GPS Units Coming to Ashley Ridge High School

Ashley Ridge High School has received a grant from Lowcountry Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) to purchase six or more global positioning system (GPS) units.  Students will be able to use the GPS units to capture latitude/longitude coordinates for points of interest along the nature trail, including the abundant wildlife they encounter, or habitat enhancement sites they create.  Bill Salisbury, representing Dorchester County, presented the check to the grant writers Amy Litz,  Jerry Kociuruba, and Natalie Tarpein after taking a quick tour of the nature trail to see the many possibilities for integrating the GPS technology into the biology and environmental sciences classes.

(l to r) Natalie Tarpein, Bill Salisbury, Jerry Kociuruba, Amy Litz on nature trail

Over the last two years, students in the environmental science and AP biology classes have received GPS training (see Summerville Journal Scene article) as well as geographic information systems (GIS) training, which they used to create maps with the GPS data they had collected.  The training and GPS units used were provided by the education department at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest and had been purchased with a grant from the South Carolina Geographic Alliance.

As an organization, Lowcountry RC&D sells year-old seed to individuals who wish to plant feed plots for wildlife.  Any profits are distributed to projects aimed at teaching students about the environment.   Previous Lowcountry RC&D grants to the education department at Francis Beidler Forest have gone toward the purchase of iPod Touches and binoculars (see below), which also have been used with ARHS students during various on-campus visits.

Ms. Tarpein and class learning birding basics

Geography is everywhere!  Thanks to Lowcountry RC&D, students at Ashley Ridge High School have some new tools to help them explore, map, and understand their environment.

Beidler Forest Hotspot

The Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest is an eBird hotspot!  From the eBird webpage:  A real-time, online checklist program, eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird provides rich data sources for basic information on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of spatial and temporal scales.


eBird documents the presence or absence of species, as well as bird abundance through checklist data. A simple and intuitive web-interface engages tens of thousands of participants to submit their observations or view results via interactive queries into the eBird database. eBird encourages users to participate by providing Internet tools that maintain their personal bird records and enable them to visualize data with interactive maps, graphs, and bar charts. All these features are available in English, Spanish, and French. A birder simply enters when, where, and how they went birding, then fills out a checklist of all the birds seen and heard during the outing.

You can record your bird sightings anywhere you travel.  If you are someplace new or visiting your favorite old-growth swamp, you can use the eBird option on the Audubon Birds app.  The eBird option allows you to see what birds are being reported near your location, especially at hotspot locations.  If you are in our area, the Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center & Sanctuary is designated as a hotspot.  A quick look at the bar chart shows how abundant a species of bird is at Beidler Forest and when that species is present.  For example, in the images below, Carolina Wrens are frequently seen throughout the year, while Prothonotary Warblers are abundant when present from the end of March to September.

The Christmas Bird Count for Four Holes Swamp will be held on Monday, December 19th.  We can still use you help counting birds!  Call 843-462-2150 to join the count!

Expeditions with Patrick McMillan will feature Francis Beidler Forest at 7:00 pm (new time) on January 1, 2012.  With plenty of distractions on New Year's Day, we understand if you record the show for later viewing!  We have yet to see any of the video, but we were there live when it was captured and you won't want to miss what we experienced.  It was a typical day in the swamp, but typical here is always magical!

Images by Mark Musselman

Fun With a GPS Receiver

On Saturday, we presented at the South Carolina Geographic Alliance's Geofest 42.  Before meeting the teachers in the computer lab, we took our GPS receiver and walked across the street to the top of the parking garage.  Our mission was to walk a specific route with the GPS receiver's track feature turned on thereby creating a piece of art.  Our message was quite simple, but its creation was not without incident.  The campus police, likely called by someone observing from a nearby tall building, stopped by to see if I was in need of any help.  "No, thank you. We're hosting a geography workshop and I'm doing some geography."  The officer said, "Well have a nice day."...and we did!

Penn State University has posted a video series (episode one) entitled Geospatial Revolution that discusses some of what we covered in our presentation and what we can provided as part of the education program at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest.

Geographic Technology & SC Teachers

Tomorrow, the education department at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest will be making a "Geographic Technology:  GPS, GIS, & iPod Touch" presentation at the South Carolina Geographic Alliance's Geofest 42.  Teachers will be introduced to the technologies, including learning how to navigate with a GPS unit, learning how to create basic maps using free online software, and how to integrate iPod Touch devices into educational programs.


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A demonstration map for Geofest 42



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The watershed basins of South Carolina using data downloaded from the USC Geography Department GIS webpage.

Beyond our free boardwalk-specific app, we are using our 20 iPod Touches in a variety of ways.  We can tailor the use of the iPod Touch to any topic you wish to cover during a visit to the old-growth swamp!

Maps by Mark Musselman

iPods on the Boardwalk

Over the last two days, Knightsville Elementary School's 4th graders visited the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest and they brought along some of their iPod Touches.

Using fundsfrom a South Carolina Geographic Alliance (SCGA) grant, we purchased two iPod Touches and accessories. With the two iPod Touches brought by the school, each of the four groups had an iPod Touch as they rotated through the animal (mammal) track activity, an iPod bird call activity and the tour around the 1.75-mile boardwalk. Additionally, two groups used our Flip video cameras to record their experiences in the swamp.

During the animal track identification activity, students used the paper track identification sheet, but also had the option of using the iPod Touch to peruse the various animal track drawings. Images of each animal appeared next to the appropriate track drawing. Even on the best of days, which would not describe either of these two cold, damp days, mammals are not likely to be seen during a walk around the boardwalk. Gray Squirrels are plentiful, but the other mammals (Raccoon, Opossum, Bobcat, Gray Fox, River Otter, White-tailed Deer, Coyote, Beaver, Marsh Rabbit, Feral Hog, rodents, and recently-arrived Nine-banded Armadillo) are mainly nocturnal, secretive, or sufficiently alert to move away from the boardwalk when humans approach. The image of a track and scat was at the Black Bear stop. Although Black Bears are not known to be in Four Holes Swamp, they are in the nearby Francis Marion National Forest and one was hit on I-26 near Jedburg several years ago.

A bird calling station was set up in each of the rain shelters along the boardwalk with each group stopping at one of the stations. Speakers, published bird field guides, Beidler Forest-specific field guides, and other bird identification-related materials were staged at the rain shelters. Using the iPod Touch and speakers, students played an Eastern Screech Owl call attract other bird species within range for visible inspection. Students could use the six S's to narrow the bird species possibilities. Additionally, our two iPod Touch devices contained the National Audubon Society bird field guide app that provided images, content plus a variety of audio for each bird. Once the coding issue is resolved for our Beidler Forest boardwalk-specific app, the same information will be available for use by students and other visitors without the clutter of plants and animals not present or likely to be seen along the boardwalk.

During the tour around the boardwalk, students accessed the extensive library of images showing plants, animals, and maps (boardwalk, watershed boundary, Beidler Forest boundary). With the poor weather and time of year, many animals were not present or not visible. However, as we talked about animals or as students asked questions, the student with the iPod Touch could be tasked with finding an appropriate image to share with the group.

Having the images, content and other data available on the boardwalk when the questions are being asked or the students are looking at the plant, animal, or habitat is a powerful learning tool. It is our desire to obtain additional iPod Touch devices so that we have an iPod for every four students.

Images by Mark Musselman