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June 21, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Stephen Slade 831-728-5939
Elkhorn Slough Awards Given
Awards honoring excellence in local conservation research and
environmental education will be presented at the Annual Meeting
of the Elkhorn Slough Foundation (ESF), June 21, 2003. These awards
honor those who have made contributions towards a better understanding
of and appreciation for Elkhorn Slough through their scientific
or educational endeavors.
The 2003 Elkhorn Slough Conservation Research Award will
be given to UCSC Researcher Katherine (Tabby) Fenn. Fenn recently
conducted a study documenting dramatic changes in the mudflats
of Elkhorn Slough since the 1970s.
The 2003 Elkhorn Slough Education Award will be given to
two local teachers: Anna Seliskar of Soquel Elementary School
and Helene Tick of Brook Knoll Elementary in Scotts Valley. The
teachers are honored for their work encouraging student interest
in the environment and utilizing the Elkhorn Slough Reserve as
an outdoor classroom.
Researcher Tabby Fenn sampled mudflat invertebrates – indicators
of estuarine ecosystem health, and food for shorebirds, sea otters,
and leopard sharks. She documented dramatic community changes
since studies by researchers at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
in the 1970s, and suggests they may be the result of erosion of
mudflat habitats caused by the artificial harbor mouth. However,
she found no decrease in native species richness, and no increase
in non-native species in these mudflat communities– reassuring
news for an estuary subject to pollution and invasions by exotic
species. (Click here
to learn more about this research.)
Anna Seliskar of Soquel Elementary School has been teaching for
over 30 years. Her dedication to her students is apparent in her
gentle way of nurturing a wonderful appreciation for the environment.
“All year we work with cycles in science and nature... and
I just love bringing the children to Elkhorn Slough to celebrate
the beauty of spring.” Her hope is that the children will
have a loving experience with nature and take this memory with
them wherever they go.
Helene Tick has been teaching since 1965, and has been at Brook
Knoll Elementary for the last 22 years. She has created a meaningful
environmental curriculum for the second grade classes that extends
throughout the year and includes a field trip to Elkhorn Slough.
She sees the activities that they do at the slough as an opportunity
for everyone to learn: the teachers, in working at a team effort;
the parents, as active participants; and the students, who remember
details of their trip and continue to build on the knowledge gained
from their outdoor experience at the slough.
The Elkhorn Slough Education Award honors a local teacher who
has designed a curriculum program that encourages student interest
in the environment and has utilized the Elkhorn Slough National
Estuarine Research Reserve as an outdoor classroom. Teachers complete
a training program to prepare them to guide their students on
field experiences where they get to witness the wildlife: from
shore crabs to nesting Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets; from
leopard sharks to plankton, the plants and animals in the water
that are so small that they must be viewed through microscopes
in the teaching lab. Each year over 10,000 students visit the
Reserve to practice their observation skills on the interpretive
exhibits in the visitor center, and then explore the trails through
the oak woodlands, grasslands, and down to the edge of the marsh.
The experience inspires students to pay closer attention to the
environment around them, whether they are at a reserve, their
school, or in their own backyards.
The Research and Education Awards are jointly sponsored by the
Elkhorn Slough Foundation and the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine
Research Reserve (ESNERR), which is owned and managed by the California
Department of Fish and Game in partnership with NOAA and ESF.
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