Natural Resource Students Create 3-D Habitat Models
The Natural Resource classes have been busy creating a 3-D wildlife habitat models the past week in the Ag. Students from Elgin Public and Pope John are finishing the semester of class by creating a wildlife habitat model in 3-D. The class was given a satellite picture of 40 acres of land somewhere in Nebraska that included a couple of hills, some trees, a creek, cropland, and an old farmstead. The students were to take this land and make it a wildlife “paradise”. The land they created had to include habitat for five required species (deer, turkeys, squirrels, woodpecker, and yellow finches) and five other species found in Nebraska of their choice. The student’s could not alter the creek in anyway but they could change the way the road went and the placing of trees, homestead, and fields. To make it a wildlife paradise the students could add other elements to the model such as ponds, trails, or food plots. Materials that were provided to the students were the styrofoam base, paint and glue. All other materials had to be brought in by the students. Students got creative and brought natural vegetation in from outside, brought toy figures and building blocks from home and some even went so far as to buy animal and structure pieces!
When students finished they had to type a paper about how the land will be utilized to optimize it as a wildlife haven. They answered questions such as what is purpose does the pond serve or why did they select the type of wildlife that they did for their model. The project was fun for both classes as they finally had a chance to get out of the classroom and apply knowledge they had learned over the semester to a hands on project.