Each summer since 2012, the Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) has hosted students and adults from across the state to learn about natural resources careers, see a variety of field collection technologies in action and engage with like-minded environmentally conscious peers.<\/p>\n
This summer, because of COVID\u201319, the NRCA<\/a> hosted its first ever slate of virtual programs. Both of NRCA\u2019s active programs, the Conservation Ambassador Program (CAP)\u2014a weeklong natural resources camp for high school students\u2014and Conservation Training Partnerships (CTP)\u2014a two-day workshop for youth and adults, made their way online this past July.<\/p>\n As part of NRCA, participants in both programs will be carrying out conservation projects in their local community in the coming weeks and months, while following CDC guidelines on masks and social distancing.<\/span><\/p>\n Conservation Training Partnerships<\/strong><\/p>\n NRCA\u2019s Conservation Training Partnerships (CTP) workshop hosted two two-day sessions this summers, one July 11\u201312 and another July 16\u201317. Each session drew about twenty-five participants and included both high school students and adults. Participants in CTP, which is co-led by faculty and staff from CAHNR, the UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research and the Neag School of Education, learned about natural resources-related smartphone technology, participated in hands-on data collection activities near their homes and began to plan a local conservation project in small intergenerational teams.<\/p>\n Nicole Freidenfelds<\/a> is CTP\u2019s program coordinator. She says that despite the challenges of moving online, the sessions were a huge success. The responses from participants were \u201coverwhelmingly positive,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone, for the most part, indicated that they enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n Each session began with a presentation about Connecticut\u2019s conservation areas, followed by a hands-on field collection challenges and breakout sessions for participants to develop their local conservation projects.<\/p>\n Freidenfelds says that some of the most successful activities were the field collection challenges. Participants were guided in downloading an app called Epicollect, which can be used to collect any type of data.\u00a0In one activity, participants had twenty minutes or so to go outside and record observations of \u201cbasically any kind of organism they could find near their home,\u201d says Freidenfelds.<\/p>\n Todd Campbell<\/a>, one of the Neag instructors, tweeted<\/a> that in the first session, forty participants recorded 112 data points from across the state in less than twenty minutes. Says Freidenfelds,\u00a0\u201cIt blew my mind how many observations our participants recorded in such a short amount of time.\u201d<\/p>\n CTP instructors then mapped the participants\u2019 findings using Epicollect\u2019s online mapmaking tool. Freidenfelds says that the virtual format of this activity ended up being a boon to learning, because the map revealed the dispersal of observations across the state.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really cool about it being virtual is that you look at the map and [the data] is coming from all over Connecticut,\u201d Freidenfelds says. \u201cYou\u2019re getting these data points from such a wider geographic area than you would if we were doing this in person.\u201d<\/p>\n Laura Cisneros<\/a>, an NRCA program coordinator who this year was in charge of all aspects of the virtual platform, adds that another benefit of the virtual program delivery was that it \u201cgot students out into their backyards, literally, and it made them aware of the biodiversity or the natural habitats that surround their location.\u201d<\/p>\n Conservation Ambassador Program<\/strong><\/p>\n The Conservation Ambassador Program (CAP) took place July 20\u201324. Each day focused on a different theme\u2014forestry, geospatial technologies, soils, fish, wildlife and biodiversity, groundwater and water quality, and land use\u2014on which participants watched presentations by CAHNR faculty, hands-on field collection activities, at-home investigations, livestreamed nature talks and demonstrations, virtual storytelling \u201ccampfires\u201d and more.<\/p>\n Before the program began, participants were mailed \u201cCAP kits\u201d that included materials such as tree cross sections, owl pellets, animal track plates, drinking water tests and soil samples, which tied into activities during the week.<\/p>\n Amy Cabaniss<\/a>, CAP\u2019s program coordinator, says the participants arrived excited. \u201cDespite switching to a\u00a0 virtual field experience, they came to the program with passion and interest, which continued throughout the week,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n