Fort Stewart Army Base is home to the only remaining documented colony of frosted flatwoods salamandersin Georgia; The only other two groupings of the black-bodied amphibians with mottled bands of silvery white anywhere else on Earth are in Florida, although they once inhabited thousands of wetlands along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. (gpb.org, March 6, 2021)
Research everything you can find on the frosted flatwoods salamander (Ambystoma cingulatum). What does it look like? Use specific adjectives to describe it so that you can identify it if you’re lucky enough to see it in the wild.
What kind of habitat does it need? Does it live near you? What does it eat? What are its life stages?
Vocabulary: Define these terms while doing your research:
Amphibian
Reptile
Cutaneous Respiration
Ectothermic
Endangered Status
Threatened Status
Deforestation
Once you have enough information, go into your backyard or neighborhood and see if the conditions are right for the frosted flatwoods salamander.
This species is unique in Georgia to the Ogeechee River basin and listed as federally threatened conservation status. Why is it threatened? What can we do to protect it?
Submit your ideas and ORK will share with the biologists at Fort Stewart.
Activity is open to all ages and meets the needs or can be combined with other activities for the following Georgia Standards of Excellence: Science
S3L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the similarities and differences between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions (Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau) of Georgia.
S3L2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the effects of pollution (air, land, and water) and humans on the environment.
S4L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.
S4E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to demonstrate the water cycle.
S5L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to group organisms using scientific classification procedures.
S6E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to recognize the significant role of water in Earth processes.
S7L4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to examine the interdependence of organisms with one another and their environments.
WET Educator Workshops are for all K-12 educators in formal or non-formal settings who are interested in using the Project WET water education curriculum with their students.
This activity will show you how to use the scientific method to filter water. *DO NOT drink any of the water in this experiment.*
Before you start this activity, come up with a statement of purpose and hypothesis.
Why is water filtration important?
What materials do you think will filter water the best?
Supplies needed: Different size funnels, coffee filters or cheese cloth, sand, clean rocks, empty bottles, water with a little mud or dirt added.
Set up your station with 3 cups/empty containers.
Put a coffee filter inside of a funnel (try out which size works best) over each cup/empty container.
Add sand to one, clean rocks to another and leave the last one empty.
Try to filter the dirty water through each and discuss your findings.
Which one works the best? Did it match your hypothesis? Do you think plants would help filter it even more? What is the water cycle and which part of it is filtration related to?
Vocabulary:
Riparian Buffer – an area next to a waterway that has natural plant growth. Hypothesis – an educated guess followed by a scientific experiment to test it out. Water Cycle – describes how the water on Earth is always changing forms (solid, liquid, gas) and moving between Earth’s layers.
Activity is open to all ages and meets the needs or can be combined with other activities for the following Georgia Standards of Excellence: Science. Activity can also be used in conjunction with Georgia Project WET activities.
S3L2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the effects of pollution (air, land, and water) and humans on the environment.
S4E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to demonstrate the water cycle.
S6E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to recognize the significant role of water in Earth processes.
WET Educator Workshops are for all K-12 educators in formal or non-formal settings who are interested in using the Project WET water education curriculum with their students.
We are calling on YOU to celebrate Earth Day with us the entire month of April! Come up with creative, fun and effective ways to better your environment and celebrate the Earth.
Here are some of the ways we are celebrating Earth Day :
Friday, April 8, you can find ORK at the Russell Union on GS Statesboro Campus as a part of Southern Sustainability week
Saturday, April 16, ORK will be assisting with a private volunteer cleanup on the Vernon River with Asbury Memorial Church
Saturday, April 23, join our Earth Day community cleanup in the upper watershed
Saturday, April 30, you can find us at Fire Festival at the Mary Kahrs Warnell Forest Education Center in Guyton
Saturday, April 30, we’ll be on the Canoochee River during our first members-only event of the year, alongside guides from Ft. Stewart, we’ll explore the Canoochee from kayaks and canoes.
If you visit us at any of these events, or celebrate Earth Month in some other way, send your photos to info@ogeecheeriverkeeper.org or tag us on social media by April 30.
