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Our School Wetland

We have a wetland area on our school campus. It is a swamp; a cypress swamp to be more exact. We are located in the northeastern corner of North Carolina (36^o 12.26^m N lat., 76^o 10.14^m W long.). We are approximately 50 miles from the coast. There are many wetlands in our area, including the famous Dismal Swamp. The wetland area on our campus is part of Griffin Swamp. We are concerned for our little piece of this wetland because it is totally cut off from the main swamp. It is separated on two sides by farmland, one side by the school grounds and on the other side by a road. There is no in-flow or out-flow into the rest of Griffin Swamp. We think there needs to be a drain area under the road.

We spend a lot of time in the wetland recording observations and testing the water. We take water samples on a weekly basis and test pH, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, water clarity, and dissolved oxygen. We also keep track of weather conditions to look for any possible correlation. We have found the water quality to remain fairly constant throughout the seasons except in the early spring. The dissolved oxygen level drops in the spring when we have a huge algae bloom. In March almost all of the water becomes covered with blanket algae. As other plants begin to grow the algae slowly disappears and the oxygen level returns to normal.  This is also the season when the water level is the highest.
               (click on pictures to enlarge)  
We are constantly on the lookout for unusual things. We take notes and draw pictures in our Wetland Journals of things we observe. We look for changes. We also pick up any trash that we find. That tends to be a problem as we're so near the road.
Two years ago with the help of our PTA and private donations, we were able to have a boardwalk put in the wetland. This has increased our access and ability to really study the area closely. Other students and we worked on identifying some of the tree and plant species. Through the collaborative effort of some teachers and our principal, we got markers placed in the wetland to identify and give information about the flora. We also have a tracking box at the edge of the wetland. We place various kinds of food there and check for tracks the next day. So far we haven't found too many tracks of mammals other than a raccoon.
              
Our entire school has made a commitment to studying and preserving wildlife habitats. All over our campus we have butterfly gardens, bird houses and feeders, bat houses, a fish pond and water garden, and of course the wetland. It's a great school to go to and we know we are lucky!

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