Documents — Schoolyard LTER (SLTER) Proposals

The Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) LTER program is in its first year of funding, and thus we propose to use this supplemental request to begin our Schoolyard LTER program. The Schoolyard LTER program is currently the cornerstone and focus of our education and outreach efforts, and the 3 coordinating Principal Investigators of this request are the FCE Education and Outreach Working Group.

Ecological Education in the Coweeta LTER Program: Supplement to Grant DEB-96-32854. Submitted to National Science Foundation on 28 January 2000. Edited 22 January 2001

The Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Program recently began its fourth full funding cycle. Administration of the program has returned to New Mexico State University in 2000 after a number of years of leadership by Duke University scientists. Our focus on desertification processes in the Chihuahuan region is increasingly relevant to human concerns in the area, as the population grows, land uses change, and pressures on natural resources intensify.

Supplemental Proposal for Schoolyard LTER program to NSF DEB-9211776 for FY2001 The Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research Program 1998-20004: Control on the Structure, Function and Interactions of Alpine and Subalpine Ecosystems of the Colorado Front Range.

A long-term partnership among area science teachers, KBS LTER scientists, and MSU College of Education faculty to enhance the content and delivery of Michigan’s K-12 science curriculum.

From an initial collaboration sparked with 12 schools in 1998, the CAP LTER Ecology Explorers program has expanded to include 29 schools and 41 teachers drawn from elementary, middle, and high schools. Two previous Schoolyard LTER Supplements have supported popular summer workshops and internships that engage numerous teachers in our schoolyard sampling protocols for the vegetation survey, ground arthropod investigation, bird survey, plant/insect interaction study, and the canal sampling study.

Request for Konza Prairie Schoolyard LTER Supplement. The Konza Prairie Schoolyard LTER (SLTER) program was initiated with supplemental funding from the LTER Program in 1998. Prior to this, the Konza Environmental Education Program (KEEP) had not included data collection activities for K-12 students, although the local school districts were taking advantage of the site to learn about the tallgrass prairie and the research projects carried out there.

Request for Supplemental Funds for the McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER (OPP-0096250) Schoolyard SLTER Program.

The first three years of Schoolyard LTER activities associated with the Andrews LTER Program have gone well. We continue to expand our efforts with leveraged support from several Oregon school districts and an Oregon State University-based K-12 program (SMILE).

With this letter, we request Supplemental Funding for two undergraduate REU students and for the continuation of our Schoolyard LTER (SLTER) education program. This would be a supplement to LTER grant DEB-0080609 to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

This proposal is a supplement to the original LTER Palmer proposal (Smith et al., 1996) and, as with past supplements, incorporates Antarctic marine science and emphasizes the concept of long term research.

SUPPLEMENT REQUEST FOR THE SEVILLETA LTER PROGRAM Dr. James R. Gosz, P.I. Department of Biology, University of New Mexico Supplement to Sevilleta LTER Grant, NSF DEB 0080529 SEVILLETA SCHOOLYARD LTER – BOSQUE ECOSYSTEM

We appreciate the opportunity to upgrade and expand our research instrumentation. The proposed equipment will allow us (a) to monitor the effects of livestock grazing on net primary production on a daily or even shorter basis, (b) to expand our network of precipitation measurements for better accounting of subregional variability, and (c) to replace necessary laboratory equipment used to process samples for long-term datasets. In addition, we request funding (d) to support greater involvement by Susan Stafford for development of a long-term plan for data management at SGS-LTER.

Prior to the initiation of the SLTER Program, the VCR LTER was involved with informal, ad hoc activities oriented toward the enhancement of k-12 education with a focus at the high school level. The SLTER Program has allowed for this effort to take on a more formal approach, and has been very successful to date…

In the fall of 1998, we began a pilot partnership with two schools, Arbor Vitae-Woodruff School in Vilas County near our Trout Lake Station, and Country View School in Dane County, which is where our southern Wisconsin sampling sites are located. By the end of the 1998-99 school year, we had accomplished the following goals.

Schoolyard LTER Supplement 9900 – Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research Education Plan Development in Support of Schoolyard LTERs Raymond C. Smith, PI and Karen S. Baker, Co-PI 1.0 Introduction This proposal is a supplement to the original LTER Palmer proposal (Smith et al., 1996) and, as with our 1998-99 and 1999-2000 LTER Schoolyard Supplements, incorporates Antarctic marine science and emphasizes the concept of long term research.

The National Science Foundation recently requested proposals for supplements to existing Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) programs for the purpose of establishing T1 connectivity to field stations that serve the LTER programs. As part of these supplement requests, LTER sites were invited to establish similar levels of connectivity at associated Schoolyard LTER (SLTER) sites. Twelve sites requested funds to improve connectivity to 20 secondary schools affiliated with LTER sites.

Update on previous support: Environmental education and outreach activities are woven throughout the CAP LTER project.

Schoolyard LTER Supplement – Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research Education Plan Development in Support of Schoolyard LTERs Raymond C. Smith, PI and Karen S. Baker, Co-PI – 12 March 99 1.0 Introduction This proposal is a supplement to the original LTER Palmer proposal (Smith et al., 1996) and, as with our 1998-99 LTER Schoolyard Supplement, incorporates Antarctic marine science and emphasizes the value of long term research.

Palmer LTER Schoolyard Supplement Request – 16 July 1998 Raymond C. Smith, PI 1.0 Introduction This proposal is a supplement to the original LTER PAL proposal (Smith et al., 1996). Consequently, the scientific details, hypotheses and goals articulated in that document are not reiterated here. This supplemental proposal requests funds to interact with several local schools to stimulate the development of schoolyard LTERs.