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.