The Junior Conservation Technicians were back at the Green Mountain Audubon Center for February break! Instead of using their week off from school to catch up on sleep, they learned about forest management, assisted with vacation camps, and became familiar with the sugarbush. Some even travelled to Montpelier where they spoke to legislators and testified for The House Committee on Environment and Energy about their experiences as JCTs!
The major theme of February was maple! Prior to our week in person, JCTs were able to hear from Steve Hagenbuch, the founder of the Bird-friendly Maple (BFM) Program, about what BFM means and looks like on the landscape. On Monday, JCTs met with Audubon Vermont’s Senior Educator, Emily Kaplita, to learn about using maple sugaring as an opportunity for place-based, outdoor education. Emily shared her vacation camp lesson plan with the JCTs and they volunteered to lead different activities. Later that day we headed down to the sugarbush to learn how to identify and tap Sugar and Red Maples. The next day, they put this knowledge to the test as they practiced their leadership and educator skills at vacation camp with 30 students ages 5 to 12. JCTs led tree tapping groups, read stories, and organized field games with the young campers. Later in the week, JCTs joined Audubon staff and volunteers for tapping day. Together, they tapped 600 trees just in time for the sap to start running!
In the spirit of Town Meeting Day, the JCTs met with Serve Learn Earn director, Kate Gluckman, to learn about what advocacy can look like, especially for students who are not yet old enough to vote. JCTs chose topics that were important to them and wrote letters to their local representatives about solutions. A few of the JCTs joined Kate and SLE partners at the Statehouse on Friday where they had the opportunity to talk with elected officials about the value of the JCT program, sit in on a session in the House Chamber in which SLE was recognized, and testify to the House Committee on Environment and Energy.
JCTs developed new naturalist and conservation skills throughout the week. They met with Audubon Vermont Senior Associate for our Forest Program, Tim Duclos, who taught them about the basics of forest management and shared the management plan for the Green Mountain Audubon Center. In his presentation, Tim showcased the abundance and climate resilience of different tree species found at the Center. Each JCT has “adopted” one of these species and is working on research to create pages for a tree guide. In June, JCTs will join our foresters, Tim and Steve, in the field to prepare our sugarbush for crop tree release (CTR). CTR involves selectively cutting down trees that are outcompeting others for light and space to encourage growth.
JCTs also refined their winter bird identification skills and learned about winter wildlife tracking. Thanks to the icy conditions, they were able to track foxes, coyotes, deer, mice, and a potential porcupine through the woods of the Green Mountain Audubon Center.
During pockets of down time throughout the week, JCTs worked on art and carpentry projects. JCTs constructed a new little free library painted with a variety waterfowl and made some repairs to the existing library. They also started working on ideas for an interactive fairy house walk that will be located along GMAC trails. Keep your eyes peeled for these projects around the center in the coming months!
The Junior Conservation Technicians will be back at GMAC this month to help with Sugar on Snow events! We hope to see you there. Learn more about Sugar on Snow here.
