FSP - REI funded 2009 North Carolina State Parks Projects

REI presented a grant in 2009 to the Haw River State Park.

Thanks REI!

Haw River State Park

David Pearson, president of FSP, presentats a $5000 grant from REI to Sue McBean Superintendent of Haw River State Park for environmental education equipment. Haw River State Park in located in Rockingham and Guilford counties. The park's Summit Environmental Education Center is an outdoor science school that specializes in overnight field trips for groups of all ages. All courses and activities are designed to meet or exceed state and national standards for curriculum. It's mission statement, written in 2001, remains the same: The Summit Environmental Education program is committed to immersing students in an engaging, informative, entertaining and inspiring curriculum that nurtures a lifelong respect for the relationships within our natural environment.

“This grant will directly help Haw River State Park improve its environmental education programs, particularly for young people, and that’s always been one of the principal goals of Friends of State Parks,” said David Pearson, president of the organization. “It’s a great example of partnership between our support group, the state parks system and the business community.”

Kathryn Royall explains how the park will use the grant.

The Summit Environmental Education Center at Haw River State Park provides environmental education for around 5,000 participants annually. The Summit EE Center program includes a variety of courses such as Wetlands, Forest Ecology, Orienteering, Wilderness Survival, and Animal Adaptations. All of these courses have hands-on activities and experiences which engage and immerse the participants into the natural world, strengthening the important natural connections between them and their environment. The REI funds will enhance three present-day courses, Wilderness Survival, Animal Adaptations and Wetlands by adding new and innovative equipment to the curriculum. These additions will increase the experiential and hands-on components of each of these courses. Funds will be used for

Live macro-invertebrate demonstrations are the culminating presentations in our very popular Wetlands courses. They learn about our specific riparian wetlands while collecting live specimens for classification and use in determining the health of our wetlands. The live macro-invertebrate portion of the class involves projecting the individual specimens up on to a screen, where an EE instructor identifies the specimen and shares interesting facts about the adaptations of, important role of, and awe inspiring characteristics of that macro-invertebrate species. The two new micro projectors allow for the larger EE groups to experience the live presentation by accommodating additional groups concurrently.

The Wilderness Survival course now includes the building of debris shelters and a variety of fire building techniques to give the students more hands on learning experiences. With the overall recent interest in “survival” shows and the addition of the debris shelters to the curriculum, the demand and interest in our Wilderness Survival course has increased. Campers are able to use sharp rocks with the magnesium fire starters with good results. The new magnesium fire starters in our Wilderness Survival course, will allow students to experience the thrill of starting a fire in the “wilderness” on their own, without endangering themselves and others.

Haw River State Park is a participant in the Box Turtle Connection; a project of the Box Turtle Collaborative. The project, based at UNCG, includes monitoring individual Eastern Box Turtles by tracking their movements, behaviors, home range, and habitat preferences. With the addition of radio telemetry equipment to the Box Turtle Biology course, we could guarantee EE participants hands-on experience with active research, along with the thrill of locating, measuring and releasing a live specimen. Our participants will have one-on-one encounters with Eastern Box Turtles.

The EE staff has developed a night program based on bats, their behaviors and their role in nature. This is also a great way to help students feel more comfortable in the out of doors at night. A key component of this new program is utilizing bat detectors in which a small group of 12- 15 students with an instructor would be able to locate bats in the area. The bat detector converts the bat’s echolocation ultrasound signals to frequencies we can hear. The bat detector facilitates direct contact between the students and the local bat population for observation and educational purposes.

Additional funds from REI will supply the Summit EE Center and the park with new Personal Flotation Devices allowing for a wider range of sizes. This will ensure that more park visitors and Summit participants can canoe in a safer environment.