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Become a Junior Naturalist

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Contributed by: Environmental Learning Center on 8/14/2006

An outdoor after-school program for fourth through seventh grade students starts Sept. 27, 2006 and is being offered by the Environmental Learning Center. The series is called "Become a Junior Naturalist."

Each of the 4-sessions covers a different environmental topic. The intent is to broaden a student's interest in learning more about our natural world. A range of hands-on discovery activities is at the heart of the program.

"Become a Junior Naturalist" is held Wednesday Sept. 27, Oct. 4, 11, and 25 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm at ELC's campus on Wabasso Island. The cost is $25 for all 4 sessions. Enrollment size is limited.

Seine netting is the highlight of the first session. Fish, crabs, seahorses, and pipefish all thrive in the seagrass beds growing in the Indian River Lagoon. The Junior Naturalists will travel by boat to secret spots where they will pull seine nets across beds of underwater grasses. Answers will be revealed as to why seahorses hitch, what conchs eat, and whether stingrays really sting.

Session two will be spent exploring the ocean's beach. The small group will walk the wrack line in search of sea hearts, country almonds, sea purses, and whelk egg cases.

Canoeing will be the mode of transportation for day three. Canoes have been used for thousands of years for transportation. Junior Naturalists will paddle one learning techniques on how to wind through a mangrove jungle.

It all concludes with a session on bats. If you like chocolate and bananas, you better thank bats. If you hate those biting mosquitoes, then attract bats to your yard to feast on them at night.

Environmental educator, Rosemary Petryk, leads the Junior Naturalist training. Ms. Petryk has been a professional naturalist at the Environmental Learning Center for seven years. She served in a similar capacity for the National Audubon Society and the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.

To register, contact Rosemary Petryk at the ELC by phone (772) 589-5050 or by e-mail Rosemary@elcweb.org. Advance registration is necessary.

The Environmental Learning Center is a non-profit nature center situated along the southern end of the Indian River Lagoon Scenic Highway. Its 51-acre island campus runs along County Road 510 at the western end of the tall Wabasso bridge. Additional field excursions may be found on-line at www.elcweb.org .

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