and how rare or abundant each was.  I’ve already spent several happy hours googling to find images so I can seek out them out next summer.

Sindy Hempstead's Plant Inventory, Sandy Island 8/22/09

Key:    

N: native,  I: introduced 
Abundance: 1=rare…4=very common    
               
Area 1, East Shore, N of lodge    N/I    Abun    Notes
Aster divaricatus    White Wood-aster    N    4    blooming
Onoclea sensibilis    Sensitive Fern    N    4   
Pinus strobus    Eastern White Pine    N    4   
Fagus grandifolia    American Beech    N    3   
Maianthemum canadense    Canada Mayflower    N    3   
Solidago bicolor    Silverrod, White Goldenrod    N    3    blooming
Solidago juncea    Early Goldenrod    N    3    blooming
Thelypteris palustris    Marsh Fern    N    3   
Tsuga canadensis    Eastern Hemlock    N    3   
Acer pensylvanicum    Striped Maple    N    2   
Acer rubrum    Red Maple    N    2   
Aster ericoides (sp?)    Many-flowered Aster    N    2   
Berberis thunbergii    Japanese Barberry    I    2    INVASIVE
Betula populifolia    Gray Birch    N    2   
Carex lupulina    Hop-sedge    N    2    in marsh
Eriocaulon aquaticum    Pipewort    N    2    emergent in lake, ca 3ft depth
Eupatorium dubium    Joe-pye-weed    N    2    among rocks along shore
Galium ap.    Bedstraw    N    2    in marsh
Gaylussacia baccata    Black Huckleberry    N    2   
Hamamelis virginiana    Witch-hazel    N    2   
Pinus rigida    Pitch Pine    N    2   
Pteridium aquilinum    Bracken    N    2   
Quercus rubra    Red Oak    N    2   
Solidago canadensis    Canada Goldenrod    N    2   
Trientalis borealis    Starflower    N    2   
Vaccinium angustifolium    Common Lowbush Blueberry    N    2   
Vaccinium pallidum    Lowbush Blueberry    N    2   
Equisetum  sp    Horsetail    N    1    vegetative phase
Scirpus cyperinus    Woolly Bulrush    N    1    in marsh
Quercus alba    White Oak    N    1 

Area 2, Micro-burst area: saplings, shrubs, herbaceous plants
Betula populifolia    Gray Birch    N    3   
Dryopteris carthusiana    Spinulose Wood-fern    N    3    blooming
Fagus grandifolia    American Beech    N    3   
Pinus strobus    Eastern White Pine    N    3    blooming
Acer rubrum    Red Maple    N    2   
Betula papyrifera    Paper Birch    N    2   
Euthamia graminifolia    Grass-leaved Goldenrod    N    2   
Fraxinus americana (sp?)    White Ash    N    2   
Hamamelis virginiana    Witch-hazel    N    2   
Mitchella repens    Partridge-berry    N    2   
Populus tremuloides    Quaking Aspen    N    2   
Quercus alba    White Oak    N    2    can be invasive
Rhus glabra  (sp?)    Smooth Sumac    N    2   
Salix bebbiana    Beaked Willow    N    2   
Spiraea alba    Meadowsweet    N    2   
Thelypteris palustris    Marsh Fern    N    2   
Tsuga canadensis    Eastern Hemlock    N    2   
Veronica officianalis    Common Speedwell    I    2   
Epilobium coloratum    Eastern Willow-herb    N    1   
Lobelia inflata    Indian-tobacco    N    1   
Prunus serotina (sp?)    Wild Black Cherry    N    1   
Rubus phoenicolasius    Wineberry    I    1   
Scirpus cyperinus    Woolly Bulrush    N    1  

               
Area 3, North Shore        

Alnus serrulata    Smooth Alder    N    3   
Aster divaricatus    White Wood-aster    N    3   
Fagus grandifolia    American Beech    N    3   
Gaylussacia baccata    Black Huckleberry    N    3   
Maianthemum canadense    Canada Mayflower    N    3   
Onoclea sensibilis    Sensitive Fern    N    3   
Pinus strobus    Eastern White Pine    N    3   
Thelypteris palustris    Marsh Fern    N    3   
Tsuga canadensis    Eastern Hemlock    N    3   
Vaccinium corymbosum    Highbush Blueberry    N    3    near North Dock
Viola sp    Violet    N    3   
Acer pensylvanicum    Striped Maple    N    2   
Acer rubrum    Red Maple    N    2   
Athyrium filix-femina (sp?)    Lady Fern    N    2   
Betula lenta  (sp?)    Sweet Birch, Black Birch    N    2   
Equisetum  sp    Horsetail    N    2    vegetative phase
Gaultheria procumbens    Wintergreen,Teaberry    N    2   
Hamamelis virginiana    Witch-hazel    N    2   
Lobelia inflata    Indian-tobacco    N    2   
Lycopus uniflorus     Common Water-horehound    N    2   
Mentha arvensis    Wild Mint    I    2    near North Dock
Parthenocissus quinquefolia    Virginia Creeper    N    2    near North Dock
Prenanthes trifoliolata    Gall-of-the-earth, Tall Rattlesnake-root    N    2    blooming
Quercus rubra    Red Oak    N    2    (seedlings) near North Dock
Solidago bicolor    Silverrod, White Goldenrod    N    2   
Sphagnum sp.    Sphagnum Moss    N    2   
Spiraea alba    Meadowsweet    N    2    near North Dock
Thalictrum pubescens    Tall Meadow-rue    N    2   
Vaccinium pallidum    Lowbush Blueberry    N    2   
Abies sp.    Fir    N    1    sapling
Berberis thunbergii    Japanese Barberry    I    1   
Erigeron strigosus    Daisy-fleabane    N    1    near North Dock
Gaultheria procumbens    Wintergreen,Teaberry    N    1   
Impatiens capensis    Jewelweed    N    1    near North Dock
Mitchella repens    Partridge-berry    N    1   
Scutellaria galericulata    Common Skullcap    N    1   

              
Area 4, Central Forest:  large, tall trees, sparse understory of mostly tree seedlings and saplings
Pinus strobus    Eastern White Pine    N    3   
Tsuga canadensis    Eastern Hemlock    N    3   
Acer pensylvanicum    Striped Maple    N    2    seedlings/saplings
Acer saccharum    Sugar Maple    N    2   
Betula populifolia    Gray Birch    N    2   
Dryopteris carthusiana    Spinulose Wood-fern    N    2   
Fagus grandifolia    American Beech    N    2   
Betula papyrifera    Paper Birch    N    1   
Fraxinus sp.    Ash    N    1   
Monotropa hypopithys    Pinesap    N    1   
Monotropa uniflora    Indian Pipe    N    1  

           
Area 5, Southeast Corner and South Shore    

Gaylussacia baccata    Black Huckleberry    N    4   
Maianthemum canadense    Canada Mayflower    N    3   
Pinus strobus    Eastern White Pine    N    3   
Quercus rubra    Red Oak    N    3   
Acer pensylvanicum    Striped Maple    N    2   
Acer saccharum    Sugar Maple    N    2   
Berberis thunbergii    Japanese Barberry    I    2    INVASIVE
Betula papyrifera    Paper Birch    N    2   
Fagus grandifolia    American Beech    N    2   
Hamamelis virginiana    Witch-hazel    N    2   
Solidago bicolor    Silverrod, White Goldenrod    N    2   
Eupatorium perfoliatum    Boneset    N    1   
Populus tremuloides    Quaking Aspen    N    1    saplings
Pteridium aquilinum    Bracken    N    1