Section A: Overview
In 1987 Nanjemoy Creek Environmental Education Center, a Charles County Public School site, began seeing students for educational day trips. The site opened with one open pavilion and a porta-potty. Over time, tents were provided and several fifth grade teachers volunteered to bring their classes for overnight field experiences. From those humble beginnings, NCEEC now oversees the scheduling of a meaningful watershed experience for all fifth graders in Charles County Public Schools. Annually, approximately 1,700 fifth grade students take part in this experience at NCEEC. In addition to the site field trips, in-school environmental programs are provided to approximately 800 students each year.
For one dollar a year, the NCEEC ten acre waterfront site is leased from the Posey family. The property has been placed under conservation easement. With the cooperation of the Posey family, the Maryland Conservation Trust, and Charles County Public Schools the ten acre site had changed considerably since 1987. Hiking trails were created through the woodlands leading to Cabin Gut Marsh. Access was made available to Nanjemoy Creek from a pier and a small beach from which the students can shore seine and canoe. A restroom building with a Clivus Composting system was built, an additional aquatics classroom was added, the original pavilion was enclosed to provide indoor space, and a boardwalk was built through the marsh to allow students to investigate the value of wetlands. An office building, barn, garden shed and raptor mews have been added to now be a part of our facility.
As time went on, more and more landscaped grassy areas were taken from mowing and put to better use. Large acres of mowed grass have been planned and planted with native gardens with the help of Charles County Public School students and the Master Gardeners of our county. A farm field within our ten acres has now been planted with spring and winter cover crops to teach the importance of erosion control, while helping nurture the soil and provide food resources for native animals. Student and adult visitors alike see other examples of best practices throughout the site. The best practices include a composting area, the use of a gray water mound, habitat for native organisms, erosion control methods, water conservation, and solid waste reduction through our trash-free lunch program. Student visitors form “green teams” to focus their attention on these best practices which include energy and natural resource conservation. Students learn about the watershed through activities that teach them about their own impact on the watershed, water quality of the Nanjemoy Creek, and how organisms are impacted by different types of land use. Additionally, they discover the value of wetlands and other buffers while visiting the site. Because we house five raptors in our mews, each group has the opportunity to learn about raptor conservation, community efforts to conserve raptor habitat, and the effort to re-introduce more kestrels and barn owls to Southern Maryland.
Besides providing on-site community learning and modeling environmental practices, we provide off-site support for both the community and schools through our outreach programs and support of Green Schools. The Green Center application shows many examples of our school and community outreach programs focusing on raptor conservation, bird adaptations, and watershed issues. Besides our local schools, we are extensively involved with many community partners including the Southern Maryland Audubon Society, Maryland DNR, Charles County Master Gardeners, Maryland Wood Duck Initiative, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of America, Charles County Government and the City of La Plata.
For one dollar a year, the NCEEC ten acre waterfront site is leased from the Posey family. The property has been placed under conservation easement. With the cooperation of the Posey family, the Maryland Conservation Trust, and Charles County Public Schools the ten acre site had changed considerably since 1987. Hiking trails were created through the woodlands leading to Cabin Gut Marsh. Access was made available to Nanjemoy Creek from a pier and a small beach from which the students can shore seine and canoe. A restroom building with a Clivus Composting system was built, an additional aquatics classroom was added, the original pavilion was enclosed to provide indoor space, and a boardwalk was built through the marsh to allow students to investigate the value of wetlands. An office building, barn, garden shed and raptor mews have been added to now be a part of our facility.
As time went on, more and more landscaped grassy areas were taken from mowing and put to better use. Large acres of mowed grass have been planned and planted with native gardens with the help of Charles County Public School students and the Master Gardeners of our county. A farm field within our ten acres has now been planted with spring and winter cover crops to teach the importance of erosion control, while helping nurture the soil and provide food resources for native animals. Student and adult visitors alike see other examples of best practices throughout the site. The best practices include a composting area, the use of a gray water mound, habitat for native organisms, erosion control methods, water conservation, and solid waste reduction through our trash-free lunch program. Student visitors form “green teams” to focus their attention on these best practices which include energy and natural resource conservation. Students learn about the watershed through activities that teach them about their own impact on the watershed, water quality of the Nanjemoy Creek, and how organisms are impacted by different types of land use. Additionally, they discover the value of wetlands and other buffers while visiting the site. Because we house five raptors in our mews, each group has the opportunity to learn about raptor conservation, community efforts to conserve raptor habitat, and the effort to re-introduce more kestrels and barn owls to Southern Maryland.
Besides providing on-site community learning and modeling environmental practices, we provide off-site support for both the community and schools through our outreach programs and support of Green Schools. The Green Center application shows many examples of our school and community outreach programs focusing on raptor conservation, bird adaptations, and watershed issues. Besides our local schools, we are extensively involved with many community partners including the Southern Maryland Audubon Society, Maryland DNR, Charles County Master Gardeners, Maryland Wood Duck Initiative, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of America, Charles County Government and the City of La Plata.
Section B: The Top 5 List
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End of Year Reports
End of Year Reports were submitted to the Charles County Board of Education at the end of each school year. The reports provides detailed information on site use, outreach programs, Green School initiatives, instruction, and staff development that occurred during the school year.