For Lauren Troy, a morning of cutting down trees and hauling them away was a pleasure. The Ozark junior was one of 15 students who participated in the weeklong Green Leadership Academy for Diverse Ecosystems, or GLADE, in which students got hands-on training about conservation. “I enjoy this because I work with the environment in a hands-on way,” she said. “It’s knowledge I can take with me back home.” She and the other students were getting experience on Wednesday helping restore a forest area at the Drury-Mincy Conservation Area in Taney County.
“We are removing cedars from the habitat,” said Ozark junior Robert Powell. “They block the habitat because of their canopy and because their needles are acidic.”
Before the students started, Department of Conservation Natural History Biologist Rhonda Rimer explained that the forest needs to have some sunlight to allow more undergrowth to thrive, which in turn attracts a more diverse range of animal life. When cedars are allowed to take over, they inhibit that diversity. GLADE Director Greg Swick said the program is twofold. “One purpose is to help restore critical habitat to increase biodiversity,” he said. “The other is to create community leaders who have a knowledge of the fragile nature of the environment.”
Those students can return to their schools and communities and get involved. Students can apply for a $500 grant from the program to implement their ideas. Tyler Standridge, Alison Dalbom and Alicia Lambeth, all Branson juniors, plan to work together on a project. “We want to get an outdoor classroom in Branson,” Standridge said. The students said it would be a project that they hope will help students for several years. “We want it get it strong while we are still in school,” Dalbon added.
Maddie Kemper, a Nixa junior, said that for her project, she hopes to get recycling bins to Nixa residents. “You’d get bins for different items and then your trash service would pick them up,” she said.
Celeste Prussia, Missouri State University’s manager of the Bull Shoals Research Station, said the program teaches student that they can initiate change. “They have the power to see something that needs to be done and then organize people to leave the world better than they found it,” she said.
During the week, students heard from an array of experts about amphibians, snakes, insects, plant life and even mountain lions. Students in the program came from as far away as Branson, Mansfield, Springfield and Buffalo. This is the third year for the leadership program, a project of the National Audubon Society’s Together Green program and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.
Written by
Cliff Sain /NewsLeader
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