Course+Connections


 * Tasks where NCSU may be able to help (or not)—it will be constructive to know what can and cannot be done through NCSU**

DEMONSTRATION SITE Classifying ●Develop and refine criteria for classifying preserves and test results on demo site -this will include categorizing parcels according the criteria to see if they hold ►There may be an opportunity to involve Heather Cheshire or Stacy Nelson in this through one of their GIS courses.

Inventorying ●Put together volunteer network (NCSU clubs, local groups, etc...) ► Potential to involve the Center/Inst for Nonprofit Studies, but need to check in with them ●Begin inventorying with help from volunteer network -inventory will include the following: plants, birds, reptiles/amphibians, small mammals, invasive species, other? -inventory should leverage existing data for demo site ●Continuing to monitor with help from volunteer network, including photo monitoring ►Jon Stucky and Alexander Krings (PB) are interested in helping with the plant identification aspect of our service learning inventories. Courses such as Plant Biology 405/595 (Fall 2008) may be useful conduits to identify general flora. There are also opportunities to get students working on Master’s Theses/Projects to identify flora on specific parcels. One potential problem is timing and when plants can be identified (Spring, Summer and Fall) ►Aram Attarian (PRTM) is interested in doing a recreation resource inventory. He is teaching a PRT 250 Spring (2007) and Fall (2008) an undergrad class that could investigate recreation opportunities/trails/limited infrastructure options. There also may be opportunities for graduate students with GIS skills to map the parcels and work with the plant biology course to incorporate information ►Gary Blank is teaching NR484, an environmental impacts class (Fall 2008) and may be able to incorporate some GIS work that synthesizes the findings from the other inventorying classes. • Blank teaching special top Protected Species Cons NR595 in spring 2008 and might be able to add an element to that. • Hess natural resources measurements NR300 spring 2009 could do some work ►Potential to involve YuFai Leung and Heather Cheshire but we need to consult with them. YuFai does recreational impact assessment and might be able to help set up monitoring and measurement programs for that. YuFai is currently on sabbatical. He’s back in the Fall 2008. Cheshire is remote sensing / GIS and could more likely help with classification. They may be able to help us with a more macro scale classification for parks county wide by leveraging existing data.

Managing ● Draft a management plan for demo site. This will begin after inventories in Fall 2008. Ideally this will happen in Spring 2009. ●Develop list of Wake County properties with prioritization for action. Advertise opportunities for master’s students to focus on management plan development as part of their master’s project (non-thesis option). This could begin in Spring 2008.

Other ● Advocacy and education -this may include a presentation to the local governing boards and/or parks dept. directors ► Consult with the Design School to see if they could help with a web site. ►Consult with Bill Kinsella in Communications to see if there is role here for his environmental communications class.