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"Haskell Ecology Club" » Lawrence, Kansas
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The Haskell Ecology Club aims to promote ecology opportunities for Native American students. |
Plans for 2008-2009
- Attend scientific conferences with support from the Ecological Society of America
- Website update and improvement with Google Groups activated to enhance member communication
- Plan on improving and resubmitting the special projects grant proposal for re-funding.
- Participation in the American Indian and Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group conference.
- Recruit ecology club students to attend ESA annual meeting in 2009
- Recruit new members (especially freshmen and sophomores)
- Plan more fun field trips – canoeing, camping, etc…
- Continue the annual cleanups and recycling efforts
- Plan and collaborate with the university on installing solar panels on campus buildings
Activities of 2007-2008
- Attended a Special Seminar on Renewable Energy, Food, and Sustainability at KSU (January 8-10, 2008)
- This special seminar included renewable energy and sustainability science with application to food processing and manufacturing.
- Savannah Joe presented a power point of the Four Days of Fall event she coordinates every fall semester (see below and view e-mailed presentation)
- Raelynn Butler gave an informative speech about the Haskell-Baker wetlands
- Organized a bicycle flotilla in cooperation with the Wetlands Preservation Organization (WPO) for the Lawrence Earth Day parade. (April 2008)
- Distributed culturally relevant wetland plant guides to the community. (year-round)
- Members of the club have main responsibility for recycling in many campus buildings. (year-round)
- Members also co-hosted canoe rides and a clean-up day with WPO in the Haskell Baker wetlands (April, 2008 with community, campus and multiple clubs)
- Supported and participated in conferences/workshops on campus such as:
- The Longest Walk Spring 2008
- The mission of the “Longest Walk 2” is to walk across the United States of America for the Seventh Generation and for peace, justice and for the healing of our Mother Earth. The walk began on February 11, 2008 in San Francisco and will end on July 11, 2008 in Washington D.C. The ecology club helped host a dinner, provide lodging and shared stories of environmental justice with participants of the Longest Walk 2.
- Indigenous Empowerment Summit
Spring 2008
- This summit was held on the Haskell campus with support from Indigenous leaders across America. The summit covered all areas of leadership, experience and empowerment. As a club, we were asked to provide an ecological perspective of Indigenous nations. A few members from our club were able to attend the summit and share our ecological perspective with Indigenous leaders.
- EPA Tribal Science Council Face-to-Face Meeting March 31-April 4
- Members of the ecology club participated in this meeting and networked with officials from the EPA
- Workshops on Climate change with the eminent Mervyn Tano
- In February, members of the ecology club participated in two National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) workshops coordinated by Mervyn Tano, President of the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management and attorney. The workshops focused on identifying Tribal interests and concerns for NEPA
- Participated and contributed to the Four days
of fall clean-up event (Fall07)
- This event is held for four days throughout the month of November. The goal of the event is to pick up all the litter throughout campus as well as the wetlands. The event also provides unity among the campus and creates a strong relationship with our local and extended community. After each clean-up event, we have a feast and discuss environmental issues and figure out a plan to tackle those issues.
- Composed and submitted a SEEDS special projects grant proposal. (Feb 08)
- Participated in the Columbus Day Rally in support of indigenous peoples (Fall 08)
- Raelynn Butler attended the SEEDS field trip in Alaska to learn about climate change. (May 2008)
- Held a campus meeting to plan a community native garden project. This involved campus, community, club members, other clubs (fall 2007).
- Trip to Purdue by ecology club members and WPO members to learn about graduate school opportunities in the natural sciences. This trip lead to an internship research opportunity working in a weed science lab for one of our members, Raelynn Butler. (Fall 2007)
Faculty Advisors
- Bridgett Chapin
- Robert Dixon
| "Native American Pathways: Research and Careeers in Ecology, Environmental Science and Conservation" Special Project |
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The purpose of this project was to introduce Native American college students to career and research opportunities in the fields of ecology, environmental science, and conservation. We hosted a two-day workshop - November 11-12, 2005 - on career and research pathways in ecology. The workshop was held in conjunction with the campus-wide activities that were part of Native American Month. For the workshop, Native American scientists provided insight into their professional and research activities. Researchers working in Indian Country discussed their work and highlighted research opportunities/needs on
reservations. Native American community members (elders) discussed traditional sources of ecological knowledge. Native American students (graduate and undergraduate) from other college campuses were offered the opportunity to contribute poster or oral presentations.
"Reptile Ecology Field Research" Special Project |
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With science students completing their bachelor's degree at Haskell, there is a need to develop and offer students opportunities for advanced study and research experience. This project supported students as research assistants in ecological field research. Four students from the spring 2004 seminar course in reptile ecology accompanied Dr. Eifler to Mexico for two weeks and conducted a study of age and gender differences in the ecology and behavior of the zebra-tailed lizard, Callisaurus draconoides. They were also able to devote some time to exploring the natural history of the study area, as well as visiting the local native peoples. Upon returning to Kansas, the students analyzed their data and used some of it to produce a poster for an end-of-the-year poster session sponsored by the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University.