The grant was awarded to help Lakeland Community College promote conservation of migratory species.
Lakeland Community College has received a grant from the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service that will allow it to promote conservation efforts for migratory species, such as birds, bats, and butterflies. The grant has allowed the school to install a Motus Wildlife Tracking System, plan educational activities on the topic of conservation, and plant native habitat demonstration gardens on campus.
According to an article on Lakeland Community College’s website, Michael Rizo, who serves as the program specialist for the USDA Forest Service International Programs, was quoted explaining the Motus Wildlife Tracking System and why Lakeland Community College’s campus is the perfect place to have one, saying, “A station located on the rooftop at Lakeland, a high point in the terrain of Lake County, will enable students to collect data from tagged birds, insects and mammals in the area. The Motus network of towers exists throughout Canada, the United States and Latin America. Using this data, Lakeland students will be able to track migration patterns of species from Northeast Ohio all the way to the Caribbean and Latin America.” He added, “With Lakeland’s strong partnerships and connections with local schools, it is exciting that we will be able to make migration science accessible to members of the community. Lake County is an important place along the flyway of migratory birds and monarch butterflies.”
The Motus tower will detect devices that have been attached to migratory species in order to track their paths of flight and will also utilize sound recording for research and education purposes. Faculty members at Lakeland Community College will be able to work with Forest Service International Programs in order to develop some of the data and research gathered by the Motus tower into lesson plans to help educate Lakeland Community College students, local K-12 students, and the community about conservation of these migratory species.
Alongside the opportunity to share Motus tower data with the community, the grant funding will also allow for more community education regarding conservation, including special programs in collaboration with Forest Service International Programs, workshops, and other professional development programs.
Dr. Erin Fekete, who serves as the dean for arts and sciences at Lakeland Community College, explained these efforts, saying, “With this project we envision workshops for college faculty and classroom teachers at the middle and high school level. We have already begun hosting workshops this past summer. For our students, our goal is to create experiential learning opportunities through internships and hands-on science labs that integrate real-world applications of migration science and conservation biology, like bird banding.”
The final piece of funding from the grant will allow for a demonstration garden full of native plant species to be created on Lakeland Community College’s campus to attract and provide a stopover spot for migratory species. Dr. Justin Rosemier, professor of biology, shared, “We are excited to have native plants in the demonstration garden that will include host plants and nectar sources for monarchs and other pollinators. The integration of trees native to the region that provide stopover sites for migratory birds might also be included. These demonstration gardens will provide hands-on labs and learning exercises for our biology, ecology and other science faculty and students.”
For more information about Lakeland Community College, visit the school’s website.