INC NEWS - Fw: Forest View Naturalists lay groundwork for New Hope Creek Park!

[Wendy Jacobs]

> Dear Neighbors,
>
> Please check out the article in the Herald-Sun copied below about the 
> wonderful happenings at Forest View Elementary School. When we launched 
> our Complete the Puzzle! Create New Hope Creek Park! campaign at Forest 
> View exactly a year ago yesterday, we dreamed of the potential connection 
> between the park and the school children of Durham and Orange counties. It 
> is so exciting to see our community already benefiting from the protection 
> of New Hope Creek and carrying on the vision for what this park can become 
> for our community.
>
> Also check out some of the photos and work of the Forest View students at 
> this link:
>
> http://www.forestview.dpsnc.net/%7Elindat/newhope/fvesatnewhope.htm
>
>
> Wendy Jacobs
>
>
> http://heraldsun.com/durham/4-693859.html.
>
>>
>> Forest View students take personal view of nature
>> January 25, 2006
>>
>> BY GEMMA MANGIONE, The Herald-Sun
>> You can't learn about the natural world from a book. At least, that's 
>> what Zachary Meredith seems to think.
>>
>> "It's much better to go outside and see it," said Zachary, an 8-year-old 
>> third-grader at Forest View Elementary School. "Nature makes all its own 
>> sculptures. I found part of a seed pod once and it kind of looked like a 
>> canoe.
>>
>> "When you go out and explore nature, and then come back to learn about 
>> it, it's like you get to write the book, or make the book yourself, 
>> instead of having to read one written by other people," he added.
>>
>> The third-graders have begun to write a book about nature, specifically 
>> about New Hope Creek, a narrow waterway that runs from western Orange 
>> County, through parts of Durham and empties into upper Jordan Lake. Signe 
>> Brown, John Heffernan and Kathy Ravella's students presented their 
>> studies of the creek Wednesday at a 45-minute "informance" -- or 
>> informational performance -- for delighted parents, community members and 
>> fellow peers.
>>
>> Students waxed poetic about fresh water nitrates, fern leaves and furry 
>> "creek critters" after warming up the crowd with a skit. Dressed as 
>> foxes, rabbits, crows and squirrels, the third-graders raced around the 
>> school's media center to the sounds of xylophones and conga drums.
>>
>> Leslie Mata, 9, said she was glad to play her instrument when the 
>> "beaver" walked in.
>>
>> "I wanted to play for the beaver because I kept remembering when we saw a 
>> beaver dam at the creek," Leslie said. "We got to bring a part of it back 
>> to the classroom! I don't think that hurt the beaver, though. I hope 
>> not."
>>
>> Art teacher Marylu Flowers led the group that presented research on 
>> mosses, ferns and other creek plants. Two field trips have been taken to 
>> the area with the remaining two third-grade classes to go next month.
>>
>> "We made journals, using yellows, greens and blues -- you know, nature 
>> colors, to record our observations," said Flowers with a grin. "After 
>> all, these are not just students. These are botanist illustrators!"
>>
>> Wednesday also marked the one-year anniversary of the meeting that kicked 
>> off the New Hope Creek Park grass-roots campaign.
>>
>> On Jan. 25, 2005, the Erwin Area Neighborhood Group met for the first 
>> time to discuss two tracts of land encompassing 43 acres at the corner of 
>> Erwin and Pickett roads. The more-than-400-member organization went on to 
>> raise $200,000 toward buying the land from Duke University, thereby 
>> saving it from townhouse development.
>>
>> In November, the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund awarded a $1.1 
>> million grant to Durham County to subsidize its purchase of the land. 
>> According to Wendy Jacobs, one of the leaders of the Erwin Area 
>> Neighborhood Group, the Triangle Land Conservancy contributed $75,000 and 
>> the remaining $325,000 was split among Chapel Hill, Orange County, city 
>> of Durham and Durham County governments.
>>
>> "It's the kids that are really the first step toward building this park," 
>> said Jacobs, Zachary's mother. "It's so neat to think we may one day have 
>> nature guides written by students, for students!"
>>
>> John Heffernan, whose class will continue to study water quality 
>> throughout the rest of the school year, couldn't agree more.
>>
>> "We are continuing to preserve New Hope Creek, continuing to honor the 
>> efforts of our community and local government, by teaching our children 
>> to be stewards of this land," Heffernan said.
>>
>> Durham resident B.B. Olive, a member of the New Hope Creek Advisory 
>> Committee, said he had "nothing but admiration" for the students' work.
>>
>> "I remember in the 1960s a coalition of scientists issued a report that 
>> said there were more species of fish in New Hope Creek than in all of 
>> France," Olive said. "These students are furthering the tradition of New 
>> Hope Creek as a research stream. I am proud of them. I am touched."
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> COPYRIGHT 2006 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved.
>>
>>
>