EMHS Receives Grant from U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Posted March 2, 2010
<p>The funding, a $7,500.00 grant, comes from the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. Nancy Baczek, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service, explains that the goal of the program is connecting people with nature. “This program provides incentives to schools for developing outdoor educational areas used for the purpose of implementing and studying environmental and wildlife conservation. Beyond the long-term educational opportunities, the connection to nature can help instill a land stewardship ethic that will sustain the health of our country’s natural resources for future generations,” said Baczek.</p>
<p>Bradd Schulke and Marisa Salazar are working with the Fish and Wildlife Service to implement the grant. The work funded by the grant is part of their larger vision for the EMHS campus and the school’s Environmental Science program. According to Schulke, the first step in improving wildlife habitat is to enhance the soil. Through water catchment techniques, the school will funnel water from areas like the parking lot to wildlife habitat areas. This will improve the capacity of the soil to retain water longer, and will encourage the growth of water intensive plants. This, in turn, will attract more waterfowl and song birds to the area. Schulke describes the changes he has already seen in the EMHS campus due to this work. “There’s already an increase in the diversity of animal species on campus,” he explains. “There is a group of deer that regularly visits the pond we created, and this is the first time I’ve seen predatory birds like hawks on campus.”</p>
<p>Of course, the grant funding won’t just benefit wildlife. Students will have the opportunity to use their school as an outdoor classroom to understand concepts of habitat, ecology, hydrology and geology. Schulke and Salazar both teach a junior level Environmental Science class in which students are required to develop their own inquiry project involving original research and a presentation. Six juniors have chosen to do their research on the micro-habitats created on the EHMS campus and to do some of the work of building the improvements.</p>
<p>Schulke and Salazar have an ambitious vision for the teaching and learning opportunities provided by the EMHS campus. “We hope to be an educational facility for the community,” Schulke explains. “We are working on creating a self-guided interpretative tour that will educate visitors about the habitats of the Sandia Mountains.” Other projects envisioned include a pollinator garden and a joint project with Bernalillo County to cultivate heirloom apple trees.</p>