Riparian Buffers and Stream Quality!

As everyone probably knows by now, at the start of student teaching, I was not the most Agricultural Science savvy person! Working with Mr. Webreck has been very beneficial for me and he has taught me a lot! I have also learned a lot from the Blair County Conservation District while working on my Community Based Unit Of Instruction (CBU) alongside them!

Mr. Webreck and myself decided to work with the conservation district on a riparian buffer project at the Bellwood-Antis Community Park! We agreed that it would be a great learning experience, and a great way to promote the FFA in the community if we worked on this project with the conservation district. Money from this project came from a grant that the conservation district applied for! The supplies that were needed was figured out by the conservation district, and Bellwood-Antis High School. All of the supplies and equipment will be provided by the conservation district, as well as the community! It is nice to work with such a helpful group of people who want to see this years riparian buffer become a success! 

The conservation district has came to Bellwood-Antis High School numerous times throughout the semester, prepping the students for the tasks they will have come May 2nd! The guest speakers have done a great job teaching the students...and me about the impacts riparian buffers can have on an area! Through pictures, field trips, demonstrations, and simulations, I feel that this project is going to be a success whenever it comes time to execute!

Here is an example of  what a riparian buffer does and an example
of how it should be executed. 

Not only are we helping plant trees in the park, our students will be running "stations" that teaches sixth grade students about riparian buffers, surface runoff, and stream quality indicators! Each station will have a group of agriculture students who will have demonstrations and a handout for the (hopefully) future Ag. students! 

I wish I could come back and help with the execution of this project, but sadly, I will be in Delaware with the rest of #psuaged16 for our induction seminar! 

Until Next Time,

Mike