Ridge and Valley Charter School

April 2, 2007

Seven parents and trustees accompanied nine students to Sedge Island for the weekend. Although these are by far the youngest students who come to Sedge (they range in age from four to fourteen) they are some of the most conservation minded. They are comfortable in the outdoors no matter what the weather because many of their school classes are taught outside. They have studied the water cycle and food webs. They all recycle and compost at school and at home.

As a result of the conservation knowledge base, activities at Sedge focus on the specifics of the salt marsh environment. As we kayaked through the mosquito ditches between the osprey nests and the peregrine falcon hacking tower, we discussed the negative impact caused by spraying DDT on the marsh and the success of the efforts by the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife to bring back these threatened and endangered species. One of the parents is the manager of the community based gardening program at Genesis Farm. He especially enjoyed making comparisons between his land farming in Warren County and our aquaculture program at Sedge.