The EcoRaiders have been busy these first two weeks since the inauguration of the club! Last week we made wildlife habitats along two walls of the school, where there was previously just very dry, bare earth and a bunch rocks. Spotted already using the habitats: bumble bees, butterflies, leaf insects, birds and a salamander. Over the weekend several families help with an impromptu creek clean up. Check out the pictures in the Photo Gallery. There were people cutting down big trees that had fallen on the creek during the last storm, removing big branches along the trail and picking up lots of trash. The hiking trail behind the school is already looking much better and we're excited to partner up with ASU's Trail Crew in the Spring to do some more work refurbishing the trail and making some new footbridges. Rob Plummer fixed the old bridge that is still in place over the creek and replaced some of the broken boards so that people can use the trail until we put in new bridges. Thanks Rob and everyone else who helped with the creek clean up. During this week's regular EcoRaiders Club session, we focused on salamanders. Watauga county is one of the regions in NC with the highest diversity salamander diversity, with 21 known species. North Carolina itself, boasting 60 species, is the state with the most salamander species in the country. Herpetologist Monica Winebarger from AppState was our guest speaker and lead the salamander searches, and Mallory James, a Biology undergrad also from App who is helping out with the club this year, ran the station about salamander morphology. We also had parent helpers Angela McMann and Sabena Maiden running art and science stations. Students learned about what makes a salamander a salamander, the different species that they are likely to come across in their school's backyard, proper handling of specimens and the ecological niche salamanders occupy. We also had some fantastic salamander artwork! Species of salamanders seen in the creek so far this year by EcoRaiders: Seal Salamander, Blue Ridge Two-lined, Black-bellied, Blue Ridge Mountain Husky and Shovel Nosed. For more pictures, check out the salamander study album in the Photo Gallery. A HUGE thanks to Madelyn's "Nana" Linda for replenishing our supply of acrylic paints! We love to integrate art into our science studies. Next week we will be focusing on tree identification.
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June 2017
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