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NES students create habitats

Wetlands ecological field trip teaches kids about interconnectedness
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Grade 6 class with their teacher Ms. Jamison and parent helper Mike Smith during their field trip to Summit Lake to place the nesting boxes they built as part of the BC Green Games competition. The nesting box pictured here was made by Silas Lampimaki.

Trisha Shanks

Arrow Lakes News

Students from the Grade 6 class at Nakusp Elementary School enjoyed a field trip to Summit Lake with their teacher Megan Jamison and Gary Davidson, local bird expert. In keeping with their commitment to the environment sparked by the BC Green Games competition, the students and parent volunteers put up all three of the duck nesting boxes that students had made from wood, as well as two of the smaller ones for chickadees or nuthatches.

“Gary, who is a bird guru, came with us for the day and brought his spotting scope. All of the students were able to see a close-up of a female bald eagle sitting on her eggs in a nest across the lake. We walked the entire Rail Trail from Summit Road at the far end to the Ruby Range Road access. With Gary’s expert advice, and the help of a parent, Hugh Watt, got the nesting boxes mounted on trees,” Jamison explained.

Another parent shuttled students from the end of the walk along the Rail Trail to the Provincial Park campground where they ate lunch. The students had lots of fun exploring in the wetlands. Jamison said that a highlight was seeing the beaver lodge near the Rail Trail.

“They all enjoyed exploring along the lakeshore and learning more about wetland ecology and how everything in nature is connected. We put the other two duck nesting boxes much higher up to hopefully attract goldeneye ducks — as per Gary Davidson’s expert advice,” said Jamison.