The Beach
Our spring beach trip is a two-day excursion to explore the biodiversity and habitats of the coastal environment. This trip is often considered to be one of the best by our past students, so we encourage our new students to sign up!
Our stops include the Croatan National Forest, where we can observe a coastal swamp habitat with stands of long-leaf pine and an ongoing recovery program for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. We visit the tidal flats and salt marshes on Bogue Inlet, accompanied by a biologist from the Maritime Museum who helps us collect various marine organisms for the students to observe. In Beaufort, we take a ferry over to the Rachel Carson Reserve, a part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. While studying the local ecology, students get to conduct water quality tests (nitrates, phosphates, conductivity, pH, salinity, temperature, etc.) with the equipment we'll bring. We also take a Catamaran cruise out toward Shackleford Banks and into the sound, hopefully to spot some dolphins. Other stops include:
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In the fall, we take a 1/2-day trip to Eno River State Park, where students hone their water sampling and analysis skills. Students learn how to determine river velocity and volume of flow; they test the river water for nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, temperature, salinity, pH, hardness, dissolved oxygen, and biological oxygen demand. They also use a net to catch various freshwater species and conduct a macroinvertebrate study.
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