UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 12
November 21, 1996
Habitat Trail a popular site for school field trips


          My class went to the University of Delaware
     natural habitat. I really, really liked how you
     showed us how to dig our pond. I learned that you
     have to make a slope so the frogs can get out.... It
     was really fun and you did a great job!
          My favorite center was the scavenger hunt
     because it was fun learning about all different
     kinds of plants and flowers....It was WONDERFUL!
          My most favorite was the brush pile because I
     saw a centipede that was really, really big.
          I have a question. How could the goldfish get
     in your pond if they cannot even get out of water?
 
     When it comes to children's awareness and knowledge about
the environment and nature, an outdoor lesson is worth several
sessions in the classroom. The comments printed above are from
letters written by children from Townsend Elementary School who
visited the University's Habitat Trail last spring. The site is
being developed for school children and teachers behind the
Fischer Greenhouse Laboratory, near Townsend Hall.
     According to Jo Mercer, Cooperative Extension, the trail
passes through a recently planted woodland, a wildflower meadow,
a cultivated field returning to the wild, a pond and wetlands.
Mercer, along with Sue Barton and Gary Smith,. both plant and
soil sciences, has received a $5,000 grant for the project from
the Environmental Protection Agency. The University Master
Gardeners also are volunteering and working on the trail and with
school groups.
     The trail is designed to encourage small animals and insects
to take up residence.
     Different habitats are planned to attract frogs,
dragonflies, butterflies, mice, snakes, turtles, rabbits,
squirrels, insects, lizards and other animals, Mercer said.
     Native Delaware plants, trees and shrubs are being planted
on the trail. There are stations for viewing where groups can
look and listen as habitats are interpreted. In the future, a
platform will be built for a "bird's eye view" of the site, and
an outdoor gathering place with seating is planned for talks and
discussions.
      "We hope to reach 500 elementary students during the
upcoming year, and two workshops are planned to train 30
teachers," Mercer said.
     One goal is to inspire and instruct school children and
teachers to create natural habitats on their own school grounds,
and we are creating information packets to get them started on
projects," Mercer said.
     For example, the Townsend students created a habitat by
installing a pond in the courtyard of their school, Mercer said.
A demonstration on the field trip gave them information on how to
proceed. They were given plants and seeds to get them started.
The Master Gardeners lent a helping hand, and the project is well
under way with aquatic plants and tadpoles in the pond,
sunflowers and wildflowers planted and birdhouses for three
different local birds. Different families volunteered to monitor
and keep up the area during the summer.
     As the teachers wrote, "Our children have learned so much
through this experience and are very proud, as they should be, of
their work." 
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure