18th Annual Environmental Educators Roundtable 

Please join us for our 18th Annual Environmental Educators Roundtable. This year we are celebrating the International Year of Soils with fun, interactive soil-based workshops! The cost of this event is $25 per person. Registered participants will be able to attend either one 2-hour workshop OR choose two 1-hour workshops from a variety of topics listed below. After reading through the descriptions, go to the Registration Form (Click 'Register Now!') and make your selection. Registration is on a 'first-come-first-served' basis, so register now to ensure availability of your favorite programs!

2 Hour Workshops (4:30-6:30pm):

A. Field Trip - Guided Tour of the SHIP Native Plant Demonstration Gardens presented by Jason Hoger, Michelle Urban and Ben Ackerman of Jakes Branch County Park.  Hop in our van and head to Jakes Branch County Park where you will receive a guided tour of the SHIP (Soil Health Improvement Project) native plant demonstration gardens. Five different gardens highlight healthy turf and practical native landscape options that are low cost, low impact, low maintenance and easy to replicate on your school grounds. Our model "field trip" will demonstrate how to connect the gardens to your environmental education curriculum goals and objectives.

B. Exploring the Pygmy Forest presented by Terry O'Leary of Cedar Hollow Consulting, Naturally! and Bob Birdsall of Birdsall Nature Photography.  Take a virtual field trip to the 4 distinct Pygmy Forest areas, which total 12,000 acres in the heart of the Pine Barrens. Through PowerPoint and story-telling, participants will learn about the contributing factors of infertile acidic soils, persistent winds, fire frequency, and characteristic native plant species. Outline notes and suggested field trip activities for you and your students will be provided.  

1 Hour Workshops:  Offered During Session One (4:30-5:30pm) or Session Two (5:40-6:40pm):

C. Shifting Sands - A Study of Coastal Geomorphology on the Jersey Shore presented by Chris Claus of Cattus Island County Park.  The movement of sand along the New Jersey coast can make or break a beach. The beaches of New Jersey can make or break the economy. Coastal geomorphology is an important area of study. This program will feature a dynamic PowerPoint presentation geared toward grades 5-12. The presentation is created to make the most of PowerPoint graphic animation, rather than text. Participants will receive a copy of the presentation to use in their classroom.

D. What's a Wetland? Learn about the Characteristics that Define this Unique Habitat presented by Pat Heany of Kateri Environmental Center.  Through the use of field studies, story and games we will explore the wonders of the wetland ecosystem. You will learn about soil, vegetation and hydrologic characteristics that help to identify wetlands. This robust program will cross the curriculum to include language arts,  science, history, fine arts and more. Each participant will make-and-take a Munsell soil color chart for identifying hydric soils.

E. Sedimental about Beaches presented by Mindy Voss, Rosemary Higgins and Diana Burich of New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium  Where does sand come from? What is sand made of? How does sand get to the Jersey Shore? Participants will explore these questions through hands-on laboratory activities using microscopes, hand lenses and sand samples from near and far. Make-and-take activities that include sand samples from around the world will be offered. Suggestions on how to start your own sand collection for your classroom will be shared.

1 Hour Workshop (4:30-5:30 ONLY):

F. Get to Know Your Soil: The Information is at your Fingertips for the Resources Beneath your Feet! by Rob Tunstead of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)  Have you met your soil yet? Get to know the soil beneath your feet using fast and easy websites and applications that provide free soil survey maps and information for anywhere on Earth. Participants will walk away with the know-how to access their respective soil survey information for their home address, school location, and any site in the world. This know-how can be applied in the classroom as a lesson plan or homework assignment. Soil survey information can be used to make informed decisions by students and/or parents about home location ownership, septic system limitations, wetland proximity, wet basement and high water table limitations, and more. Participants will be introduced to Web Soil Survey, Google Earth, SoilWeb via Google Maps, and smartphone applications.

1 Hour Workshop (5:40-6:40 ONLY):

G. The Rainfall Simulator: Understanding the Impact of a Rain Drop presented by Eileen Miller of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)  The Rainfall Simulator is a tool that demonstrates water infiltration into soils of similar types but with different land uses. It provides a "seeing is believing" look at how different landuses (suburban lawns, no-till cropland, woodlands and pasture) impact the water cycle. This demonstration highlights land management strategies that increase infiltration and reduce runoff and sedimentation. Topics of discussion will include infiltration, aggregate stability, soil structure, and the relationship of these soil properties to runoff, erosion, and water quality & quantity. This is an interactive outdoor program.

Keynote Speaker, Rob Tunstead of USDA NRCS - "Mapping the Soils Beneath Barnegat Bay"

Have you ever wondered what kinds of (subaerial) soils lie beneath your feet? Rob Tunstead and his fellow scientists at Natural Resources Conservation Service are asking a deeper question: What kinds of soils lie beneath Barnegat Bay? What can these soils tell us about the past, present and future of our watershed? Subaqeous soils in coastal areas like the Jersey Shore connect the upland with the deep water environment. For the last several years, Rob and his NRCS colleagues have been collecting and analyzing subaqueous soil profiles throughout Barnegat Bay and surrounding estuaries, and mapping this underwater area. His work, along with many others', has contributed to the creation of a subaqueous soil survey map, which provides information on the depth, slope, physical and chemical properties of the sediments. This information is useful for aquatic vegetation restoration, shellfish habitat, dredge management, carbon storage capacity, among other applications. The scientific discoveries made are also amazing - several former relic channels have been located on the bottom of Barnegat Bay, as well as several acres of a drowned Atlantic White Cedar forest!

Rob Tunstead has a BS in Soil and Water Resources from the University of Rhode Island. He has been working as a Soil Scientist for over 15 years with Natural Resources Conservation Service on many soil survey projects in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. We are thrilled to have Rob share the work he and others have done on the subaqueous soil survey map of Barnegat Bay.