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Egrits - Junior Friends of the Refuge Make Tracks!

The Junior Refuge Friends group at First Flight Middle School has had quite an exciting year! Back in September, they visited Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge to try their hands at paddling canoes, and they explored the blackwater swamps of the refuge. At their monthly meetings during the school year, they've learned about refuges across the country, bears, red wolves, adaptations, sea turtles, fire, and lots of other things from a variety of refuge staff, volunteers, and Coastal Wildlife Refuge Society members. At their most recent meeting, Abbey Reibel had them out in the school yard, identifying tracks (that mysteriously appeared all over the school yard!!) and making casts of the tracks.

Their grand finale for the year will be a trip to Pea Island on May 25 to establish three bird feeder stations, including a watering station with bird bath and drip system. While they're on the refuge, they'll learn what poisonous plants occur and identify and mark them on the wildlife trail. Afterwards, refuge staff will either cut the plants or treat them with herbicide for public safety.

The Junior Refuge Friends group at First Flight Middle School is completing it's second year. For the 2008-2009 school year, Coastal Wildlife Refuge Society is partnering with the refuge to expand this program to include all middle schools in both Dare and Tyrrell Counties.

Junior Refuge Friends Today…Stewards of the Refuge Tomorrow

What started as a pilot program in 2007 at First Flight Middle School in Kill Devil Hills, N.C. has blossomed into an area-wide initiative to middle school students involved with North Carolina coastal refuges. Designed as a "Junior Refuge Friends" focus and co-sponsored by the Coastal Wildlife Refuge Society, this partnership involving the schools, the refuges, and the Society, offers students at four area schools the opportunity to witness and experience the wilds of eastern N.C. During the 2008-2009 school year, three other schools, Manteo Middle School and Cape Hatteras Secondary School (both in Dare County) and Columbia Middle School in Tyrrell County, developed ways to make the partnership work- a club, a grade, or even the entire school is involved, depending on what worked best for the school.

Friends’ members, refuge staff and interns visit some schools each month. All groups visit Alligator River and Pea Island refuges on various school days and Saturdays throughout the school year. Some receive transportation grants through the Society. The students participate in a variety of activities ranging from digital photography to practicing stewardship while conducting a roadside clean up or weeding the native plant garden. Sometimes students explore the refuge using canoes; other times, they walk or ride on the wildlife drive. Unlike other school visits and programs, this initiative has allowed us to have repeat access to students who have a specific interest in the refuges and wildlife- possibly the future wildlife biologists and managers. We hope these Junior Refuge Friends will not only remember what they have learned and experienced, but also will step up and continue to be stewards in the future.

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