LaWEC Minutes
August 18, 2004
Thanks for coming to the coastal educator’s “symposium” yesterday, August 17, 2004.. If you didn’t get to join us, we want to keep you in the loop. Here is a brief summary of what happened.
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Pam Blanchard welcomed the group to LSU and shared the purpose of the meeting as being two-fold. With the current JASON topic being Disappearing Wetlands and the America’s WETLAND campaign about to be in full swing, this was a chance for us to learn about what materials were available through different organizations. In that way, we could direct requests for materials or services to the correct group or agency. The meeting was divided into two sessions. During the first session coastal wetland educators and related leaders were asked to share the wetland educational opportunities available in Louisiana. During the second session, a new CWPPRA K-4 educational CD was discussed.
Each person shared ideas and a list of educational opportunities or learning materials available through their organizations. The following people shared information about their work groups:
| Chad Case | NBII National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette |
| Susan Horton | Student and Teacher Wetland Education and Field Trips National Wetland Research Center, Lafayette |
| Angela Capelloa | Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries Booker Fowler Fish Hatchery, Forest Hill |
| Diane Lindstedt | Louisiana Sea Grant
LSU, Baton Rouge |
| Angela Rathle Allen Rodriguez |
Jean Lafitte National Park Service
Thibodaux, LA |
| Brenda Nixon | Gordon Cain Center for Scientific, Technological, Engineering and Mathematical Literacy and Earth Day LSU, Baton Rouge |
| Dinah Maygardhen | Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences
UNO, New Orleans |
| Pam Blanchard | LSU Curriculum and Instruction, Earth Day, Sea Grant
LSU, Baton Rouge |
| Cinnamon Baldwin | Coastal Plain Conservancy
Lake Charles, LA |
| Deborah Schultz | Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program
NSU, Thibodaux |
| Jean May-Brett | LA. Department of Education
Baton Rouge Jean also send word from Jessie Kastler at LUMCON in Cocodrie |
| JoAnn Burke | Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
New Orleans |
| Steve Churtz | Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Baton Rouge |
| Tanya Sturman | Fur and Alligator Advisory Council
Natchitoches |
| Susan T-Bergeron | CWPPRA National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette |
| Ann Rabin Bonnie Bass-Austin |
Audubon Zoo
New Orleans |
It was wonderful to hear about all the great wetland related educational opportunities for teachers and students.
I showed the group what CWPPRA had designed for a kiosk that will be used with the America's WETLAND campaign. About 1/2 of the material in the kiosk included wetland activities related to the Estuarians. We discussed a possible K-4 CD about Louisiana's wetlands that would include content in science, social studies, math and language arts. The CD would also include some wetland adventures for kids. Similar to the "Explore Coastal Louisiana with Boudreaux" but more aligned with what teachers have to teach in the content area.
Please note:
The Estuarians characters have not been released to the public yet. DO NOT make copies of the Estuarians or use them on any of your materials. I just wanted to give you an idea of what is planned.
I asked each person who wanted to help to send a letter of commitment or support by this Friday, August 20th. (That would depend on what they thought their group or agency would want to do, if anything.) I told the group that we will be having a CWPPRA outreach meeting before the end of this month, so I need to know (in writing) if they think the K-4 CD is an item that could be used in schools, and I asked which groups or agencies want to participate.
We talked about having additional meetings but as there were no new agenda items yet we did not set a date. Ranger Angela Rathle from Jean Lafitte offered to host the next meeting. I think right now we need to think about what can actually be accomplished with a great group of folks like this working together on wetland education. I guess we could use that as the topic for our next meeting.
Pam gave a run down of upcoming events that coastal educators could participate in. Pam is also going to update the Excel document that contains everyone's contact information and e-mail it out to the group later this week. Pam thanked everyone for coming, and we closed the meeting.
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I think it was nice for all of us to be together to talk. Usually, we are in the business of educating other people when get together.
If we do plan to have another meeting and you can think of other people we need to include, don’t hesitate to let us know who we may be missing.
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Here is the contact information some of you requested:
Lisa Noble
America's WETLAND
9000 Sunset Blvd, Ste 700
Los Angeles, CA 90069
310.274.8787 ext. 105
310.274.1306 (fax)
www.americaswetland.com
lln@pvcla.com
Brenda J. Blackston, Ph.D.
Southeast Regional Manager
JASON Foundation for Education
Cell - 843-222-0256
Home office - 843-237-3284
brenda@jason.org
www.jason.org
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Thanks again for coming,
Susan
Susan Testroet- Bergeron
Johnson Controls, Inc.
Located at:
USGS National Wetlands Research Center
700 Cajundome Blvd.
Lafayette, LA 70506
Phone: 337-266-8626
Fax: 337-266-8513
sbergeron@usgs.gov