Kayla Hira and Kaden Melton matched with Blue Heron Nature Preserve (BHNP) this semester. Learning from Denise Cardin and other members of the team at Blue Heron, they set up weather stations in different parts of the preserve to learn about the environmental impact of urban forests and wetlands. They also performed a survey of trees at both of their homes and GSU’s downtown campus. Learn about their project, the data they collected, and the stakes of this information below:
Nya Nicholson developed these informative guides for coexisting peacefully with urban coyotes after identifying a set of common concerns in reports of coyote sightings for her community partner, the Atlanta Coyote Project.
For their community partner, Wild Nest Bird Rehab, Grace Brawn and Diane Kong created a presentation to inform the public about ways to mitigate injuries to migrating songbirds passing through Atlanta each year. Their presentation emphasizes window collisions, a major cause of bird deaths annually and an event that brought 30 Cedar Waxwings into their care this semester, only three of which were able to survive their injuries.
Sydney Erickson, Tiffany Le, and Mina Pham spent their semester volunteering with Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. They cleaned out trash traps and analyzed their contents, tested the water after a major equipment failure at the RM Clayton Wastewater Treatment Facility resulted in unsafe levels of e. coli bacteria in parts of the river, and helped with events like Sweep the Hooch.
These students documented their journal on an Instagram account dedicated to the experience:
https://www.instagram.com/crk_volunteer_gsu/
They also discuss their research and findings in this accessible and engaging presentation: Service Learning Final Project
Dua Spall and Raihaanah Bint Abdullah Muslim worked with the Dunwoody Nature Center, an organization with an emphasis on outdoor environmental education. To help communicate this organization’s message, they produced an infographic about the importance of environmental education for young children with evidence from DNC’s record of providing quality, public environmental-educational programming.
Kelly Clarke and Sheryl Varghese volunteered with the Intown Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society (GNPS) this semester. They worked on various projects, from plant sales to park cleanups, with their community partner, learning about the importance of preserving native ecosystems and local biodiversity.
During their time with this organization, they saw a need to help promote native planting and gardening beyond an audience of homeowners with private lawns and stewards of public parks, so they launched a three-pronged campaign to bring what they learned to a couple of additional communities: their campus community at GSU and renters and other folks with limited space to garden or strict regulations about how they can use the green spaces they have.
Working closely with Dr. Amy Lederberg, Leslie Inman, and Vicki Mann of the Intown Atlanta Chapter, Sheryl and Kelly planned an informational event on campus, where they gathered support to start a campus charter of GNPS (coming in Fall 2024):
They also created three infographic fliers to help people access information about the organization, native plants and the ecosystems they supports, and opportunities to make a positive ecological impact:
Going strong for a second semester in Spring 2024, the Honors Service-Learning Seminar in Urban Ecology and Environmental Conservation enrolled twelve curious, conscientious students, representing a wide range of majors and disciplines throughout the university. For the first six weeks of the semester, these students gathered in the classroom with Dr. Shannon Finck twice a week to read about and discuss various philosophies of conservation and climate mitigation. During the next eight weeks, each student would be matched with one of seven participating community partners–all environmentally-focused organizations operating in the metro Atlanta area–to undertake independently designed service-learning projects, developed in conjunction with these organizations.
Our community outreach grew a little bit this year, welcoming four new organizations to our growing list of ongoing and rotating partnerships, and we’re excited about what this semester and the future of this initiative, more broadly, might hold.
As in our previous semester, this blog reflects students’ experiences and observations during their service-learning journeys and documents the development of their projects. Here, you can read about who they are, what they’re working on, and what they’re learning. Since, this is the initiative’s second semester running now, you can also check in periodically to see how the course is taking shape over time.
“The Atlanta Coyote Project consists of scientists devoted to learning moreabout coyotes living within the metro Atlanta area. Whether you arecaptivated, concerned, or just plain curious when it comes to coyotes, westrive to be a relevant and credible source of information and to providestrategies for peaceful human-coyote coexistence. Through education,coordination, and research, the Atlanta Coyote Project seeks to be acentralized location where coyote sightings, activity, and incidents acrossmetro Atlanta and urban Georgia are reported, maintained, and mapped.”
“Nestled in Atlanta’s North Buckhead neighborhood, Blue Heron Nature Preserve is home to the 3-mile Blueway Trail which allows visitors to experience 30 acres of woodlands, wetlands, riparian areas and meadows – all without leaving the city. The Blue Heron Nature Preserve in Atlanta aims to preserve and enhance the 30 acres of natural habitat entrusted to us, especially the Blueway Trail, which is critical to our mission of creating a personal experience with nature.”
“Established in 1994, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper employs a variety ofstrategies to protect and preserve the Chattahoochee River, its lakes andwatershed. They include: water monitoring, education, research, advocacy,communication, collaboration, and legal action. Our mission is to educate,advocate and secure the protection and stewardship of the ChattahoocheeRiver, including its lakes, tributaries and watershed, in order to restore andconserve their ecological health for the people and wildlife that depend onthe river system and in recognition of the important ecosystem functionsprovided throughout the region and planet.”
“We aim to inspire the love of nature and cultivate environmental understanding and stewardship through a variety of programs and activities that engage the public and provide our community with a sense of place within the natural world. As a private, non-profit organization operating primarily out of Dunwoody Park, the Nature Center enjoys a strong and supportive public/private partnership with the City of Dunwoody. In addition to running mission based programs throughout the year, we are committed to enhancing and preserving Dunwoody Park for the enjoyment of the community. We are a living lab that is environmentally sustainable, inclusive and accessible to all.”
“The Georgia Native Plant Society (GNPS) is a nonprofit organizationdedicated to promoting the stewardship and conservation of Georgia’snative plants and their habitats. The Intown Atlanta Chapter supports therestoration of such habitat sites as Mary Scott Nature Preserve, HerbertTaylor and Daniel Johnson Park and Nature Preserve, Zonolite Park, andW.D. Thompson Park.”
“As the only organization currently protecting the South River, SRWA iscommitted to ecological restoration of the South River for the benefit ofnature and people. Cleaner water requires increased awareness, collectiveadvocacy, stronger protection, and management of our river as a valuablenatural resource. We aspire to elevate water as a resource, boost awarenessand advocacy, make recreation accessible, and restore the South River.”
“Wild Nest Bird Rehab, Inc. is a nonprofit charity dedicated to rehabilitating wild songbirds for release back to the wild. We accept orphaned songbirds and injured songbirds and serve Atlanta and surrounding areas. Along with our rehabilitation services, our mission includes educating the public about how to attract and support native songbird species through native landscaping, the dangers to our songbird populations, and the important role songbirds play in our environment.”
These two groups of students organized and promoted creek cleanups and worked to increase creek access in their areas as part of Atlanta Creek League. Below are some photos of them planning their events as well as an example of some of the promotional materials they created.
And if you’re in the Georgia State area, you can support the ongoing work of Atlanta Creek League by signing up to Play for Clear Creek (Jaz’s Team)!
Leslie, Nuha, and Jillian created this informative presentation on common threats to urban songbirds for their community partner, Wild Nest Bird Rehab. Their work will help Wild Nest in their ongoing mission to educate the public about the birds with whom they share their city and how members of the community can become allies to urban birds.