LCI in the News

Alligators, snakes, lizards and turtles, oh my!

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Students discover a treasure trove of biodiversity when a naturalist, nature visit their schools.

BY SARA WRIGHT, 3/12/11

“Next time you see an animal on TV, think about what it does to protect itself,” said Mills, a naturalist and the education director for the nonprofit LowCountry Institute on Spring Island. Mills believes that teaching children about the valuable, diverse ecosystem is another way to protect animals.

“There’s nothing better than educating a kid and having them educate their parents,” said Mills. “Parents tend to get a big kick out of that and they listen.” LowCountry Institute Executive Director Chris Marsh, Mills, and environmental educator Kristen Marshall Mattson also co-teach 12-week Master Naturalist classes that teach people what they need to do to be a naturalist in the Lowcountry. Several teachers, including those at H.E. McCracken Middle School and Okatie Elementary School, have gone through a special version of the class.

Click here to read more in Bluffton Today

Art and the ecosystem

Students turn science experiments into works of art

By AMY COYNE BREDESON

Published Monday, January 10, 2011

Hundreds of local students have spent the past few months exploring the ecosystem and translating their newfound knowledge into expressions of art.

It's all part of Beaufort County School District's participation in the international River of Words program. It aims to improve children's literacy and cognitive skills and nurture their creativity through observation-based nature exploration and the arts.

District fine arts coordinator Margaret Rushton said since the district launched the program in September, students have tested the quality of local waters, examined marine and animal life, studied the wetlands and learned how human behavior affects the environment. Then they have gone back to their classrooms to express what they've learned and how they feel about that new information through artwork and poetry.

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Rushton said many of the district's teachers have gone through the master naturalist course offered by the Lowcountry Institute so they were already well-educated on the environment.

But teachers who were interested in learning more were invited to attend a teacher training day with the institute in September on Spring Island. The idea was to let the teachers learn about the Lowcountry ecosystem first so they could then teach the children.

Once the teachers felt comfortable with their knowledge of the environment, they started incorporating the River of Words program into their curriculum.

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Supporters celebrate preservation efforts

Years after Beaufort County residents worked to preserve 70 acres of Lemon Island in the face of looming development, some of the initiative's supporters were treated to a tour of the protected parcel Sunday afternoon.

Widgeon Point was open to members of the Beaufort County Open Land Trust and the Coastal Conservation League on Sunday for a guided nature walk and discussion on the importance of land conservation. The event celebrates efforts on behalf of the Open Land Trust and Beaufort County to protect ecologically sensitive property on Lemon Island, which in 2007 was being considered for development of a high-density luxury townhouse community.

Read more: http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/11/15/1444638/supporters-celebrate-preservation.html#ixzz15SpJ89el

Studying the May River

How Freshwater Pollutes our Rivers

Intro: Our River at Risk

Part I: Development and Water Quality

Part II: What the Data is Showing

Part III: Where we go from Here

Click here to access this media article, featuring LCI's Dr. Chris Marsh and other local water quality experts, from The Island Packet.