S N R N e w s

Volume XXIII
No.7
May 2002
SNR News
Newsletter of the School of Natural Resources • The University of Vermont • http://snr.uvm.edu/events/news/snr_newsletter.html
UVM Receives $1 Million Appropriation for
Northern Forest Research
By Jeffrey R Wakefield
The University of Vermont’s School of
Natural Resources has received a
$1,000,000 appropriation to spur research
aimed at forest management and land
stewardship in the 26-million acre
Northern Forest, home to one million residents, which stretches from eastern Maine
through New Hampshire and Vermont to
northern New York.
The UVM-sponsored research will look
specifically at the interplay — and sometime conflict — between social, economic
and ecological interests in the area.
SNR News , published
monthly from October
through May, is one of the
school’s primary vehicles for
keeping students, faculty and
staff informed. We publish
news and highlight coming
events, student activities and
natural resources employment opportunities. Copies
are available in the Aiken
Center lobby, the SNR
Student Resource Area (336
Aiken) and in the Dean’s
office.
http://snr.uvm.edu
Editor:
Melissa Levy, NRP ’03 G
210 Aiken Center
[email protected]
Assistant:
Stefanie Folk, RM ‘02 U
Email:
[email protected]
The School of Natural Resources will serve
as a clearinghouse for the research program, allocating funds to a diverse set of
research projects relevant to the Northern
Forest region competitive proposal process.
“The Northern Forest is one of the country’s great regions,” said Vermont Senator
Patrick Leahy, who was instrumental in
securing the appropriation for UVM. “It is
not only of national ecological and economic significance, it is also attractive as a
recreational asset for residents and visitors
alike. We need to have the basic research
in hand to develop sound policy to balance
what are often competing interests. With
UVM’s help, the goal is to benefit the people who live and work in the region, those
who use its products, and those who visit
or care about it.”
“We’re grateful to Senator Leahy for recognizing the importance of the Northern
Forest and for his perseverance in securing
the research funding,” said Donald H.
DeHayes, dean of the School of Natural
Resources. “Because our research program
spans all of the issues the Northern Forest
is confronting, SNR is a good choice to
lead the project. We’re looking forward to
the role we’ll be able to play in creating
the foundation for enlightened land and
forest management practices in the area.”
Long history
The appropriation and the research it
funds have a long history. Concerned with
the amount of forest land that was being
sold by timber companies and the consequent real estate speculation in the late
1980s and early 1990s, the governors of
Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and
New York turned to the region's congressional delegation, who formed the
Northern Forest Lands Council(NFLC) in
the early 1990s. In 1994 the NFLC published a report called “Finding Common
Ground: Conserving the Northern Forest,”
which called for the formation of the
Northeastern States Research Cooperative
and made a series of research recommendations. Until the current appropriation,
however, no funds were available to implement the research.
UVM’s request-for-pre-proposal document
asks researchers to submit a two-page
summary of the work they plan in one of
the following areas: Criteria and Indicators
of Sustainable Forest Management;
Socioeconomic Implications of Recreation
and Tourism in the Northern Forest;
Diverse Values and Conflict Resolution in
the Northern Forest; Social and Ecological
Dimensions of Invasive Species
Management; Forest Watershed Planning
to Support Vital Rural Communities; and
Ecological and Economic Implications of
the Transition from Rural to Suburban
Forest Landscapes.
The maximum award UVM is permitted to
make is $250,000. “Our intention is to
provide funding for a broad-based group
of researchers representing a wide cross
.... continued on page 2.
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SNR News
SNR in Action
...continued from page 1.
section of interests,” said
DeHayes. “We expect to
award a range of budget
requests from quite small to
the maximum amount.”
DeHayes said the school was
especially encouraging collaborative research projects.
The Hubbard Brook Project,
Northeastern Research
Station, an affiliate of the
University of New
Hampshire, also received an
appropriation of $1,000,000
through the same legislation
that funded UVM. As its
research theme, the Hubbard
Brook Project work will focus
on collaboration on ecosystem research and assessment.
In addition to Senator Leahy,
New Hampshire Senator Judd
Gregg was a key sponsor of
the legislation. DeHayes said
that the appropriation adds to
a growing momentum UVM
has built in recent months in
the environmental arena. “It
will further establish UVM as
one of the country’s preeminent universities for the study
of the environment,” he said.
In recent months, the prestigious Gund Institute for
Ecological Economics relocated to the University of
Vermont from the University
of Maryland. UVM also
named Dr. Breck Bowden, an
internationally acclaimed
researcher, Patrick Chair in
Watershed Science and
Planning in the School of
Natural Resources. UVM also
established the Henrik and
Martha Kruse Sustainable
Forestry Initiative with a generous gift from the Kruse
family.
RESEARCH
Peter Dombrowski, a Wildlife and Fisheries Biology graduate student, has been awarded
a Summer Research Fellowship by the Graduate College. The $2,000 award will support
his field work on the effect of anthropogenic calcium depletion on bird reproduction.
Tim Schmalz, a Forestry graduate student, and Chris LaPointe, a Natural Resources
Planning graduate student, were also awarded summer research fellowships. Tim is working on analysis of physical site factors on the occurrrence and severity of butternut
canker in northwestern Vermont. Chris is working on research to understand the nature
of the relationships between land trusts and community social networks.
Mary Watzin spent spring break in the Balkans, starting a year-long collaboration with
colleagues in Macedonia and Albania to help collect and analyze the data necessary to
develop a conservation plan for Lake Ohrid. Lake Ohrid is about 4 million years old,
and one of the largest lakes in Europe. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage
site because of its large number of endemic species, biodiversity, unique cultural heritage,
and current threats. Population growth, pollution, overfishing, habitat destruction in the
littoral zone, and decades of neglect in the cold war era have led to tremendous problems
with water quality and the natural resources. Through the assistance of the World Bank
Global Environment Fund and investments by European nations, significant resources are
available for restoration in the coming years.
PUBLICATIONS
Paul D. Sniegowski, Peter G. Dombrowski, and Ethan Fingerman. 2002. Saccharomyces
cerevisiae and S. paradoxus coexist in a natural woodland site in North America and display different levels of reproductive isolation from European conspecifics. Federation of
European Microbiologists: Yeast Research 1(4): 299-306.
The paper can be accessed at: http://www.elsevier.nl/gej-ng/10/19/42/46/36/35/show/
McEvoy, T.J. 2002. Northern Red Oak - The Queen of the Northeastern
Forest. Farming - The Journal of Northeastern Agriculture. Vol. 5, No. 4 April Issue, pp 28 - 43 (5).
McEvoy, T.J. 2002. Estate Planning Helps Keep Forest Lands Intact. Forest Products
Equipment Journal. April Issue, pp 23 - 35 (4).
Lawson, S. and R. Manning. 2002. Balancing Tradeoffs in the Denali Wilderness: An
Expanded Approach to Normative Research Using Stated Choice Analysis. Proceedings
of the 2001 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium. USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report NE-289, pp. 15-24.
Budruk, M., R. Manning, W. Valliere, and B. Wang. 2002. Perceived Crowding at Boston
Harbor Islands National Park Area. Proceedings of the 2001 Northeastern Recreation
Research Symposium. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report NE-289, pp. 32-35.
Valliere, W., R. Manning, M. Budruk, L. Lawson, and B. Wang. 2002. Transportation
Planning and Social Carrying Capacity in the National Parks. Proceedings of the 2001
Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium. USDA Forest Service General Technical
Report NE-289, pp. 36-40.
Newman, P., R. Manning, J. Bacon, A. Graefe, and G. Kyle. 2002. An Evaluation of
Appalachian Trail Hikers’ Knowledge of Minimum Impact Skills and Practices.
SNR News
Proceedings of the Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium. USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report NE-289, pp. 163-167.
Newman, P., R. Manning, and W. Valliere. 2002. Integrating Resource, Social and
Managerial Indicators of Quality into Carrying Capacity Decision Making. Proceedings
of the 2001 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium. USDA Forest Service
General Technical Report NE-289, pp. 233-238.
Bacon, J., R. Manning, A. Graefe, G. Kyle, R. Lee, R. Burns, R. Hennessy, and R. Gray.
2002. Security Along the Appalachian Trail. Proceedings of the 2001 Northeastern
Recreation Research Symposium. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report NE289, pp. 326-332.
Donovan, T. M., and C. Flather. 2002. Relationships between North American songbird trends, habitat fragmentation, and landscape occupancy Ecological Applications.
12:364-374.
Gustafson, Shelley and Deane Wang. 2002. Effects of Agricultural Runoff on Vegetation
Composition of a Priority Conservation Wetland, Vermont, USA. Journal of
Environmental Quality 31:350-357.
PRESENTATIONS
Cathy Borer and Peter Newman attended the Fourth Biennial Conference on
University Education in Natural Resources, which was held at North Carolina State
University. They co-presented a talk entitled “Teaching to learn and learning to teach:
A case study of multi-level, interdisciplinary education in natural resources.” Coauthors were Clare Ginger, John Shane and Mary Watzin. They discussed their role in
NR105, as well as recent website development for the NR103-4-5 sequence. Take a
look at the new website: snr.uvm.edu/core. Comments or suggestions for website
improvement would be appreciated. Send comments to Cathy at
[email protected] or to Peter at [email protected].
Allan Strong gave a seminar at the University of Maine, Orono, for the Department of
Biological Sciences’ spring seminar series entitled ‘Bugs - It’s what’s for dinner! Prey
abundance as a determinant of habitat quality for migratory birds.’
Brian Swisher is giving a talk at the 50th Annual Meeting of the North American
Benthological Society in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 28 through June 1.
Land Use and Stream Architecture: Predicting Macroinvertebrate Community
Composition Below Stream Confluences. B.J. Swisher, M.C. Watzin, N.J. Gotelli, J.P.
Hoffmann, G.G. Alexander, and D.M. Varney.
The 2002 North American Association of Environmental Education (NAAEE) Annual
Conference is being held in Boston, from August 6-10, 2002. Susan Holmes, Natural
Resources Planning graduate student, will be presenting a paper reporting on her research,
“The Creativity of Nature: the arts in environmental science.” (See page 9 for more info.)
Just a reminder for you anglers out there — hang on to those sea
lamprey you catch this summer! They might be tagged! There are
drop-off sites set up around Lake Champlain now for you to bring
them to. Check out http://www.uvm.edu/snr/lamprey/ for more
information on the project and a list of drop-off sites! Thank you!
Problem-Solving
Olympics!
On Tuesday morning, April
30, as you walked through
the quad and around Aiken,
you may have noticed teams
of students frantically balancing nails, rolling rubber balls,
and walking on boards. Had
end-of-semester pressure
finally driven these students
out of their minds? No! It
was all part of the fun of the
2nd Annual NR 206
Problem-Solving Olympics.
The 2002 Problem-Solving
Olympic Steering Committee
included Professors Jeffrey
Hughes and Bill Keeton,
Ecological Planning graduate
students Tess O'Sullivan and
Tom Lautzenheiser, and
undergraduates Cheryl Frank,
Andy Ku, Ward McKonly,
Brian Robertson and Mandy
Smith. Participants matched
their wits against assorted
challenges, practiced their
problem-solving skills, and
generally had a blast. Thanks
to all who participated, and
congratulations to the winning teams! See you there
next year!
Retirements
Jeanne Pallotta, the business
manager for the School of
Natural Resources since
1993, is retiring at the end
of June. Jeanne’s plans for
retirement are “just to enjoy
life!”
Professor of wildlife biology, Dave Capen, retires
from UVM at the end of
June. He will remain at
UVM on a part-time basis,
concentrate on research,
fund graduate students and
maybe teach a graduate
seminar or summer course.
3
4
SNR News
Park Studies Lab Makes Big Splash at Lake George
The 14th annual Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium was held at Lake George,
New York on April 14 through 16. Eleven faculty, staff, and students from SNR's Park
Studies Lab attended and presented seven papers, two posters and a roundtable session.
For the first time, several undergraduate students in the Recreation Management Program
participated, presenting a poster on their research in the national parks. Stephanie Folk,
Mindy Guyton, Kevin Jordan, and Ward McKonly developed and presented a poster entitled "Research Internships in Undergraduate Education". The poster featured their data
collection activities in the summer of 2001, and their follow-up activities during the academic year. Stephanie and Mindy worked at Acadia National Park, Kevin at Mesa Verde
National Park, and Ward at Yosemite National Park. Papers, posters, and sessions presented at the symposium by the Park Studies Lab contingent included:
Manning, R., W. Valliere, S. Lawson, M. Budruk, B. Wang, P. Newman, J. Bacon, and D.
Laven. Assessing and Monitoring Visitor Use and Associated Impacts Using Computer
Simulation Modeling. (Roundtable session)
Budruk, M., P. Newman, and R. Manning. Volunteerism and Research in National Parks:
A Tale of Two Studies. (Poster presentation)
McKonly, W., S. Folk, M. Guyton, and K. Jordan. Research Internships in Undergraduate
Education. (Poster presentation)
Kyle, G., K. Bricker, A. Graefe, D. Kerstetter, and R. Manning. Involvement and Place
Attachment Among Hikers Along the Appalachian Trail and Boaters on the American
River.
Bricker, K., G. Kyle, A. Graefe, D. Kerstetter, and R. Manning. An
Assessment of the Predictive Validity of the Involvement and Place
Attachment Constructs.
M. Budruk, and R. Manning. Crowding-Related Norms in Outdoor
Recreation by Country of Origin of Visitors.
Valliere, W. and R. Manning. Applying the Visitor Experience and
Resource Protection (VERP) Framework to Cultural Resources in the
National Parks.
Newman, P. and R. Manning. Integrating Resource, Social, and
Managerial Indicators of Quality into Carrying Capacity DecisionMaking: Study Findings.
Mindy Guyton and Stefanie Folk by their poster
Bacon, J., R. Manning, S. Lawson, W. Valliere, and D. Laven. Indictors and Standards of
Quality for the Schoodic Peninsula Section of Acadia National Park.
Laven, D. and R. Manning. The Relationship Between Standards of Quality and Existing
Conditions in Parks.
SNR News 5
Students from the American Museum of Natural
History Visit UVM
By Maria Dykema Erb
SEVEN STUDENTS FROM THE PRE-COLLEGE
Science Program at the American Museum
of Natural History in New York City visited the School of Natural Resources and the
University of Vermont for two days at the
beginning of April. The Pre-College
Science program is for high achieving innercity NYC students who might not otherwise be exposed to the sciences. The students came from a variety of high schools
across NYC.
Over the course of these two days, the students were given an overview of the college
admissions process by the UVM Admissions
Office staff; attended Al McIntosh’s “Intro to
Environmental Sciences” class; toured the
Living Machine facility in South Burlington
with SNR senior David Demarest; did field
work at Potash Brook with Al, John Shane
and Paul Schaberg; toured the Rubenstein
Lab and did some lab work with Mary
Watzin and Angela Shambaugh; toured the
UVM Farm with Mark Young; and attended
an Alianza Latina meeting in the ALANA
Student Center with Nathaly Filion and
Joanna Pina.
Thanks to everyone mentioned above as
well as to Don DeHayes, Lauren Taratoot,
Miguel Garcia, Allan Strong, Varna
Ramaswamy, Marie Vea-Fagnant, Shawn
Best, Erin Alberghini and Devin Harmon
for helping make this first AMNH visit a
huge success. “Friendly” was the word the
students used to describe everyone they had
contact with and all look forward to applying for admission to UVM next year. This
is a fantastic start to a future partnership
with AMNH!
Storm Water Project in the News
By Angela Shambaugh
DENIAL OF A BUILDING PERMIT in South
Burlington because run-off from its property would adversely impact an already polluted urban stream has brought storm
water management into the public spotlight
this spring. The Burlington Bay Project
(Professors Mary Watzin and Al McIntosh,
research technicians Angela Shambaugh
and Amber Pitt, and graduate students
Amy Mahar and Emily Brines) has been
investigating the effects of urban storm
water on the biota and water quality of
Burlington Bay since 1999. The project was
featured in a March 24th Burlington Free
Press article and a Channel 3 EarthWatch
segment (March 25). For more information on our storm water data, see the
Burlington Bay web page
(http://snr.uvm.edu/bbay).
To gain more information about storm water
entering Lake Champlain from urban areas,
the Burlington Bay Project has entered into a
collaboration with the Burlington Eco-Info
Project (Professor Deane Wang and graduate
student Liz Royer, among others). An automated water sampler purchased by the EcoInfo Project has been installed in the
Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory to
monitor the College Street storm drain,
which enters the lake near the Burlington
Community Boathouse. Real-time data from
this location is available on the Eco-Info web
page (www. burlingtonecoinfo.net). The EcoInfo Project is also coordinating a Lay
Monitoring Program for several storm drains
in the greater Burlington area. Citizen volunteers will be collecting run-off during storm
events, Burlington Bay Project personnel will
analyze them and results will be available on
the Web. The Lay Monitoring Program was
featured on a Channel 5 Champlain 2000
segment aired April 8.
Presentations: Burlington Bay Project data
will be presented at the Lake Champlain
Research Consortium Spring Conference to
be held May 20 - 23 at St. Jean sur
Richelieu, Quebec:
“Distribution and potential toxicity
of Cyanobacteria in Lake Champlain”
Angela Shambaugh, Mary Watzin and
Emily Brines
“Contaminant mixtures in
stormwater runoff: interactions among
constituents affect toxicity” Amy Mahar,
Amber Pitt and Mary Watzin.
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SNR News
Awards
SNR presented the following awards at its Community Celebration on May 1:
THE HOLCOMB NATURAL RESOURCES PRIZE— Felicity Smith
LOLA AIKEN AWARD IN NATURAL RESOURCES— Joanna Piña
THE C. SUZANNE WHITMORE WRITING AWARD— Cheryl E. Frank
GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE— Catherine Borer
and Robyn Smyth
GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP— Peter Dombrowski and Kyle K. Nichols
ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES ACHIEVEMENT AWARD— Michelle Smith
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
THE AWARD FOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCES— Felicity Smith and Jamie Weaver
DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY
WILLIAM R. ADAMS FORESTRY AWARD— Christian Adams
Bob Manning Receives
LUTHER E. ZAI MEMORIAL AWARD— Will Bunten
Michigan State University SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS AWARD— Will Bunten
Alumni Award
Bob Manning was selected as
the 2002 recipient of the Louis
Twardzik Distinguished
Alumni Award presented by
the Department of Park,
Recreation and Tourism
Resources at Michigan State
University. Bob received his
M.S. and Ph.D degrees from
the department. An award ceremony was held on the MSU
campus on April 11, where
Bob presented an invited lecture.
NATURAL RESOURCES PROGRAM
NATURAL RESOURCES PROGRAM AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC
ACHIEVEMENT— Jenna Gatski
NATURAL RESOURCES PROGRAM AWARD FOR QUALITY STUDENT EXPERIENCE— Lauren Taratoot
RECREATION MANAGEMENT
RECREATION MANAGEMENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD— Stephanie
Folk
RECREATION MANAGEMENT STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AWARD— Stephanie
Folk and Hilary Harris
WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES BIOLOGY
WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES BIOLOGY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD— Jamie Rowder
FREDERICK CHU MEMORIAL PRIZE— Richard Chandler
WILDLIFE BIO-ECOLOGY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD— Michelle Hitchcock
DEAN'S JUNIOR BOOK AWARD
Environmental Science— Sarah Ford
Environmental Studies— Kristine Mazur
Forestry— Felicia Santoro
Natural Resources— Tyler Allen
Recreation Management— Shaun O'Rourke
Wildlife and Fisheries Biology— Michelle Hitchcock
Phi Beta Kappa— Jenna Gatski
Mortar Board— Joseph Bartlett
SNR News 7
Congratulations to Professor Tom Hudspeth for his selection as the Kidder Award winner
as UVM’s outstanding faculty member. The Kidder Award is one of UVM’s most prestigious awards recognizing faculty who have not only been great teachers, but who have
also positively influenced the lives of their students. The Kidder Award is chosen by UVM
alums, which speaks to the sustainable nature of the positive influence Tom has had on
UVM students from many parts of the campus. Tom's special recognition is well-deserved.
He has been a wonderful and innovative teacher and friend of both students and faculty
colleagues.
At the ALANA Center Student Banquet on April 26th, the following students received
awards:
The SNR Outstanding Senior Leadership Award—Guadalupe Martinez, Joanna Pina
The SNR Outstanding Leadership Potential Award—Alicia Turner
The Allan B. Urgent Award—Miguel Garcia
The Rodney S. Patterson Award—Raphael Okutoro
The President’s Commission on Racial Equality (PCORE) recently awarded the Diversity
Commitment Award for dedication to improving the campus climate at UVM:
Varna Ramaswamy was the recipient of the Staff Award and Deane Wang was nominated
for the Faculty Award.
NR 285 Honors Project Planning Proposal Presentations
The following presentations were presented Thursday, May 2, 12:00-3:15, in Aiken 105.
Cheryl Frank, Identifying potential source areas and measuring pollution in a suburban
watershed in the Lake Champlain basin
Brian Barker, Stormwater pollutants: A non-point source investigation on the University
of Vermont
Sarah Stein, Stormwater runoff: Its effects on the ecological health of the littoral zone of
Lake Champlain
Christyn Chappell, The introduction of environment education to a third-grade public
school classroom through the implementation of a hands-on nature center
Justin Bezold, An economic analysis of the financial effects of water chestnut on the April
to October recreation industry in Benson, Vermont, on Lake Champlain’s Red Rock Bay
Jessica Stack, Environmental health and community well being: Community forestry in
Vermont
Justin Kenney, Compost efficiency: The wave of the future
Sarah Ford, Remnant Old-Growth and Open-Grown Trees in the Marsh-BillingsRockefeller National Historical Park, Woodstock, Vermont: Ecological and Cultural
Significance
Felicia Santoro, Carbon sequestration in understory hobblebush on Mount Mansfield,
Vermont
Maria Neal, Selectivity of winter cache foods in a population of Vermont American
beaver (castor canadensis)
Krissy Mazur and Debi Budnick, Avian species diversity and habitat use patterns during
spring and fall migrations at Delta Park, Colchester, Vermont.
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SNR News
Focus on Graduate Research: The Creativity of
Nature: integrating the arts into environmental
science education
By Susan Holmes
“…IN OUR CLASS WHEN WE LISTENED to
music and drew, the song seemed to flow
naturally like a river…It’d go slow at first
and dwindle around and then suddenly it
would pick up pace and fly around like the
water going over a waterfall. Then it
would smooth out again, become calm and
placid like perhaps the water basin at the
base of the waterfall. This type of music
dramatically affected my work because I
tried to draw in sync with the music’s flow,
going slow at first with cool colors, and
then fast and furious with bright oranges,
yellows, and reds at the next part. Even
though at first it may seem that classical
music may not have much to do with ecology, if you listen to the piece, and think
about it within the context of the river
studies, it seems to start to flow together,
like a river (Brad, age 17, journal entry).”
For the past two years, I have been studying the potential role of the arts in environmental science education. I became interested in the topic because I had a hunch we
could be better connecting with young people. Most people here in SNR would agree
that it is important to teach young students
about ecological processes. We will not
work to protect what we do not understand. Therefore, youth need to know
where drinking water comes from and
where it goes, what plants require to grow,
and how our daily activities impact
wildlife. But is this enough? Will future
generations actually go out and make difficult choices to live as ecologically responsible citizens? How do we facilitate the emotional connection necessary to protect our
natural resources? In my own education,
the arts played an important role in shaping my values and life choices.
For my master’s research, I developed, taught
and evaluated a twelve-week course with
7th-12th grade students at Vermont
Commons School in Burlington. My goal
was to understand the experiences of the 12
students as they learned about river ecology
through both art and science. I focused on
how this art-science integration influenced
their learning and their sense of belonging
and responsibility toward the community.
Throughout the semester, I conducted interviews, analyzed student journal entries and
other class work, and recorded pages and
pages of classroom observations. In short, in
order to find out how they felt about these
teaching methods, I asked them. The hard
part was making sense of the mountain of
responses.
As I analyzed the data, it became clear that
there were five major categories important to
students: “the variety of ways in which students learned,” “the relationships of learning
to student-student interactions,” “ways in
which students comprehended and retained
information,” “how students changed personally,” and “how students' ideas about nature
and the environment changed.” In addition,
secondary themes were “our impact on community” and “ideas about science.”
I was excited about how students responded
to the course. They talked about “understanding things more,” “remembering things
longer” and “respecting nature.” The most
amazing thing to me was the aspect of personal change. Students reported that they
“see differently now.” “I look at the smaller
details now instead of the whole picture.
Instead of just seeing the riverbank and a
rock, now it is like looking down on a whole
city of little things. I see the little organisms
everywhere, like New York City. It’s like all
these little people inside everywhere (Noah,
age 14, interview).”
I am honored to be both presenting my
research at the North American Association
of Environmental Education (NAAEE)
national conference in Boston this summer,
and writing an article for Green Teacher.
SNR News 9
Focus on Internships: Stefanie Folk and Mindy Guyton
By Stefanie Folk and Mindy Guyton
OVER THIS PAST WINTER we had the opportunity to be On-Snow Demo
Representatives for Boeri ski and snowboard helmets. Boeri are the number one
selling helmets and are manufactured in
Italy. The product was brought to the
United States by an SNR Alumni from the
Recreation Management Program. Each
year Boeri looks for people to be On-Snow
Demo Representatives as an internship or
just for fun.
An On-Snow Demo Representative travels
to different ski resorts throughout Vermont
each weekend. A typical day involves
arriving at the mountain very early, before
the lifts open. Then we set up the demo
tent and display the helmets. Boeri supplies
us with around 35 helmets, all different
styles, colors and sizes. After everything is
set up people can come and demo a helmet
for an hour or two. It costs nothing to
demo a helmet, just a form of collateral
such as a license or credit card so they are
guaranteed to come back. Each person is
sized with a measuring tape and we find
them the best helmet we have. It is important to keep track of who has what helmet
and what type of collateral they gave on
the demo log so nothing gets confused.
There are times when the tent can get very
hectic.
This is a great internship for anyone who
likes to go skiing or snowboarding. Each
time you do a demo you get a free lift ticket for the day. When there are two people
working you can take turns taking runs.
Around two o'clock each day we would
pack up the demo tent and helmets and
enjoy the mountain for the last two hours.
It is a great chance to go to ski resorts you
normally would not go to and you meet
lots of great people. If you are thinking
about your future in the ski industry this
would be a great opportunity. What beats
a job where you are outside at the mountain all day?
Save the Date!
Doc Donnelly Day
Spatial Analysis Lab Gets a Makeover
WITH THE SMELL OF LATEX PAINT and all the
pieces of furniture in the hallways, some
folks might be curious about what’s happening in Aiken and why.
The Spatial Analysis Lab is being remodeled and a new Spatial Analysis teaching
lab has been created. The $150,000 grant
for improving the Spatial Analysis Lab
(SAL) was a one-time special appropriation
from the Vermont Legislature. In addition
to being remodeled, the lab will acquire
several new computers. With new network
lines and switch, the network will be much
faster. With Deane Wang’s assistance, they
searched for an environmentally friendly
floor covering to replace worn and waterdamaged carpet. Linoleum is the floor of
choice, an all-natural product that
requires little maintenance and lasts for
30 years. The floor in the SAL will have
inlaid outlines of the state and Camel's
Hump.
Several of the SAL faculty, staff, and grad
students have spent recent weekend days
painting walls in Rooms 220 and 223.
A separate grant for Technology
Improvement from the Provost’s Office is
going to convert Room 222 from a dry
lab teaching space to a Spatial Analysis
teaching lab, leaving the “Mac Lab” to
be more of a general-use computer facility.
Saturday,
September 14
3:00-9:00 pm
Grand Isle State
Park
SNR faculty, staff,
alums, students
and friends are all
invited. More
details to come in
August!
Spring Break in Texas
AFTER A COUPLE BRIEFING SESSIONS with
David Hirth, we were off to Texas! This
years WFB Field Trip to Texas was such a
special treat! There were 11 of us that flew
down to Corpus Christi, TX to begin the
expedition. We had a wonderful group
with a diverse variety of individuals. Most
students had majors in SNR, but there were
a few strays from CALS. Five of the ten students were returnees from last year's WFB
trip to Florida. We traveled all around
Southern Texas, including visits to the
Welder Wildlife Refuge, the Lower Rio
Grand Valley St. Park, Seminole Canyon
State Park, Lost Maples State Park and
Mexico. We saw many amazing species in
several different areas! Wading birds were
plentiful along the coastal regions, and we
were fortunate enough to catch a few
glimpses of the rare Golden-Cheeked
Warbler! We learned a great deal about the
native wildlife and history of the area, and
we had the best time doing it! This group
was very fortunate to have such an inspirational mentor leading us along the way.
Thank you, David Hirth, it was nothing
short of amazing!!
Congratulations
to all of our
2002 SNR
Grads! Good
luck!
—The Texas WFB Spring Break Crew-2002
Help Wanted
The following is a sampling of positions listed at SNR. Job postings are updated daily on the SNR Job Board outside the Dean’s
office in the Aiken Center and weekly on the web at http://snr.uvm.edu/community/help_wanted.html. For further information,
contact: Jan Spencer, Career Services Coordinator, 336 Aiken Center, 656-3003, email: [email protected].
INTERNSHIPS
ALASKA PENINSULA/
BECHAROF NATIONAL
WILDLIFE REFUGE. The
refuge has 2-3 biological technician positions available and 2-3
intern positions available. A
seabird monitoring project at
Puale Bay is currently planned
for the summer of 2002.
Contact: Jodi Doster, USFWS,
PO Box 277, King Salmon, AK
99613, [email protected].
(I372)
ORGANIC FARMING
INTERNSHIPS. Maitland,
Nova Scotia. Work at Four
Seasons Farm. Interns will be
involved in a variety of hands-on
tasks including: soil preparation,
compost making, weed management, pest control, crop planting, harvesting and marketing.
Contact: Nancy and David
Roberts, RR#1, Maitland, Nova
Scotia, Canada, B0N 1T0, 902261-2565. (I599)
BACHELOR’ S DEGREE
REQUIRED
GIS ANALYST. Chiloquin, OR.
The primary purpose of this
position is to provide high quality, analytical GIS capabilities to
the Natural Resource
Department of the Klamath
Tribes. Contact: 1-800-5249787 ext.104 or 113 for an
application. (B420)
ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNER. Sacramento, CA. Duties
include preparation of environmental impact analysis and environmental reports in compliance
with CEQA and NEPA and performance of other environmental
planning and natural resources
management planning tasks.
Contact: www.edaw.com,
B.Harris, [email protected],
916-414-5850 (fax). (B476)
MID-LEVEL WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST. MA, CT or DE.
Responsibilities associated with
this position include, but are not
limited to: designing and conducting field investigations; performing quantitative analysis;
preparing scope and cost proposals; writing and editing reports;
developing study plans; conducting impact analyses; project
management and providing support on a variety of projects.
Contact: Vickie Ludwig,
ENTRIX, Inc., 10 Corporate
Circle, Suite 100, New Castle,
DE 19720, [email protected]. (B551)
RESTORATION ECOLOGISTS. Sacramento, CA. Ongoing projects involve restoration planning, inplementation,
and monitoring in a variety of
ecosystems across the state of
California, including Lake
Tahoe, Sierra Foothills, North
Coast, and the Central Valley.
Contact: www.edaw.com,
B.Harris, [email protected],
916-414-5850 (fax). (B475)
URBAN PROGRAMS AND
COMMUNITY RELATIONS
DIRECTOR. Philadelphia, PA.
This is the key field staff role for
the Philadelphia Outward Bound
program base of the Hurricane
Island Outward Bound School.
Principle responsibilities include:
nurturing relationships with the
schools that are served through
this program including the teachers, principals, and school
administration personnel with
whom they work. Contact:
Katie Pastuszek at 215-877-8313
or [email protected],
www.hurricaneisland.org.
(B547)
MASTER’S DEGREE
REQUIRED
WILDLIFE RESEARCH BIOLOGIST. Minnesota. Position
performs professional wildlife
research, surveys, and management applicable to white-tailed
deer and furbearer ecology and
management in farmland
Minnesota. Contact: Dr.
Christopher S. DePerno at 507642-8478 or
[email protected].
(M500)
DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS
OPERATIONS. Red Cliff, CO.
Responsible for managing the
business affairs and directing the
administrative and marketing
staff of the Gore Range Natural
Science School. Contact:
www.oriononline.org/pages/ogn/
members/grnss.html. Position is
open until filled. (M721)
PH.D. REQUIRED
ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE FIRE
ECOLOGY RESEARCH SCIENTIST. Develop a nationally
recognized applied research program on prescribed fire and vegetation dynamics in southern
pine ecosystems. Contact: Kaye
Gainey at 850-893-4153 ext.
222 or [email protected]. Apply by
5/20/02. (Ph.D.695)
CHIEF, WATERSHED ECOLOGY BRANCH. Corvallis, OR.
The Branch conducts a comprehensive field and experimental
research program that focuses on
critical linkages between terrestrial, freshwater, and intertidal
aquatic systems of watersheds.
Contact: Dr. Robert Lackey at
541-754-4607 or
[email protected].
(Ph.D.738)
FACULTY
University of California,
Berkeley-Assistant Professor
(Forest Watershed Management)
Eckerd College-Visiting Assistant
Professor (Environmental
Studies)