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Thursday, May 01, 2008
Students become park stewards
Lewis and Clark fifth-graders dig learning about wetland restoration
By KARA HANSEN
The Daily Astorian
Thursday, May 01, 2008
 | ALEX PAJUNAS — The Daily Astorian
Scott Stonum, right, chief of resource management at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, speaks to some of the 50 fifth-graders from Lewis and Clark Elementary School about the importance of reintroducing native vegetation, including Sitka spruce, foreground, to the reclaimed South Clatsop Slough. |  |  | ALEX PAJUNAS — The Daily Astorian
Kaisa Johnson, 10, left, and Opal Whitaker, 11, both fifth-graders at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, prepare to plant a Sitka spruce Wednesday south of Fort Clatsop. |
Brown clay caked on Gary Petteys' sneakers as he sank his shovel into the ground to dig a hole for a baby Sitka spruce.
"If we didn't have trees, we wouldn't have oxygen," said Petteys, 11, pausing to hand off the spade to classmate Josh Carlson. "Plus, estuaries are important to our ecosystem."
Toting yellow-handled shovels and a variety of plant species, Petteys and about 50 other fifth-graders from Lewis and Clark Elementary School tromped down a hillside Wednesday and worked side to side with park scientists to re-establish native habitat in the reclaimed South Clatsop Slough, a long-excluded component of the Columbia River estuary south of Fort Clatsop.
Their project - to help restore these wetlands - marked the formal launch of "Students to Stewards: Adopting the Class of 2016," a local program funded by the National Park Service's Centennial Challenge. A public-private venture, the Centennial Challenge provided $30,000 toward the park's long-term education efforts, which was matched with an equal pledge by the Lewis and Clark National Park Association.
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne drew special attention to the local project when he announced Centennial awards for 76 parks last week. "I can see this program adopted by every national park in America as a great way to engage young people and share with them the legacy and heritage of national parks," he said.
Designed to deepen students' understanding of environmental and cultural issues while building their sense of ownership in the park, the initiative uses Lewis and Clark National Historical Park sites as outdoor classrooms for schools throughout the region. It begins with fourth-graders this year and will follow them through high school graduation in 2016, the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. By the end of the 2007-08 school year, 500 fourth-grade students from 20 rural schools in Oregon and Washington will have visited the park.
While the new curriculum-based programming is not yet concrete, it could include outdoor recreation lessons using the Fort to Sea Trail, American Indian cultural activities, wilderness skills training or watershed and service learning, like this week's project. Older students could explore public lands careers and develop leadership skills, said Cathy Peterson, the park's education program coordinator.
Peterson said the Astoria fifth-graders' hard work helped demonstrate some of the possibilities for learning and environmental stewardship. Their project involved two trips to the wetland site.
"The concept of having kids come multiple times to the park was key to the funding," she said. "The park service now is looking to engage kids with nature; the park service is looking out for its future."
On their first visit, students witnessed the wetland at high tide, marking the waterline at the base of the hill. Wednesday, their second trip, was during low tide, and the water had receded, exposing the marsh and reclaimed pastureland. Their job: Plant along the margin of the newly restored high-tide level.
Reclaiming the slough began after a dike was breached, bringing tidal flow back to the area that had been drained for agricultural use, such as the cattle farm there when the park acquired the property, explained Scott Stonum, the park's chief of resources. "This area has been excluded from the estuary for at least 80 years," he said.
With 400 plants, the students helped re-establish species like gooseberry and twinberry, vine maple, Sitka spruce and red cedar, some taller than the fifth-graders.
"These plants will grow and mature," Stonum said. "They will create nesting for birds, and forage for birds and mammals. Already the elk have moved back into the area, and you can hear all the birdlife. That will get better and better."
Once restored to its natural state, the wetlands could transform, he said.
"The old sea bed, the plants that used to grow there, a lot of those seeds are still viable, just waiting to see sunlight," he said. "You could have a rebirth, literally, of the marsh."
Eventually, Stonum said, there will at least be additional plantings, likely by more students.
"It's really great to get them connected to the outdoors and to the park in a way that means something for them, and for them to make a difference."
That was the goal for Maria Lopez and planting partner Bailey Stephens, both 11.
"We want to help grow trees," said Lopez, noting she hoped recreating habitat would draw more wildlife.
Rudy Rubio looks forward to coming back and admiring the group's handiwork. "Maybe in the future, say, when we're 20, we're going to come here and check them out," the 11-year-old said.
At that point, 11-year-old Taylor Pederson said, as he propped up a red cedar, he wondered how big their trees might grow.
Don Potter, president of the Portland nonprofit ReTree International, estimated they would reach 100 to 150 feet tall, growing as fast as 3 to 5 feet each year.
Fifth-grade teacher Marjorie McAndrews felt students gained more respect for the local landscape after studying wetlands and ecology over the past year.
"I'm not sure they realized what a special place they live in," she said, "but they're able to identify plants and animals that live in the area, and they have a lot of knowledge now. I think they respect it more now that they've really gotten to know it."
Lewis and Clark National Historical Park Superintendent David Szymanski told children the fruits of their labor will stand for years to come.
"You're doing something outstanding," he said to the fifth-graders crowding around him in a mist of rain. "These trees you plant, a lot of visitors that come to our park in years to come are going to see."
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