On the Land!
This month, we are starting a new and recurring section of the VYCC Enews. “On The Land” will be a forum to describe the activities and initiatives on our 400-acre property. We have lots of exciting things happening here, all directed at meeting our broad goals for our land, including stewarding the land sustainably, developing an effective outdoor classroom, and using the land as a valuable community resource.
This month, we started a partnership with Camels Hump Middle School (CHMS) to monitor reptiles and amphibians on our property. Our first step was hosting a training led by the Vermont State Herpetologist and Director of the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, Jim Andrews. Jim trained over 30 CHMS teachers and parents, as well as VYCC staff and instructors, on the identification and ecology of frogs, salamanders and snakes that we are likely to find on our land. Jim also discussed how to construct monitoring stations (called cover boards) for snakes and amphibians. This week, 80 students from CHMS visited our property and constructed 15 cover boards for amphibians and 10 for snakes. More students will be visiting next week to construct an additional 5 stations for amphibians and 30 or more for snakes.
If you would like a map showing the locations of VYCC monitoring stations, contact our Land Stewardship Specialist, Bradley Materick and he will send you a copy. This partnership represents a perfect example of the use of our land as an effective outdoor classroom and a valuable community resource, and we want to thank Jim Andrews and the teachers at CHMS who have helped get this project of the ground!
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I really liked your blog , very helpful!