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    The Smell of Marsh Mud: Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge

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    RYIESE
    The document discusses the Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge's environmental education program. It provides: 1) Hands-on educational field trips and overnight stays for schools and groups to experience the undeveloped barrier island ecosystem. 2) Lesson plans focused on the estuary system and how species like blue crabs and whooping cranes depend on water quality. 3) Inquiry-based learning led by the refuge environmental education specialist, engaging students in observation and critical thinking about adaptations of wildlife like ghost crabs.

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    The Smell of Marsh Mud: Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge

    Uploaded by

    RYIESE
    37 views3 pages
    The document discusses the Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge's environmental education program. It provides: 1) Hands-on educational field trips and overnight stays for schools and groups to experience the undeveloped barrier island ecosystem. 2) Lesson plans focused on the estuary system and how species like blue crabs and whooping cranes depend on water quality. 3) Inquiry-based learning led by the refuge environmental education specialist, engaging students in observation and critical thinking about adaptations of wildlife like ghost crabs.

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    FWS3_MarshMud

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    The document discusses the Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge's environmental education program. It provides: 1) Hands-on educational field trips and overnight stays for schools and groups to experience the undeveloped barrier island ecosystem. 2) Lesson plans focused on the estuary system and how species like blue crabs and whooping cranes depend on water quality. 3) Inquiry-based learning led by the refuge environmental education specialist, engaging students in observation and critical thinking about adaptations of wildlife like ghost crabs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    37 views3 pages

    The Smell of Marsh Mud: Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge

    Uploaded by

    RYIESE
    The document discusses the Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge's environmental education program. It provides: 1) Hands-on educational field trips and overnight stays for schools and groups to experience the undeveloped barrier island ecosystem. 2) Lesson plans focused on the estuary system and how species like blue crabs and whooping cranes depend on water quality. 3) Inquiry-based learning led by the refuge environmental education specialist, engaging students in observation and critical thinking about adaptations of wildlife like ghost crabs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    the Smell of Marsh Mud:

    Matagorda island National Wildlife Refuge

    offering Multiple options for Hands-on Study of an ecosystem


    by Karen Leggett

    A barrier island along the coastal bend of texas that has no causeway,
    highway or ferry for access, Matagorda island provides an unparalleled
    opportunity both to protect natural resources and offer the hands-on environ
    mental educational experience that such an isolated ecosystem can offer.
    Hundreds are taking advantage each
    year as Aransas National Wildlife
    Refuge Complex uses the island as a
    key component of its environmental
    education program.
    Many of the schools served by the
    refuges education program are primar
    ily Hispanic, and the students first
    experience with the bay and the Gulf of
    Mexico often occurs during a field trip.
    It is important that our future leaders
    understand the interdependence of
    the estuarine system and the need to
    protect it. It is through field trips and
    interaction that a true appreciation
    and understanding can develop, says
    Aransas Refuge environmental educa
    tion specialist Tonya Nix.
    The Science and Spanish Club Network
    a group of middle school clubs con
    nected to school districts and youth
    organizations brings teens to Aransas
    Refuge, as does the Port Lavaca Water
    Watchers Club, which reaches primarily
    underserved urban Hispanic students.

    Lance and Erin Willet

    estuary education
    Aransas Refuge has the largest wetland
    habitat in the northern part of the
    Mission-Aransas National Estuarine
    Research Reserve, a nationally desig
    nated complex of wetland, terrestrial
    and marine environments. One purpose
    of these reserves is to promote environ
    mental education about estuaries.

    A young crane catches


    a blue crab at Aransas
    National Wildlife Refuge
    in Texas. Students learn
    the connections among
    water quality, blue crabs
    and cranes.

    While educational field trips have gone


    to Matagorda Island for decades, in
    2008 Nix began meeting with other
    environmental education professionals,
    teachers and scientists from the Univer
    sity of Texas and Padre Island National
    Seashore to outline shared educational
    goals, including improved understand
    ing of Texas coastal ecosystems and
    stewardship of coastal resources.
    The goals are based on national science
    standards and aligned with Texas
    Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
    objectives. The group identified objec
    tives and activities for each natural
    area that did not overlap. We want
    visitors to have a unique experience at
    Matagorda Island, not something they
    can experience at Port Aransas or on
    boats that go into the bay, says Nix.
    Matagorda Island provides an opportu
    nity to teach about the ecosystem of a
    barrier island.
    getting to the island and Staying there
    When school, Scout or other groups
    come to Matagorda Island, they spend
    one or two nights in a rustic bunkhouse
    originally used by cowboys when the
    south end of the island was an active
    cattle ranch. There is no charge for
    the bunkhouse as long as it is being
    used for environmental education.
    Groups must bring their own bedding,
    toiletries, drinking water and food; the
    bunkhouse has a full kitchen, complete
    with cooking supplies. Energy comes
    from gas and solar panels.
    Groups must also arrange their own
    transportation to the island on private
    charter boats. Nix says the students
    with the Port Lavaca Water Watchers
    Club save all year to pay for boats to
    bring them to the island. She says the
    refuge is considering seeking grants or

    S p e c i A l R e p o R t: B R i N g i N g e N v i R o N M e N tA l e d U c At i o N t o d i v e R S e A U d i e N c e S

    encouraging the Friends organization to


    hold fundraisers to defray some of the
    field trip expenses
    The island has a small lab with locally
    gathered specimens, a few microscopes,
    plankton nets and viewers, and dis
    secting kits. Audio-visual equipment is
    available in a small classroom.
    Melinda Nielsen, who brings fifth- and
    sixth-graders students from Bay Area
    Montessori School in Houston, says,
    The venue is authentic and away from
    home, enabling students to investigate
    bay, marsh, coastal grassland, fresh
    water ponds, estuary and beach shore
    areas all at once to see how they are
    dependent on each other.
    From goals on paper to
    Hands-on learning
    When groups make plans for a Mata
    gorda Island field trip, they choose from
    seven lesson plans, including a beach
    habitat mini-course and a beginning
    birding nature trek. Some plans existed
    prior to the Mission-Aransas Reserve
    collaboration. Others were adapted
    from The Nature Conservancy, which
    conducted programs on the island
    before it became part of the refuge.
    Nix teaches whichever lesson plan the
    group chooses.
    The Matagorda Island experience
    is intended to teach students about
    the value of the estuary as a nursery
    for developing organisms and the
    importance of the island as a feeding
    source for migratory birds. Species are
    observed and studied in their natural
    habitats, allowing students to connect
    with nature while learning the impor
    tance of working together to insure the
    animals/habitats we have today are
    here for future generations.
    Each lesson plan includes a goal, objec
    tive, recommended age group, time and
    season, as well as a very specific list of
    the TEKS objectives met by that plan.
    An eighth-grade TEKS requirement

    13

    www.shutterstock.com

    Richard Gonzalez

    Cleaning up beach debris requires hard work and


    team work for students on Matagorda Island.

    Beach Habitat Mini-course


    The objectives of this course are to give participants an understanding of
    the Gulf beach as an appealing but deceptively harsh habitat for resident
    biota. Other objectives include:
    Learn to perceive the ecological zones on the beach.
    Find and identify some characteristic animals that live in each zone.
    Observe and discuss the adaptations that permit survival on the beach and
    the food web that supports these resident creatures.
    Learn some ways that humans can disrupt the natural cycles on a beach.
    Site: Gulf beach at Wynne Road

    Recommended length: 2+ hrs

    Recommended age: Grades 8-12 and adults

    Recommended season/time: spring, summer, fall

    Materials provided by refuge (except for personal clothing items)


    two 20-30 foot seines for the group
    Outside clothes with sleeves and
    two five-gallon buckets for the group
    long trousers to get wet to the
    thermometer
    knees; wet shoes; hat; sun block.
    refractometer
    four slurpers
    megaphone
    four plastic jars
    group water jug
    four plastic cubes
    First-aid kit with meat tenderizer
    two hand nets
    2-way radio
    two hand magnifiers
    Sample activities and questions
    There are activities and questions related to several key wildlife species on
    the beach tiger beetle, beach hopper, sand digger, palp worm, mole grabs
    and ghost crabs.
    Catch a tiger beetle in a plastic cube for observation. How does it tolerate
    sun and heat? How about swimmers and fishermen?
    Find coquinas, the small clams living in the swash zone. Note the sturdy,
    wedge-shaped shell adapted to the battering surf and shifting sand.

    14

    Children learn to identify ghost


    crab tracks and burrows.

    that could be met on Matagorda Island,


    for example, is for students to conduct
    field and laboratory investigations using
    safe, environmentally appropriate and
    ethical practices.
    Another eighth-grade TEKS require
    ment is for students to learn about the
    interdependence among living systems.
    Aransas Refuge provides critical
    habitat for the endangered whooping
    crane, which depends on blue crabs as
    a food source. So students learn about
    the relationship between water quality
    and blue crabs. If the water is too
    salty, blue crabs will not reproduce,
    explains Nix. Blue crabs, and therefore
    whooping cranes, are dependent on
    water quality
    inquiry education
    Nix guides students through each
    lesson with a process called inquiry edu
    cation. When students are on the beach
    but before they have started digging for
    ghost crabs, they are asked to consider:
    What signs do you observe that tell us
    that a critter lives in the sand?
    What critters do you think may live on
    this beach? Why?
    How would living in a burrow be
    beneficial to survival on the beach?
    Ghost crabs dig down to the water
    table. Students are asked to figure out

    Students with the Science and


    Spanish Club Network created their
    own flash mob dance, which they
    perform when Aransas Refuge has
    an exhibit at local wildlife festivals.

    the best place to dig to find ghost crabs.


    Ultimately, they begin digging close
    to the water. They are instructed to
    handle their ghost crabs with care when
    placing them into a jar and resuming
    the conversation.
    Richard Gonzalez

    How does the crab survive on


    the beach?
    What special adaptations does the crab
    have to survive in this environment?
    Does the crab have natural
    camouflage?

    You see the light go off in kids eyes when they get it. they are not out there
    trying to be cool. Marsh mud smells and they are getting wet and dirty while
    learning. By the time they leave, they still have a little Matagorda island smell.
    tonya
    Nix
    How might continual automobile traffic
    affect ghost crabs populations?
    rebuilt a trail beaten down by alligators, The Flash Flock Party Kit includes
    Students observe a ghost crab with sci
    observed whooping crane habitat,
    life-size wood cuts of cranes, smallerentific precision the hard exoskeleton, and in six visits between 2009 and
    than-life size blue crabs and ideas for
    jointed legs, agile movements, special
    2011 picked up more than 30 tons of
    creating an event that raises awareness
    hairs to absorb water from burrow
    trash from the Gulf coast shoreline.
    about the endangered status of North
    walls, gills that do not need constant
    Americas tallest bird, such as celebrat
    immersion in water, pop-up eyes with
    In 2010, SSCN organized a Whooping
    ing the day the cranes begin arriving
    near 360-degree visual field.
    Crane Flash Flock Party to celebrate
    or leaving, building on-site science
    both the refuge birthday and Tom
    displays, putting cranes on a parade
    Ghost crabs feed mostly at night on
    Stehn, the refuges recently retired
    float or establishing a wildlife biologist
    coquinas and smaller crabs. They are
    whooping crane biologist. Half the cel
    day. Gonzalez also believes The Whoop
    preyed upon by birds, coyotes, badgers
    ebrants wore red, white and black while should be just the first of many endan
    and feral hogs. After measuring the
    Stehn showed up in the whooping crane gered species theme songs and dances
    temperature of the surface and interior
    costume he used to work undercover
    developed by students he says hes
    of a burrow, students talk about the
    with the cranes. SSCN teens created
    looking forward to the Kemps Ridley
    advantage of being inside or outside the their own flash mob dance, which they Sea Turtle Mambo, the Ocelot Trot or
    burrow on a hot day.
    now perform when Aransas Refuge has
    the Bison Bounce.
    an exhibit at local wildlife festivals.
    Youre invited to a Flash Flock party
    For information on Whooping Crane
    Aransas Refuge frequently hosts
    SSCN mentor and grant writer Richard Flash Flock Party Kits or ideas on
    teens in the Science and Spanish Club
    Gonzalez planned a Whoop Dance
    adapting the party to other species
    Network (SSCN), a multicultural envi
    Competition at the Aransas Pass
    contact Richard Gonzalez at Richard@
    ronmental education project created by
    Shrimporee in June 2012, when Aransas gulfmex.org.
    the Gulf of Mexico Foundation.
    Refuge celebrated its 75th anniversary.
    He has also sent Flash Flock Party Kits
    SSCN clubs first came to the mainland
    to other national wildlife refuges with
    units of the refuge. Encouraged by
    whooping cranes (Quivira in Kansas,
    Nix, they now come to Matagorda
    Necedah in Wisconsin, Chassahowitza
    Island as well. Although Nix does use
    and St. Marks in Florida) as well as
    a beach ecology curriculum with these
    Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada,
    youngsters, they are more likely to
    where the Aransas flock spends the
    learn about the estuarine ecosystem
    summer. Both Quivira and St. Marks
    by working in it, doing service projects
    Refuges are making plans to have kids
    like beach cleanup. SSCN teens have
    do The Whoop when the first cranes
    arrive at their refuges.
    What would be the benefit of being
    nocturnal?

    S p e c i A l R e p o R t: B R i N g i N g e N v i R o N M e N tA l e d U c At i o N t o d i v e R S e A U d i e N c e S

    15

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