NJ Audubon Island Explorers Group 2

July 20 – July 24 2009

This second Island Explorers group consisted of 13 incoming and current middle school children from northern New Jersey. We started our five-day session off with a number of icebreakers, and observation based activities following with a mile kayak tour of the surrounding marshes. On Wednesday, the group was given a rare opportunity to listen to a lecture by Scott Haag from Rutgers University on eelgrass distribution in the Barnegat estuary using GIS software and aerial photography. The children then assisted Mr. Haag in surveying various GPS coordinates by kayak in order to confirm or deny the presence of eelgrass in certain locations ascertained by aerial photographs. This was an excellent opportunity for the kids to see how actual field work was done, and its application once the data was collected. It also helped to tie many of the things the children learned over the previous days together and gave them the chance to listen to an excellent speaker on such an important issue.

The following day the group was lead out to the Army Corps of Engineers Dike for the traditional long paddle, and to spend a few hours at the beach. However, it could not have been anything other than traditional. Upon starting out, the sky was steely grey with overcast, and a wind out of the east was beginning to pick up. With these conditions, we wound our way through the back waterways of the marsh; using the natural protection of the sedges, we found ways that were rarely used but offered ideal protection from the wind. Upon coming to a portage area that would have been no more than 20 feet, the sky lost the pensive feeling it kept for most of the morning and opened up. The wind stopped, but the rain came down in drops as big as a man’s fist. It was exhilarating! There was no hint of lightening, but the decision was made to return to the Sedge house, where upon arrival, everyone got out bars of soap and shampoo and showered off in the refreshing summer rain. We then filled the rest of the afternoon up with marsh and conservation based games before an excellent dinner was prepared followed by a round of Electric Moon Snail.

The Island Explorer group came to a successful close as their parents were invited out to Sedge on the children’s last day for lunch and a chance to see where and what their children were learning about the previous week. The children set up stations dealing with various aspects of their trip in order to pass on to their parents what they have learned including kayaking, fishing, crabbing, water quality and weather, edible plants of the marsh, and a touch tank. The weather could not have been better for this day.