November 9, 2008. Autumn Board of Director's meeting in
Washington DC. We did not have a fundraising event following the
meeting, as we have in recent years, due to the economic downturn in the
country. We did, however, have a small party celebrating the
election at the home of Paul Armington.
Environmental Forums Autumn 2008.
The current eForum is Oh Deer! 2008, which will run from
October 20 to November 26, 2008.
It is accessed by clicking on the
phone in the
High School. Participating
classes seek a consensus
approach
to deer population management that strikes an acceptable balance
between people, deer, and the environment.
*To help students visualize the problems caused by too many deer, we
created a short Flash
slide show about deer impacts on our
forested lands. Take a
look.
August 2008.
CI receives Virginia Environmental Endowment grant ($6,500) for eSchool
and related hands-on activities in Virginia.
August 2008. Cacapon
Institute (CI) receives $48,683
grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Chesapeake Bay
Small Watershed Grants Program. The project is titled: “Failure is Not
an Option: Investigating a Cost-Effective Approach to Reducing Deer
Damage in Reforestation Programs.” Read press release
here.
Learn more about project here.
July 2008. Stream Scholars Summer Camp 2008 was a
resounding success from the Cacapon to the Potomac to the Chesapeake Bay. Take a
look.
Read our
June fundraising letter.
June 2008. CI's Executive Director Neil delivers
talk on
deer-exclusion experiment at American Water Resources Association
2008 Riparian Summer Specialty Conference
May 2008. Spring Board of Director's meeting in Slanesville,
WV. Field trip to project sites, including a Natural Stream
Restoration and USDA-CREP Riparian Planting at WVU's experimental farm
in Wardensville, WV.
Environmental Forums Spring 2008.
Students from 10 schools in 3 states participated in the Spring 2008 SCE
Forum, and did a tremendous amount of thoughtful work seeking solutions
to the Bay watershed's problems. Their final consensus papers are
now posted. You can see the whole
thing in the
Environmental Forum
Archives.
SCE Forum students from Buffalo Gap High School (Staunton,
VA) did an
erosion control project at a nearby elementary school.
Students from Jefferson High School did a
tree
planting project around a constructed wetland. Other students
competed in a bumper sticker contest, which was won by
China Jones at
Rappahannock High School.
February 2008. Cacapon Institute receives
2-year NOAA-BWET grant ($90,0000) to: 1-
Enhance our online Potomac Highlands Watershed School to annually reach
1800 students throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed; 2- Use the power
of the web to communicate and share data and involve students in a
hands-on living laboratory program with students collaborating on
monitoring techniques and field experiences; 3- Form an advisory council
for Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE);
and 4- Engage small, community-based watershed and conservation groups
in MWEE to bring additional flexibility and local financial help to
teachers.
November 2007. CI has three papers at VA-WV Water Resources
Symposium 2007 in Blacksburg, VA:
