BERLIN – A partnership between Stephen Decatur Middle School and the National Aquarium is boosting the population of a vulnerable local tree species.
More than 80 seventh-graders at Stephen Decatur Middle School (SDMS) spent last week preparing a makeshift pond and filling it with pots of Atlantic white cedar trees. They’ll spend the next several months caring for the trees, which they’ll travel to Nassawango Creek Preserve to plant in March.
“It gives them a better understanding of how the environment needs our help,” said science teacher Sara Braniecki.
For her students, planting the trees fulfils the annual service learning requirement. At the same time, it’s getting them outdoors and teaching them about the environment.
Braniecki said students will check on the trees every day, ensuring they’ve got enough water in their artificial pond. In the winter, they’ll even break up any ice that forms to make sure the trees have access to flowing water. In March, when the saplings are about a foot taller than they are now, the students will take a field trip to Nassawango Creek Preserve to plant the trees. That, for many, proves to be the highlight of the project.
“It’s an awesome experience,” Braniecki said. “At first they’re a little hesitant but they end up really enjoying it.”
While SDMS has partnered with the National Aquarium on the Atlantic white cedar project since its inception, it’s not the only school that participates now. According to Maura Duffy, conservation technician at the National Aquarium, Berlin Intermediate School, Snow Hill Middle School and Carter G. Woodson Elementary School also take part in the program.
Duffy said the program was created through the National Aquarium’s field conservation department, which aims to encourage good environmental stewardship beyond the aquarium’s walls. It focuses strongly on habitat restoration around the Chesapeake Bay. Because the Atlantic white cedar is ranked as a vulnerable species in Maryland, the National Aquarium opted to develop an initiative to support it.
“We hope it helps students form meaningful connections,” Duffy said. “We really like working with students on the Eastern Shore. We hope to see the program continue to grow.”
