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Teens Taking Action: Conservation, Advocacy, and Art

Junior Conservation Technicians spent their February break with Audubon at the Green Mountain Audubon Center and Statehouse.

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!  

A JCT teaches vacation day campers how to identify sugar and red maple trees before we tap trees. Photo: Sarah Hooghuis / Audubon Vermont
Staff, JCTs, and campers read about the habitat requirements for each of the sugarbush birds to help us find the laminated birds hidden in the sugarbush. Photo: Emily Kaplita / Audubon Vermont
A JCT drills a tapping hole into a maple tree. Photo: Audubon Vermont
A JCT puts a tap in the hole of a maple tree. Photo: Audubon Vermont

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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 

The Audubon Vermont team advocating for Serve Learn Earn at the Statehouse. From left to right: Chloe Benoit, Kim Guertin, Kay Rose, Sarah Hooghuis, Lilly Smith, and Emma McKillip. Photo: Jillian Scannell / Vermont Works for Women

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. 

Youth Conservation Leadership Intern, Emma, teaches the basics of wildlife tracking in winter to the JCTs. Photo: Audubon Vermont / Sarah Hooghuis

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

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