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Frank
Rodgers and Ben Alexandro of the Cacapon Institute educated
students on the problems facing the watershed and their
local water including sedimentation and excess nutrients.
The students then discovered how they could help by finding
hotspots around the school. |
The
students
decided that they wanted to restore and improve the existing
wetland next to the school. The wetland was being
encroached by bare dirt and regularly mowed turf in the
surrounding area. Having low aesthetic value, the wet
club wanted to make the wetland look like something worth
treasuring for years to come. |
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The
wetland area itself is already marginally functional in
filtering out pollutants |
Notice
how the water entering the wetland area is often polluted
and murky. |
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By the
time the water leaves, the wetland has filtered and cleaned
the water substantially. |
The
students assessed the area by measuring the water levels and
scoring the wetland for wildlife habitat to see how the area
could be improved. |
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With the
help of Ben Alexandro of the Cacapon Institute, the students
learned how to identify the existing flora and fauna in the
wetland. Here Ben is describing the difference between
rush, sedge, and grasses. |
Students
studied the soil to determine which plants could best grow
there. |
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Students
discovered that the soils in the area were clay loam and
silt clay loam. |
Armed
with the knowledge of what would improve the wetland, the
kids made a list of locally native plants they researched
that they want to see in the wetland. |
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The
students then created a map of where the plants would be
placed to see how the new wetland would look while in
bloom. After conferring with experts such as Sarah
Wuertenberg (WVCA) and Kieran O’Malley (WVDNR), the W.E.T.
Club was ready to order plants. |
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Above is
the final map that CI staff and students from the W.E.T.
Club will use when they plant the wetland on April 11, 2011. |
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One week
before the planting the WET club, aided by WVDOF's Herb
Peddicord and CI's Ben Alexandro, flagged all the locations
where plants where will be planted the following week. |
As flags
were put in the ground, Nathan marked off the locations on
the planting map. |
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Deb
Stevens, Passionate Teacher in charge of the WET Club. |
Success!!
375 flags put in place ready for the 375 plants to be put
there next week. |
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Planting the wetland on
April 11, 2011. |
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That's a
lot of plants. |
Frank
arrives early with the plants. |
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General
Ben arrives. |
Getting
started. |
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Josh
(Potomac Valley Audubon), Cap'n Lou (Opequon Project Team),
and Deb Stevens (teacher) make plans. |
Ben hands
out assignments to group leaders. |
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A style
statement - pink and red boots. |
Distributing plants: 375 plants in 35 species. |
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Busy. |
Busy. |
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Busy. |
Busy. |
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Not
afraid of a little mud. |
Busy |
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Building
cages. |
Caged
trees. |
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At the
end of a long day, four teams of W.E.T. Club students had
planted more than 375 plants, erected cages to protect the
trees and shrubs from abundant deer (see photo at right),
hauled stone to make a path, and feasted on pizza.
It was
a good, productive day. And that night a rain
began that lasted two days - giving the plants an excellent
start. |
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This
project was developed by Musselman High School's W.E.T. Club
working with Cacapon Institute over a four month period.
Funding for this project came primarily from a NOAA-Bay
Watershed Education and Training grant to Cacapon Institute.
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