3.2.3. Management of Natural Resources
Example 1 – Restoring native prairie plant community (Appendix
B.5): The restoring native prairie plant community activity has been
used in a Wildlife Plant Identification lecture course at a split upper
undergraduate/graduate level. This activity was developed as a lecture
summary activity to provide students with skills to evaluate the
effectiveness of a real seed mixture used for restoring a native prairie
plant community as wildlife habitat. Students were given the common
names of plant species as listed on an actual seed mix packet that was
used to restore native prairie plant community in the Southeastern
United States. Next, students were instructed to research background
information (e.g., growth duration, native range, growing conditions)
about, and wildlife use of, each plant species. Finally, students were
asked to evaluate the effectiveness of this seed mixture and support
their assessment with facts gathered from their research. This activity
could be modified for any course (i.e., ecology, wildlife management,
natural resource management) where the learning objective is to evaluate
a tool used to restore a native ecosystem.
Example 2 – Google Earth Mississippi Estuaries Journey (Appendix
B.6) : The Google Earth Mississippi Estuaries Journey activity has been
used in high school AP Environmental Science and Honors Marine Biology
classes as well as in informal education through a youth version of
Mississippi’s Master Naturalist Program called “Student Naturalist.”
It was inspired by a lesson titled “A Trip Down the Alabama River” in
the Estuaries 101 curriculum from the National Estuarine Research
Reserve System and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In this activity, students use their knowledge of estuarine geography
and natural and anthropogenic influences (e.g., nutrient runoff,
dredging, development, etc.) on wetlands and coastal waterways that they
have learned from previous lessons. They apply this information to
answer questions regarding the potential impacts (e.g., eutrophication,
coastal erosion, habitat degradation, hydrology changes, etc.) on
Mississippi’s waterways that would be associated with such influences
and make suggestions for mitigation methods. The activity begins with
students entering GPS coordinates into the Google Earth program; these
initial coordinates “virtually” place them upriver in the Pascagoula
River. They are then instructed to move in predetermined directions
throughout waterways in the region, stopping at specific areas to try to
determine what activities (e.g., golf courses, mining, refineries,
roadways) they might see that are impacting that area as well as
adjacent habitat. Lastly, the students are asked to supply potential
solutions for reducing the impacts. The concept of this activity can be
adapted globally to any region, and the questions can be modified to
suit a multitude of environmental, geographic, and anthropologic
conditions.