2004 – 2007

Western Kentucky University’s Regional Science Resource Center and the Friends of Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge connect local students with the outdoors.

With funding from a Nature of Learning grant, the Regional Science Resource Center at Western Kentucky University partnered with the refuge and the Friends Group to help local school teachers to become independent in environmental teaching and extend the boundaries of the classroom to the outdoors and the refuge.  Over 300 students have participated in the experience since 2004.

For the past three years Nakia Brown of Wingo Elementary School in Graves County, Denita Griggs of North Marshall Middle School in Marshall County, and Linette Hamilton of Concord Elementary in McCracken County have brought their students to the refuge in the spring to enjoy outdoor activities.  The two-part program provides students with an opportunity to learn about the importance of wetland forest habitat to migratory birds just returning from a long winter in South America and the value of clean water to creatures living in the Clarks River.

Migratory songbirds are captured in mist nets and banded by Happy Chambers who serves as the President of the Kentucky Ornithological Society and the Secretary of the Friends Group.  The students use field guides to identify the birds and learn how to recognize species by size, color, bill shape, and other features.  Students are quizzed based on information provided in classroom sessions and upon their arrival that morning.  The first student with the correct answer is allowed to release the banded bird back into the wild.

After a hearty lunch at the banding station the students load up and head for the Clarks River.  Each year landowner Joe Lindsey and his wife Dedi, a longtime teacher in McCracken County, allow the students to access the river for the afternoon study session.  Students are provided with the tools necessary to take a water sample and then determine the pH of that sample.  Next the students use dip nets to capture creatures that live in the river such as aquatic insects, fish, and crayfish, and then learn how the types of creatures present can help determine water quality.  All activities are hands-on and emphasize conservation issues as well as the impact of human activities on the environment.

“Although Western Kentucky is a rural area, most kids do not experience the out-of-doors fully as did past generations. This is partly due to today’s pace of life and the competing activities associated with sports, TV, computers, etc.  It was great to see the kids see things they had not seen or thought about much in the outdoors, get muddy and wet, tromp through the woods, and have a great time doing it.  Hopefully, their awareness of the outdoors and what it offers to us all was piqued just a bit.  They experienced first-hand what is sometimes taken for granted or has been forgotten,” said Refuge Manager Michael Johnson.  Linette Hamilton, participating teacher from Concord Elementary, said, “The kids love it.  They have been excited about the field day ever since we began doing the pre-field day activities in class.  Touching and actually seeing things makes it real; for many of the kids, this is their first experience with rivers and wetland forests.”

The Nature of Learning is a grant-based program funded through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Keystone Center, and the National Wildlife Refuge Association.  This environmental education initiative uses National Wildlife Refuges as outdoor classrooms to promote a greater understanding of local conservation issues as well as to use field experiences and student-led stewardship projects to connect classroom lessons to real world issues.  The program also encourages partnerships among local schools, community groups, and natural resource professionals.  The three-year pilot program was so successful that the Friends Group is now seeking a permanent source of funding to continue the program.