Partnership with High School Students and Teachers Explores Relationships Between Watersheds And Communities

LINCOLN, MA.—Mass Audubon is partnering with high schools throughout the Commonwealth to help students better understand fragile wetlands and their crucial relationships with cities and towns in which the students live.

The project, entitled “Science for Solutions,” focuses on both professional development for teachers and classroom and in-the-field science experiences for students.  Areas of study range from habitat restoration and climate impacts to studying fish species that spend parts of their life cycles in both freshwater and the ocean, such as herring, striped bass, and Atlantic salmon.

The students’ work culminates in projects that positively impact wetland habitats and the flora and fauna that depend upon them.

“Science for Solutions” partners with schools located within diverse watersheds, including the Connecticut, Concord, Taunton, Merrimack, and Ipswich rivers, as well as Cape Cod Bay and Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. The project includes a focus on under-resourced communities.

Participating Mass Audubon properties include Endicott Wildlife Sanctuary in Wenham, Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Plymouth, Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary in Attleboro, Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln, and Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton and Northampton.

Mass Audubon, the state’s largest nature conservation nonprofit, is in the second year of offering “Science for Solutions,” a three-year National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bay Watershed and Education Training program.

"This is a place-based stewardship education program that is rooted in how scientific research can inform our approaches to environmental issues,” Coordinator Jen Klein said. “It will empower youth to draw on personal experiences and community connections to shift their relationship to and understanding of their local watersheds."