Projects
Signup for Summer '08 - please download and mailin a signup form and indicate which group you are interested in joining, or ask for more information.
Summer '08 Projects
Wetland Monitoring
Wetland Monitoring is a project now entering its fourth year.Students monitor 7 area wetland sites and collect data for the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Wetlands Restoration Program managed by Tim Smith of CZM.
CSCR students and staff monitor sites located in Marshfield, Scituate, Hingham (2 sites), Hull, and Cohasset. Monitoring data includes vegetation studies, salinity readings, fish analyses, and bird observations.
Cohasset Harbor Study, EOEA Summer ’07 project, part II
This project will begin with an analysis of last summer’s work.The project is intended for those students who worked on the study last summer.
Finalizing last year’s results and designing the summer ’08 study is the focus of this project.
Parker Ave "Cut" Monitoring
The Parker Ave cut is a narrow tidal creek connecting Baily’s Creek (Cohasset Harbor) with the Gulf River.Unfortunately, the daily tidal flushing in this small waterbody is severely restricted by a collapsed culvert and invading phragmites. Consequently, it is a suspected source of bacterial contamination to the very popular Bassings Beach.
This study is geared to provide the Cohasset Harbor Health Committee and Conservation Committee with data needed to track ecosystem restoration.
As this project progresses, students will combine bacteriology studies and wetland monitoring protocols to provide town officials with a more complete understanding of the current health of this fragile system within Cohasset Harbor. Post-culvert monitoring will become critical to this study, as successive years of data should document improvements to the system once the culvert is rebuilt and tidal flushing is improved.
Board of Health Beaches study
This project is in its second year.Last year CSCR students demonstrated that CSCR student data compares favorably to data produced by a professional lab. During Summer ’08, students will once again collect bacteria samples at 6 different swimming beaches in Cohasset and split samples with G and L Labs, Quincy, Ma. Students will again statistically compare CSCR student results with those of G and L.
Stormwater (Non Point Source) Pollution Assessment
This project focuses exclusively on measuring the impact of storm water that flows into Cohasset Harbor and into Little Harbor.It is a project that will be undertaken in collaboration with town boards and with local professional engineers.
Students will submit their findings to the Cohasset Board of Health, Cohasset Stormwater Committee, Habor Health Committee, DEP, EOEA, and CZM.
Junior Marsh Monitors, Mac Haran (various terms throughout the year)
This is a brand new initiative developed by wetland monitoring faculty leader, Mac Haran, and her students.Team Haran’s goal is to introduce the importance of marshes and associated monitoring techniques to a small group of 4th and 5th graders in order to impress upon them the values associated with this habitat and thereby transform the youngsters into active stewards of the environment and future CSCR research leaders.
Team Haran’s curriculum for this group is aligned with the Mass Dept of Ed Science Frameworks, an added bonus for the participants!
Treats Pond (Tentative)
Treats Pond is the focus of considerable attention in town, as various groups of residents consider how best to ensure a healthy Pond habitat while simultaneously improving outfall flow to the coast and stormwater management.Some in town see Treats Pond as a salt marsh in need of restoration and improved tidal flushing, while others in town see the Pond as a fragile fresh water system in need of protection from saltwater and stormwater infiltration.
Due to CSCR’s previous successes in providing the town with data, CSCR students have been asked to collect some basic water quality measurements in this system. Working alongside community activists, experienced CSCR students have begun an investigation.
Though perspectives about Treats Pond differ greatly among many of the residents actively working to find a solution to this habitat management problem, it is a widely held view in town that CSCR students can contribute significantly to a better understanding of the habitat.
Throughout the year
Seeing the world through GIS
Jared Stabach, Woods Hole Research Center, GIS specialist.GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems. All professional environmental scientists today display their findings in GIS formats. GIS is cutting-edge technology used to present information to others so that they can better “see” and understand their world- and it’s a wicked cool technology available to students through the Watershed Academy.
There are so many reasons for students to
be attracted to this class.
The lead instructor,
Jared Stabach, is a Woods Hole researcher with
expertise in applying GIS technology on a global
basis to help conservationists save endangered
animals. Students will learn the computer mapping
technology that gives them the tools to present
to the community a set of pictures, or maps,
that explains what we know about our coastal
ecosystem- maps that tell us where pollution
is a concern, maps that tell us why a problem
exists, and maps that inform us about how to
act for the future.
Watershed Academy, CSCR staff
This is an after school and evening program to begin in September, 2007.The Academy is a Microsoft grant-funded program that will teach students all of the skills associated with CSCR research projects and provide opportunities for Summer Institute students to advance or complete research conducted in June, July, and August.
Students will learn GIS computer mapping and data presentation skills. Additionally, global literacy and citizenship will be further examined in the context of connecting students in Cohasset with peers in the Student Partners Project (www.studentpartnersproject.org)