T101 Outside the Classroom, Beyond Fieldwork: Innovative Approaches to Informal Geoscience Education in Non-Traditional Settings (Posters)

Monday, 16 October 2023
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Hall B

AN ON CAMPUS, COLLABORATIVE RESTORATION OF LANDFILL AND DEGRADED SUBURBAN ECOSYSTEMS

Paper number: T101-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

As urbanization has increased, native habitats have become increasingly fragmented in suburban areas. Habitat fragments provide fewer ecosystem services than large, intact ecosystems; however, restoration efforts can improve ecosystem services that benefit both the natural environment and the people living in the surrounding area. In this paper, a landfill and two degraded suburban ecosystems on Roanoke College’s campus in Salem, Virginia serve as a case study for an innovative on-campus, collaborative restoration in a suburban setting. Known as the Roanoke College Environment Center, this project has provided opportunities for undergraduate students, college faculty, and external community groups to participate in a number of experimental and educational restoration efforts. Presently, the Environment Center is being used as a field station for further restoration, research, and monitoring. Students have access to learning soil, ecological, and hydrologic field techniques such as soil sampling and analysis, quadrat surveys, aboveground biomass collection, and UAV imaging. It also continues to be used as a non-traditional setting for community-oriented environmental literacy events, as well as an educational space for Roanoke College classes. While outdoor classroom spaces are used on other college campuses, the Roanoke College Environment Center is novel in its mission to both restore a degraded suburban ecosystem while providing benefits to the students, to the college, and to the greater community through education.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 55, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2023AM-392660

© Copyright 2023 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.