Headwaters
Lake Lanier Aquatic Learning Center
Thanks to funding from The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and others, UCR purchased and outfitted a 44-person pontoon boat in 2000 that serves as the only floating classroom on Lake Lanier. In the first four years of operation, this highly successful education program has provided hands-on water education activities for more than 10,000 students!
The Lake Lanier Aquatic Learning Center is a partnership between UCR and Elachee Nature Science Center. To sign up for a program, contact Elachee at elachee@elachee.org or call 770-535-1976.
Hispanic Environmental Education
In cooperation with the Gainesville/Hall Boys and Girls Club and the Latin American Association, UCR has created a special river education program for the growing Hispanic community in Hall County. We are currently seeking funding to support this comprehensive after-school program. For more information, contact Darcie Holcomb
Watershed Patch Project
During the 2002-03 school year, UCR offered an educational program based on a modified version of the U.S. EPA’s Girl Scout Water Drop Patch Project, which provides students with an overview of activities that they can do to protect their local waterways. The purpose of the project was to encourage children to:
- Make a difference in their communities by becoming watershed stewards;
- Use their skills and knowledge to educate others in their community about the need to protect the nation’s valuable water resources;
- Explore the natural world to gain an interest in science and math; and
- Use the Internet as a source of information.
Funded by EPA’s Office of Environmental Education as a pilot project, UCR offered the Watershed Patch Program to elementary and middle schools located in the headwaters region of the Chattahoochee River (Habersham, Hall, White, Forsyth and Lumpkin Counties). More than 500 students in grades 4-8 were involved in a year long study on water resources and approximately 2,500 students in 25 schools gained exposure to water quality issues through an informative presentation on the Chattahoochee River and an introduction to the Watershed Patch Project manual and activities. Students participating in this project received a certificate of completion from EPA, depending upon the number of watershed activities the students participate in throughout the school year.
Please also visit these sections:
Riparian Restoration & Education Project/Soque River Restoration Project
What Are Riparian Buffer Zones?
Source Water Protection Program in Habersham County
Biodiversity: Assessment of Threatened Fish Species
West Fork Little River Restoration in Hall County
