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Drey Land Ecology Field Trip
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by Margaret Bahe
John Burroughs School
St. Louis, Missouri
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Facilities
Teachers and Counselors
Camp Schedule and Classes
Work AND Play
Evaluation
Resources
Philosophy
All of the nearly 100 ninth graders at John Burroughs School take biology, which includes a four-day ecology field trip to our school's Drey Land Camp in the Missouri Ozarks. This unique, wilderness experience came into being in response to the environmental crisis of the late 1960s. The environmental concerns that initiated the first Earth Day encouraged us to change attitudes promoting wasteful resource utilization and environmental degradation by developing what has become known as the Drey Land Ecology Study. The set of field investigations performed 150 miles away from our St. Louis school campus replaces short-term laboratory exercises of a typical ecology unit. Students experience and practice a comprehensive variety of field study activities while living in a cooperative community of peers in the wilderness, strongly emphasizing man's relationship with the environment.
Since the first weekend trial run in 1971, the ecology study at Drey Land has evolved into a four-day trip. Students are removed from the artificial crutches of civilization, with no television, stereo, junk foods, hot water, or even electric lights in the cabins, and immersed in a wilderness environment, striving to live an ecologically sound life while acquiring a knowledge of the functioning of natural stream and forest ecosystems. The fundamental science taught at camp fosters future behavior based on knowledge rather than emotion. We are nurturing ecologically literate citizens and tomorrow's leaders and landowners who need an ecological conscience. Furthermore, each stream and forest investigation serves as an exceptional vehicle for reviewing, summarizing, and discovering biological relationships. The camp experience of living in harmony with nature while conducting a study of nature pulls many biological concepts together and cultivates an awareness that each student is part of the living world and governed by the same natural laws as other life.
Positive attitudes and values develop from caring for the environment while it is studied. Faculty and senior volunteer counselors set the example. Organisms collected for study are returned to the environment unharmed, and only minimal plant collections are made. Over the years students have constructed and erected squirrel den boxes, wood duck boxes, and blue bird houses and piled stacks of brush for rabbits to improve habitats.
Facilities
Mr. Leo Drey, owner of the private Pioneer Forest and an alum of our school, provided the land for the camp and outdoor laboratory, with the Dreyer Foundation providing funds for construction. Students provided the physical labor for cabin building. Presently Drey Land, located 25 miles south of Salem in the Missouri Ozarks, has a 24-by-40-foot lodge with kitchen and dining room that serves as laboratory space between meals, 10 primitive sleeping cabins set back into the forest around the lodge, cold-shower rooms with bathrooms, a covered pavilion attached to the shower house, a 500-foot well, and a sewage lagoon for biodegradable wastes. These facilities are sufficient for about 65 students and staff.
Teachers and Counselors
In order to have all ninth graders attend camp, we run two back-to-back, four-day sessions, Sunday to Wednesday and Wednesday to Saturday, during the second full week in May. Students attend school when not at camp but have free periods during their biology class time. Once at camp, students are divided into three heterogeneous groupings (A, B, and C) for classes and into eight different cabin groups, each supervised by one of the eight seniors who have volunteered to be counselors to fulfill a "May Project" graduation requirement.
These seniors assist the biology teachers with classes and equipment, supervise the sleeping cabins, and assist with the cookouts, float trips, and volleyball games. Three or four biology teachers who teach at camp all week are joined each session by a camp director and an assistant, who work together to oversee the program's schedule as well as the discipline, safety, and meals for the campers. One of the biology teachers acts as the program coordinator during the months before camp to recruit and train staff, order buses, schedule students, and double-check that all science equipment and supplies are brought from school to camp in the rented vans. Finally, a local cook is hired to fill the perpetually empty teenage stomachs; students themselves serve the meals and do all the dishwashing.
Camp Schedule and Classes
Upon arrival at camp, students attend an orientation at the gravel bar alongside Sinking Creek, place their gear and mattresses in their cabins, and gobble a quick lunch of hot dogs, chips, and fruit. A typical student's schedule might be as follows:
DAY 1
Sunday | DAY 2
Monday | DAY 3
Tuesday | DAY 4
Wednesday | | 8:00 a.m.Bus ride to Drey Land | Breakfast | Breakfast | Pack, clean cabins, stow gear | | | Stream Class 3 | Stream Class 5 | Report-writing time | | | Forest Class 3 | Forest Class 5 | | | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Brunch | | Stream Class 1 | Stream Class 4 | Innertube float trip down Sinking Creek | Hike out and bus ride back to school by 3:30 p.m. | | Forest Class 1 | Forest Class 4 | | | | Dinner | Bonfire and cookout on the gravel bar | Dinner | | | Stream Class 2 | | Report-writing time | | | Forest Class 2 | | | | |
Stream and forest studies are based on inquiry. By investigating the biotic and abiotic factors of these ecosystems, students discover the relationships between and within them. All studies practice the scientific method and produce valid scientific data. Students study the data gathered, make comparisons, and draw conclusions. Generally, students are able to interpret community structure, food chains, predator-prey relationships, and numerous biotic and abiotic interactions.
Short yet detailed introductory instructions for each class are given to the students at the lodge or pavilion, and then quickly students proceed to the forest and creek for data gathering. Sinking Creek, bordering one edge of camp and fed year-round by numerous springs and sporadically by runoff from rainfall, is the outdoor laboratory for all stream classes. Relatively undisturbed by man except for very limited lumbering and cattle grazing, Sinking Creek is a nearly pristine stream to study. The wooded land on the western edge of the stream slopes gently upward. It was logged at least once during the past 100 years, and it floods near the creek almost yearly. This land provides three distinct forest associations for study: the Upper Slope, the Lower Slope, and the Flood Plain. A brief description of each of the stream and forest data gathering and analysis classes follows:
Stream Class 1: (Afternoon)
- A riffle survey of macro-invertebrate stream organisms with organisms being placed in jars for later identification.
- A snail population count in 1-foot square intervals;
- A crayfish population density study is begun by catching as many crayfish as possible with green dip nets, counting them, marking them with nail polish on their carapaces, and releasing them into the same area.
- A 100 ml and a 200 ml sample of free-flowing water is filtered for a diatom count in the evening.
- Students set out four large live-traps baited with meal scraps to capture, observe, and release raccoons and opossums that may visit the stream.
Stream Class 2: (Evening) - All of the macro-invertebrate organisms caught during the day are identified in the lodge using teacher-made dichotomous keys and binocular microscopes.
- All organisms are released back into the stream after students tabulate and post results.
- Using the dried filters and the 1000 X oil immersion objective of a compound microscope, students count the number of diatoms in 15 fields of view and determine the number of diatoms per milliliter of water.
Stream Class 3: (Morning) - Using test kits from Hach and LaMotte, students measure a number of abiotic and biotic parameters of the stream, including dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, air and water temperature, nitrates, ortho-phosphates, pH, hardness, alkalinity, total and fecal coliforms, total solids, total dissolved solids, turbidity, color, and five-day biological oxygen demand.
- Data is posted, and by the end of camp all data is averaged and compiled so students can compare averages and high and low readings to accepted standards found in reference material.
- Students also calculate an overall Water Quality Index for Sinking Creek.
Stream Class 4: (Afternoon) - Surface water velocity measurements are made using the flotation time of an orange over a 10-meter distance in four spots across the stream.
- Depth readings are taken every 30 centimeters across the stream channel where the velocity readings were taken.
- Students determine the cross-sectional area by trapezoidal approximation and the stream volume from the velocity and cross-sectional area.
- Finally, students plot a graph of the cross section of the stream, with one team making a large poster graph for all of camp to see.
Stream Class 5: (Morning) - A stream seine requires numerous students to string long stationary nets across the downstream portion of the stream, while a second, upstream group of students uses other long nets to drive any fish into the waiting nets.
- Fish and other organisms like turtles, crayfish, and even snakes are identified, recorded, and released.
Forest Class 1: (Afternoon) - Students begin with a 20-minute journal entry while sitting in one of the three associations, describing their first impressions of the forest ecosystem.
- The heights of sample overstory trees and understory trees are measured using triangulation.
- The slopes of the three associations are determined with 10-meter tapes, levels, and metersticks.
- Measurements of such abiotic factors as air, soil, litter temperatures in the shade and open sunlight, relative humidity, and light intensity are made using thermometers, sling psychrometers, and photometers.
- After scraping away the litter, students take a soil sample from each association, mass it, and put it in the lodge oven for drying and remassing in the evening.
Forest Class 2: (Evening) - Using soil kits from LaMotte, students measure the levels of pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the soil; determine the percent composition of sand, silt, and clay in the soils from the three associations; and calculate the percent soil moisture in all soils.
- Data is posted, and by the end of camp all data is averaged and compiled so students can compare averages and high and low readings to accepted standards found in reference material.
Forest Class 3: (Morning) - Using a transect line marked into about 30 10-meter sections and strung before students arrived at camp from the creek to the top of the Upper Slope, students do a complete plant survey.
- Students identify the dominant tree pairs, measure their diameters at breast height, measure the distance between dominant tree pairs, and calculate the basal area of the dominant tree pairs.
- Saplings and seedlings are identified and counted along the transect line.
- Using a 1-meter square, students count or estimate the percent area occupied by grasses, vines, shrubs, ferns, mosses, lichens, and litter along the transect line.
Forest Class 4: (Afternoon) - To get an indirect gauge on animal life in the three associations, students spend 10 minutes listening for and recording animal sounds.
- They use beating sheets and sweep nets to directly and intentionally collect and then identify animals from trees, brushy vegetation, and tall grasses.
- Students break apart decaying logs and rummage through forest soil and litter to capture and identify animals in these areas.
- Squirrel den boxes hung in tall trees are checked with an extension ladder for nesting materials and occupancy.
- Fifteen "snake boards" -- 4-foot square sheets of plywood -- are checked for signs of habituation, such as burrows, scats, and trails, as well as living specimens.
- A mustard solution is poured over a 1-meter square area of forest floor to drive earthworms to the surface for capture, length measurement, and counting.
Forest Class 5: (Morning) - Based on all the data collected about plants during previous classes, three small teams draw large pictures on white butcher paper (about 3 by 5 feet) of a community profile of one of the three associations. These pictures are then hung for comparison in the pavilion; students will use these pictures to assist them in answering forest questions in their packets.
Work AND Play
Recognizing that every student needs some time to relax, fun activities are built into the schedule. Instead of eating one dinner in the lodge followed by two classes, each group builds a huge bonfire on the gravel and lets it burn down to a bed of coals. Each student has constructed a "steamboat," a foil packet filled with hamburger, potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, spices, and, to provide the steam, tablespoons of ketchup. The steamboat is tossed onto the coals for 20 minutes of cooking. Eating is followed by camaraderie, games, and storytelling around the fire until bedtime around 10:00 p.m.
Instead of running classes one afternoon, each student carries a black innertube to the swimming hole for a lazy, 3-hour float down Sinking Creek. Sun, splashing, swimming, and trucking through the shallow stretches tires everybody, and after the bouncy van ride back to camp, all are ready for a hearty meal and two classes in the evening. When cold or stormy weather prohibits a float, the class groups battle one another in a volleyball match.
Evaluation
Before eating brunch on the last day of Drey Land Camp, all students are required to turn in a forest and a stream packet, each consisting of several data pages with calculations, pages of questions that require rigorous data analysis, and a written essay, the topic of which the student has chosen from a list of seven possibilities and which requires the interpretation and inclusion of the data gathered during the previous days at camp. In addition, students are evaluated subjectively by the faculty of camp for their effort, cooperation, and attitude. These participation grades are factored into the grades received on the stream and forest packets, each of which counts as much as a full test.
Resources
The following resources should prove useful in designing and updating programs similar to our Drey Land Ecology Program:
Andrews, William A. and Sandra J. McEwan. Investigating Aquatic Ecosystems. Ontario, Canada: Prentice-Hall Canada, Inc., 1987.
Brower, James. Field and Laboratory Methods for General Ecology, 87-92. Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1990.
Cummins, K. and R. Merritt. An Introduction to Aquatic Insects of North America. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 1978.
De Pew, Jeff, Susanne Reed, and Jennifer Gleason. Stream Ecology: A Journal For Action. St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden, Education Division, 1993.
Hach. "Coliform Procedures, Multiple Tube Fermentation Technique." P.O. Box 389, Loveland, CO 80539.
Hach. Water Analysis Handbook, 1981 edition. P.O. Box 389, Loveland, CO 80539.
Jackson, Jim. Ecology of Missouri Forests, 16-21. Missouri Department of Conservation, 1984.
LaMotte Company, P.O. Box 329, Chestertown, MD 21620.
McCafferty, W. Patrick. Aquatic Entomology: The Fisherman's and Ecologist's Illustrated Guide to Insects and Their Relatives. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1981.
Mitchell, M. K. and W. B. Stapp. Field Manual for Water Quality Monitoring, An Environmental Program for Schools. 1995. 2050 Delaware Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48103.
Murdoch, Tom and Martha Cheo. The Stream Keeper's Field Guide. Everett, Washington: Adopt-A-Stream Foundation, 1996.
Needham, J. G. and P. R. Needham. A Guide to the Study of Fresh Water Biology. San Francisco: Holden-Day, Inc., 1962.
Penick, John E. Focus on Excellence. National Science Teachers Association, vol. 1 no. 3, 1983. 1742 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington D.C. 20009. (A description of our Drey Land Ecology Study when it was selected by the National Science Teachers Association in 1983 as one of the 10 best biology programs in the United States.)
Pfieger, W. L. The Fishes of Missouri. Jefferson City, Missouri: Missouri Department of Conservation, 1997.
Westling Bruce. "Drey Land Ecology Study." John Burroughs School, 2003. http://www.jburroughs.org/dreyland/DreyLand1.html (This Web site, written and maintained by an original founder of our Drey Land program, contains more detailed information on our Ozark site and in-depth descriptions of our procedures as well as photographs of the program in action and PDF versions of the manuals. More importantly, it reports all of the data we have collected over the years since the program's inception in 1972. I used the information at this Web site extensively to prepare this summary.)
Margaret Bahe earned her biology degree at Princeton University in 1977, taught biology for two years in New Caanan, Connecticut, and joined the John Burroughs School Science Department in St. Louis in 1979. She subsequently earned her masters at Webster University with a concentration in computers and education. Margaret has served as a College Board consultant, and has been an Exam Reader for 12 years. Since she is trained as a Forestkeepers Volunteer and as a Level II Stream Team Monitor, her classes regularly test a local woodland and Deer Creek and submit data to the Department of Natural Resources. Margaret is the science department chairperson and assumes a new role as head of faculty evaluation this year.
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