The Climate Lab at Old Field Pond

Integrating cutting-edge science with hands-on data collection opportunities for young students.

The Climate Lab at Old Field Pond.

Working in partnership with the Manomet Center for Conservation Sceinces, Wildlands Trust will be piloting the Climate Lab in spring 2012. This is an environmental education project in which middle and high school students will collect data on indicators and learn about climate change adaptation and mitigation. Engaged in standardized data collection, students will develop increased knowledge of local natural systems, the impacts of climate change, and a better understanding of scientific methodology. The students' work will contribute to a database on local climate change used by Manomet scientists, building on the climate change adaptation strategies already being developed by Manomet.

In preparation for piloting the program, Wildlands Trust and Manomet have been combining forces to plan the best and most appropriate climate change indicators measurable by students. Below is a series of photos from their visit at Old Field Pond, a property that lends itself well as an environmental classroom and as a place for students to enjoy the beauty of Southeastern Massachusetts.

Owl pellet with small rodent (mole or vole) bones.

Trevor Lloyd-Evans, Banding Director, with a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).

Alex Etkind, Wildlands Trust AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, with a garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis).

Raccoon (Procyon lotor) skeleton.

Sarah Kugel, Wildlands Trust AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer, with a praying mantis (Mantis religiosa).

Red maple (Acer rubrum).

Wolf spider (Lycosa carolinensis).

Field at Old Field Pond.

Old  cranberry bog at Old Field Pond.

Multiple generations of pitch pine (Pinus rigida) cones.

Frog pond.

Old Goat Pasture Pond.

Over the next few months, Wildlands Trust and the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences will be identifying study plots, demarking transects, and preparing the lab for its pilot run with students in Spring 2011.

For more information about the lab and inquiries about school groups visiting the lab, contact:

Sarah Kugel, Community Outreach Coordintor

AmeriCorps MassLIFT Volunteer

Wildlands Trust

skugel@wildlandstrust.org

781.934.9018