Students from the Newark Summer Youth Employment Program (a STEM educational program sponsored by Solar One) and GSWA’s Education and Water Quality staffers had a great field experience together yesterday. Thirteen intern students visited our Conservation Management Area (CMA) in Harding Twp. to experience, many for the first time, what it is like to be in a floodplain forest. One student explained that he had never been in a forest before and he was thrilled for the opportunity to really experience how green and alive it was.
Hazel England, GSWA Director of Education and Stewardship, led the first half of the trip taking students on a tour of the CMA and teaching them about the importance of floodplain forests and how they provide ecological services like reducing downstream flooding and habitat for native species. She explained how important these areas are for carbon sequestration as a tool in the fight against climate change.
During the second half of the program, Sandra LaVigne, GSWA Director of Water Quality Programs, took the students into the Silver Brook to conduct some sampling. The students were able to test the stream for things like Ph and total dissolved solids (a measure of salt from nearby road runoff). Finally, the students conducted a biological survey looking at the organisms that live in the stream, like dragonfly larvae and snails. A few students even got to hold a crayfish. It was an enlightening day for all involved.
For more about the Great Swamp Watershed Association School Programming, click HERE
