Louisiana Wetland Education Coalition
Current Events:
We are happy to announce the creation of a new listserve to meet the needs of educators interested in the Louisiana wetlands. An informal group called the Louisiana Wetland Education Coalition (LaWEC) has initiated this tool to help distribute materials and workshop information that are focused on wetlands information and are appropriate for the K-12 education forum (both informal and formal education).
If you would like to join the Louisiana Wetland Education Coalition listserve, sign up.
Photo of the Month:
Cool Resources:
Lessons on the Lake: A fieldtrip Guide
USGS / Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation (LPBF) offers a series of fascinating field trips that take students to sites in the Pontchartrain Basin to learn first hand about environmental issues and to participate directly in the solutions. These field trips fall into three broad categories:
- Wetlands
- Urban Stormwater Runoff
- Northshore /Riverine Systems
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1998/of98-805/lessons/chpt11/index.htm
Students are dipping their nets to collect macroinvertebrates that will be classified as part of biological water quality testing they do with experts from the University Of New Orleans and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.
Quote of the Month:
“We learn to respect and appreciate nature by experiencing
it. Whenever we can teach outdoors skills, we have a chance to develop new lifelong participants.”
- Bo Boehringer of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries (LDWF)
A seventh grade student teaches 6th grade students how to use a sechi disk to measure turbidity. Hurst seventh graders guide over 600 younger students on wetland trips each year.
Organization of the Month:
Barry Guillot’s LaBranche Wetland Watchers
Standards meet Service Barry Guillot, a seventh-grade science teacher, worked with his students to create the LaBranche Wetland Watchers project in 1998. Guillot got the idea after attending a service-learning field trip at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. Guillot is the backbone behind this nationally recognized project that enables more than 1,000 students each year to meet required academic standards through activities that also benefit the environment. The primary objective of the LaBranche Wetland Watchers is to encourage wetland conservation through Education, Service, and Awareness.
Sense of Ownership The LaBranche Wetland Watchers is a school-based service-learning project designed to integrate environmental issues into the curriculum. More than 3,800 fifth through seventh grade students have participated in service trips to and adopted sites near the Bonnet Carre Spillway. Students plan and participate in activities such as water quality monitoring, macro-invertebrate collection and identification, litter clean-ups, soil and plant identification, tree planting, and mapping out a public nature trail.
Sharing Knowledge Students have spoken to more than 40,000 people across southeastern Louisiana. Through education, service, and awareness, students led a community effort for wetland conservation. The Gulf of Mexico Program presented the LaBranche Wetland Watchers with a first place Gulf Guardian Award for 2004 in the Youth and Education Category. As a double honor, the Wetland Watchers’ coordinator, Barry Guillot, also received the 2004 first place Gulf Guardian Award in the individual category.
For more information about the LaBranche Wetlands Watcher, contact Barry Guillot at 985-785-9808
If you would like to submit nominations for “Quote of the Month,” “Photo of the Month,” “Cool Resource,” or “Organization of the Month,” please email heidi_hitter@usgs.gov with the information and any necessary reference material.
[The Current Contact is Dave Marks at lacoast@condor.nwrc.gov or (337) 266-8623. -Webmaster]