Friday, March 29, 2024

Kids share farm, science, nature

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Education and learning can come in myriad forms. Bob and Karen Schumacher are providing classroom-based, in the field and mentor-based learning experiences for local school students on their 192-hectare property at Purangi, in the heart of east Taranaki farmland and forest.
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Their property is the base for the East Taranaki Environment Trust. 

The trust covers 13,000 hectares and is home to 3500-4000 western brown kiwis. 

Predator numbers have been controlled to such an extent 20 kokako were recently released to initiate a sustainable breeding population.

The trust was founded by a group of Purangi landowners to protect kiwi by developing a community conservation project called the Purangi Kiwi Project.

In mid 2017 preparations began to fence an area of the Schumachers’ wetland and to build boardwalks and benched tracks throughout it. 

The aim was to give local school children the chance to study, monitor and record the wetland ecosystem as it flourishes under the trust’s protection. 

Local volunteers and students from Francis Douglas Memorial College built the facilities, which were completed a year ago.

“Having the college involved was a beautiful synergy between the young, gangly boys and the practical, no-nonsense older men. 

“It was really nice for the boys to come out and acquire many practical skills,” the trust’s environmental education and community engagement co-ordinator Louise McLay said. 

“The volunteers were already involved in the project and seemed to get an energy boost when they knew they were doing something for the kids whereas the students knew that they were contributing to the community and at the end of the day they could see what they’d achieved.”

The wetlands project was initiated through Venture Taranaki’s Curious Minds Participatory Science Platform.

“The platform is designed to encourage communities, particularly young people, educators and scientists, to work together on collaborative science projects to enthuse people and inform them of the role science plays in their lives,” Curious Minds co-ordinator Josh Richardson said.

“The projects we fund must be very collaborative and foster community engagement in the science and research projects. This project ticks all the boxes”

Kaimata Primary School was enthusiastic about studying wetlands so McLay proposed a wetland science project. 

She noticed how the college students relaxed when they arrived at the property where there is no cell phone coverage or other distractions. 

“The adolescent boys and volunteers have a quiet, masculine sense of humour. If a lad got a little out of line one of the older men would make an understated comment that quickly pulled them back. I absolutely feel it was like Celia Lashlie’s Good Man Project, where good men mentor young men.”

Volunteer Allan Phillips enjoyed seeing the look on the students’ faces when they arrived. It was the first time many had visited the back country.

“We weren’t there to do the work. We were there to show them how to do it and let them complete it. We were out there for six hours one day and it was great seeing them so excited and interested.”

Another volunteer, Henry Brown, said “When we were fencing I heard one of the kids say ‘They even teach us how to do it.’ They were so appreciative. 

“Many of the kids had never put a post in, let alone line it up to the wire, check its height then staple the wires.”

Kaimata was the project’s pilot school. 

When Farmers Weekly visited it was Egmont Village Primary School’s years seven and eight classes’ turn to receive a back country experience and the chance to get wet and muddy sampling the wetland ecosystem for research and recording. 

McLay takes five classroom sessions before each visit where the students study all aspects of a wetland ecosystem.

“We don’t have an opinion about land use. We just aim to show them what’s happening here. We acknowledge that this project is a success due to the practical input from the surrounding farming community.

“The project has shown the children just how much science is used on a farm. 

“They now understand that so much of farming is data collection, observation and monitoring. 

“They thought science was somebody wearing a white coat locked away in a laboratory.”

The project is so popular Egmont teacher Tracey Priest had extra parents offering transport for the day.

Egmont Village Primary School students replanting the wetland.

“Having an expert like Louise come into class leading up to the visit has been excellent. 

“So much comes out after she’s left when it stimulates a great deal of discussion” Priest said.

“It’s well worth visiting the project and sharing the knowledge with this younger generation so they can eventually share it further. 

“The parents enjoyed being there just as much as the kids did.”

When the students visit the wetlands they’re allowed to get wet and dirty and are given the chance to solve their own problems. 

“It’s been a wonderful freedom for them to come out here and get muddy,” McLay said.

“It was so great to see their beaming faces when they found a baby koura.

“Karen and Bob have been wonderful at making the community feel welcome here. 

“It’s been a joy and a real privilege to be part of this well-supported community project. 

“It’s a very public, accessible, practical project where people can see the results. 

“We always tell people who attend our events that they are always welcome to return, which makes them feel like they have some ownership in it.”

Have a go

Any farmer can start a project like the East Taranaki Environment Trust, its co-ordinator Louise McLay says. 

It doesn’t have to be a large one. 

It might be a small wetland that needs planting. 

And a local school might welcome the chance to participate in it and maybe even use it for an educational research project. 

“I think that the community and those retired, practical men should never underestimate how much they can contribute. 

“There are so many children who don’t have a good bloke in their lives. 

“I think it is really empowering for kids to know that there are groups like this out there for them and a little goes a long way,” McLay said.

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