Fifth Grade Visits Weedon Island Preserve

Fifth grade students recently enjoyed a field experience at Pinellas County's Weedon Island Preserve to learn more about the local, native plants and wildlife found in their community. The trip helped students gather information for the annual, year-long Mangrove Project, on-going service learning connected with The Reclamation Project, an eco-art initiative launched by Miami artist Xavier Cortada in 2006.

Last week, led by environmental professionals from an organization called Sensing Nature, the fifth graders spent their day touring the Preserve’s museum and welcome center, participated in an informative boardwalk tour, and paddled canoes through the local mangrove forests located on Riviera Bay. Additionally, they were one of the first school groups to see the latest addition to the nature center; a 40-foot, 1,100-year-old dugout canoe! The canoe was used by Native Americans who formerly inhabited the Weedon Island area.

Now budding with ideas, the students returned to Weedon Island to collect propagules (red mangrove seeds) for their project. Exploring a different part of the nature preserve, each student collected five propagules that will be planted in their science classroom as part of a controlled experiment to investigate the question “How Do Florida Red Mangroves Grow Best?” Closer to the end of the school year, their growing propagules will be returned to their natural environment to help replenish a local area requiring coastal preservation.

(View photos here)