Wayne National Forest's Native Plants & Pollinators Learning Project

By Cheryl Coon on Nov 11, 2010

The Little Cities of the Forest Collaborative received an Environmental Education grant and partnered with the Forest Service to provide a native plant and pollinator learning to local 5th graders.

The Little Cities of the Forest Collaborative is comprised of five organizations including the Wayne National Forest, focused on recreation and environmental education in the Little Cities of Black Diamonds microregion. The microregion is surrounded by the Athens Management Unit of the Wayne National Forest and is characterized by the coal mining communities of the Sunday and Monday Creek watersheds. The Collaborative is working to create a special sense of place through hands-on learning experiences for local school teachers, students, citizens and geotourists. This year, the Collaborative received an Ohio Environmental Education Fund grant that provides opportunities for students in the microregion to shadow, participate and learn alongside environmental professionals in four hands-on learning projects.

The Wayne National Forest led the Native Plants & Pollinators Learning Project in partnership with Angela Plant and her 5th Grade classes at Millcreek Elementary School in Corning, Ohio. Sixty-six students from all three 5th Grade classes participated in an outdoor field day on Wayne National Forest and 4 classroom days of learning. The outdoor field day took place at two different learning stations on the Forest. - Monroe Outlook and the native plant nursery located behind the Wayne National Forest Welcome Center.

Lynda Andrews, Wildlife Biologist for the Athens Ranger District, along with Sarah Forrest, Conservation Education Intern, and Julie Gillem, Biology Technician, met students at Monroe Outlook. The Outlook is a wildlife opening with a trail leading to a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Lynda and Sarah talked to students about the jobs they do on the Wayne and how they came to be where they are today. Then the students broke into two groups to learn about the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly and butterflies in general and what kind of habitats they need to survive. Students learned how to capture and identify butterflies. Lynda demonstrated how to tag a monarch for population monitoring. Sarah's group of students planted milkweed seeds and played a game called "Monarch Migration". All the students went home with their own butterfly field guide.

Cheryl Coon, Forest Botanist, and Biology technicians Jackie Haynal and Nick Galentin met students at the Native Plant Nursery where they shared about their jobs and talked to students about the importance of a healthy Forest. Cheryl, Nick and Jackie taught students how to use plant identification keys and students practiced on the plants growing in the native plant nursery. Students learned about pollinator syndrome traits - the colors, odors, and shapes of flowers and what kinds of pollinators are attracted by which trait. A discussion on seed dispersal and medicinal plant use was also part of the field day.

Classroom hours included a learning day led by Collaborative leaders John Winnenberg and Sandra Landis where students learned about the microregion and how local resources have impacted the history of the area as well as our current environment as seen today. Joe Brehm, Conservation Educator with an organization called Rural Action, led two classroom days of learning on plant and pollination biology. Jarel Bartig, Forest Ecologist, led the final classroom day by sharing her work experience and a lesson focused on Ecology and Appalachia. Diana McCauley, Professional Educator, provided project oversight to ensure connection of teaching content to Ohio's Academic Teaching Standards for Science.