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From YouTube: Buncombe News Update - Environmental Field Day
Description
Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District held an Environmental Field Day on Warren Wilson College property for area fifth graders. Students visited stations that presented macroinvertebrates from Cooperative Extension, water cycle from Montreat College students, soils from NC Department of Agriculture, wildlife/nature from WNC Nature Center, solar from Sundance Power Systems, weather from The Colburn Earth Science Museum and agriculture from Warren Wilson College students. At each station, students learned by playing games and hands-on activities.
A
I'm
renee
rea
with
Buncombe
County,
Soil
and
Water
Conservation
District
each
year
we
sponsor
environmental
field
days
and
we
host
that
for
fifth
graders
with
in
Buncombe
County
and
each
year
we
have
eight
stations,
and
here
today
we
have
a
macro
invertebrate
station
with
Diane
silver
with
Cooperative
Extension.
Next
we
have
the
water
cycle
station
with
Dottie
humans,
montreat
college
students,
and
next
we
have
a
soul
station
with
william
miller,
with
ncda
with
the
souls
department.
We
also
have
wnc
nature
center
here
with
a
wildlife
station.
B
Name
is
Diane
silver
and
I
am
the
mud
creek
watershed
project
coordinator,
which
is
a
watershed
project
aimed
at
cleaning
up.
You
know:
restoring
and
protecting
mud,
the
mud,
creek
watershed
which
is
in
Henderson
County,
but
my
project
is
hosted
by
the
Extension
Service,
so
I'm,
an
extension
agent
and
I
work
in
Buncombe
County
as
well.
So
our
station
here
today
at
the
field
day,
was
on
benthic
macroinvertebrates,
that's
a
big
science
word.
That
means
the
bugs
that
live
in
the
bottom
of
the
stream.
Okay
macro
means
big
enough
to
see
without
a
microscope.
B
Invertebrates
are
insects
and
worms,
and
things
like
that,
as
opposed
to
frogs
and
salamanders
and
things
that
would
have
a
backbone.
Okay.
The
reason
we're
interested
in
these
benthic
macroinvertebrates
is
that
they
are
in
Decatur's
of
how
healthy
a
stream
is.
The
general
idea
is,
if
you
sample
a
stream
system
and
there's
lots
of
things
living
in
that
stream,
then
that
suggests
that
the
stream
is
supporting
all
that
life
right.
B
It's
providing
really
good
habitat,
so
it
suggests
that
it's
a
healthy
stream
if
you
sample-
and
you
don't
find
a
good
diversity
of
organisms,
especially
the
ones
that
are
super
sensitive,
then
that
suggests
that
they've
died
out,
and
that
means
that
the
stream
is
not
supporting
them.
So
it's
an
indicator
that
there
might
be
some
water
quality
problems
that
we
would
want
to
look
into
further.
B
So
it's
kind
of
like
the
canary
in
the
coal
mine
and
it's
a
good
first
first
assessment
before
you
spend
a
lot
of
money,
doing
chemical
monitoring
and
testing
for
other
other
for
metals,
and
things
like
that.
So
it's
also
a
great
activity
for
young
scientists,
because
it's
really
fun
and
cool
to
go
catch
bugs
and
look
at
them.
So
for
the
field
day,
we
didn't
have
a
lot
of
time,
so
we
did
the
sampling
ahead
of
time.
We
take
a
net
like
this.
B
This
is
called
a
kick
net
and
we
just
go
in
the
stream
and
set
it
down
in
the
stream
and
disturb
the
substrate
a
little
bit
just
enough,
so
that
the
current
will
carry
any
critters
into
the
net.
And
then
we
transfer
the
organisms
from
the
net
into
bins.
So
for
our
activity
we
had
stations
set
up
around
with
about
four
students
per
station.
They
each
had
a
little
bin
with
some
bugs
and
we
use
we
use
paintbrushes
so
that
they
don't
damage
the
bugs
as
they
transfer
them.
B
They
get
to
collect
their
bugs
out
of
their
bin
and
put
them
in
an
ice
cube
tray
in
order
to
separate
them
out,
and
then
we
have
a
dichotomous
key.
It's
a
chart
with
a
whole
bunch
of
pictures
on
it,
and
it's
kind
of
like
playing
twenty
questions.
Where
you
say
you
know,
does
it
have
any
legs
or
does
it
not
have
legs?
And
then,
if
it
does,
you
follow
that
path
and
then
there's
another
set
of
questions
and
you
keep
following
through
the
questions
until
you
identify
the
bug
that
you
have.
B
So
that's
all
we
had
time
to
do
today.
If,
if
a
scientist
you
know
with
the
division
of
water
quality,
we're
doing
it,
it
would
be
a
little
bit
more
meticulous,
a
little
bit
more
scientific.
But
it's
a
real
good
introduction
for
the
students
on
how
biologists
do
field
science,
so
we
hope
they're
getting
a
little
bit
of
some
science
in
there
and
also
just
a
really
great
experience
in
the
outdoors
and
interacting
with
the
stream
and
with
wildlife.
And
hopefully
they
come
away.
Feeling
like
science
is
cool.
My.
C
Name
is
Cody
Walker,
I'm
here
with
montreat
college
I'm
environmental
science
major.
We
are
here
to
explain
the
water
cycle
where
it
starts
from
a
lake
and
evaporates
evaporation,
condenses
precipitation
and
all
those
main
terms
that
explain
the
water
cycle
and
our
main
goal
is
to
to
just
get
this
information
to
these
kids
say
it
will
help
them
understand
how
the
ecosystem
works.
I.
D
Learned
a
lot
about
the
water
cycle
like
that
it
starts
out
like
waddle
it
sought
out
like
in
a
lake
and
how
it
gets
evaporated
in
vapor.
Then
it
condenses
into
a
cloud
by
grabbing
on
to
like
dust
and
then
when
the
cloud
gets
heavy
enough,
it
gets
veins
and
then
it
just
start
all
over
again.
My.
E
Name
is
William
Miller
I
work
for
the
North
Carolina
Department
agriculture,
and
I'm
here
at
the
Buncombe
County
Conservation
field
days.
We're
trying
to
teach
kids
a
little
bit
about
resource
conservation
and
I'm
doing
a
solo
station
where
I
press
upon
kids
at
soils
made
up
of
different
sides
through
a
particles
sand
silt
and
clay
that
they
behave
dramatically
differently
and
the
different
implications
as
to
how
those
behave
and
how
that
affects
agriculture
and
and
resource
conservation
erosion,
and
things
like
that.
Dan.
F
Is
the
biggest
fight
a
lot
that
was
the
same
particle
that
will
be
at
still
particle
at
time,
0
dot?
You
can
see
now
be
a
clay
particle.
They
give
you
an
idea
of
how
different
they
are
in
the
sand.
Particle
who
decides
about
Whitney,
so
far,
statue
deliveries
back
on
top
each
other
pipe
artists
will
be
about
six
foot
tall
person.
So
if
we're
all
little
play
particles
right
here,
he's
mound
you
see
behind
you,
they
got
to
be
somewhere
in
between
the
syllabus
and
particle
right
can
be
goal.
Different,
don't
feel
bad.
F
Everybody
always
says
unless
they
already
know
it
white
the
biggest.
This
is
easy.
Look
at
it.
I
can
see
that
this
guy's
job
is
so
easy.
They
didn't
touch
it
that
one
look
full
smaller
sounds
small
I'm
done
my
hands,
aren't
even
dirty
I'm,
good
soil
scientist,
but
I
didn't
give
you
all
the
information.
You
actually
need
it.
What
you're
supposed
to
do
when
you
text
your
knees,
kind
of
rub
your
fingers
in
there
move
them
around
drop
all
the
big
things
that
residue
you're
left
with
those
are
the
individual,
silt
particles.
F
G
We're
talking
a
little
bit
about
food
chains
and
use
this
box
turtle
kind
of
demonstrate
the
way
that
animals
transfer
energy
from
one
level
of
food
chain
to
next
and
the
importance
of
approaching
wildlife
respectfully
so
that
they're
able
to
remain
in
that
food
chain
and
do
the
important
jobs
if
they
do
in
nature.
So
the
food
chain
game
we
play
involves
each
member
of
the
game
being
each
level
of
a
food
chain.
G
So
we
start
with
the
plants
and
everyone's
a
plant
and
they
play
rock
paper
scissors
and
the
winner
of
the
game
moves
up
the
level
of
the
food
chain,
so
the
participants
in
the
game
or
energy
and
they
move
from
one
part
of
a
food
chain
to
the
next
starting
from
plants.
Moving
on
up
through
the
animals.
To
the
very
top,
and
then
they
cycle
back
through
my
name.
H
Is
Erica
Schneider
and
I've
been
spending
this
beautiful
sunny
day
with
5th
graders
here,
Buncombe
County
field
days,
and
my
station
and
challenge
was
to
talk
to
them
about
energy
I
work
for
a
company
called
Sundance
power
systems,
and
we
do
renewable
energy,
primarily
mostly
solar.
But
the
intention
of
being
here
today
and
participating
in
a
shin
is
to
plant
those
seeds
that
will
get
this
generation
looking
at
energy
use,
how
it's
impacting
their
their
lives
and
ensuring
that
we
have
clean,
healthy
sources
of
energy
into
the
future.
H
So
it's
a
real
challenge
to
do
that
in
20
minutes,
but
I
feel
like
it
went
really
well
try
to
create
the
big
picture
of
what
energy
is
and
how
we're
using
it,
and
then
we
primarily
talk
about
our
electrical
energy
use.
First,
many
of
them
it's
a
surprise
to
realize
that
we're
burning
coal,
primarily
in
this
region,
to
generate
electricity,
and
we
talked
briefly
about
the
impacts
of
using
that
as
our
primary
energy
source.
H
Can
we
be
using
the
Sun
were
directly
to
provide
some
of
our
energy,
and
we
saw
that
it's
really
not
difficult
at
all
to
create
hot
water
with
simple
technology,
and
then
my
little
green
dancing
grasshopper
is
about
the
best
tool,
I
know
of
to
see
that
direct
conversion
of
light
into
electricity,
and
they
always
enjoy
that.
So
we
are
seeing
this
transition,
but
I
believe
education
and
sunday
and
straightly
supports
outreach,
even
though
we're
a
small
company,
because
it's
really
critical
to
that
shift
to
clean
energy
for
our
future.
Today's.
I
Theme
was
soil
and
water
conservation,
and
we
were
thinking
about
how
does
whether
and
how
does
the
water
cycle
lead
to
things
like
pollution
and
surface
runoff,
and
how
does
that
lead
to
things
in
our
drinking
water?
We
play
this
fun
interactive
game
where
the
kids
just
think
they're
running
around
having
fun,
but
we're
secretly
sneaking
science
education
into
their
brains.
So
after
they
leave
this
game,
they
realize
that
the
things
they
do
impact
us
now
and
the
things
in
the
future.
The
colburn
earth
science
museum
is
dedicated
to
teaching
small
children
high
level
science.
I
By
the
time
they
become
adults.
They
will
be
very
well
off
in
their
science
literacy
in
science,
education,
because
that
is
becoming
more
and
more
important,
as
our
planet
has
more
and
more
people
on
it.
Understanding.
How
can
we
preserve
and
conserve
our
water
resources
for
the
future
generation,
for
these
kids
and
their
kids
and
their
grandkids,
and
what
might
seem
like
just
a
fun
game
or
fun
afternoon
in
a
field,
might
actually
be
the
day
that
changes
a
kid's
life
and
shows
them
that
we
are
actually
part
of
a
big
global
community.
K
I
learned
today
about
a
lot
about
on
precipitation
and
a
lot
about
clouds
and
weather,
so
I
learned
mostly
how
precipitation
it
it's.
Where
the
am
a
cloud,
it
gets
heavy
enough
and
then
rhythm,
and
then
water,
which
falls
out
of
the
cloud
as
rain
and
goes
in
to
the
soil
and
yeah
and
when
they
own
soil,
has
enough
water
filled.