SES Students Enjoy the Trailer
On Monday May 2nd the West Virginia Soil Tunnel Trailer visited Sistersville Elementary School. This 18-foot tandem-axle box trailer is a mobile learning unit for soil, water, agriculture specialty crops, and nonpoint source pollution. The unit has sculpted interior walls with the left 16-foot wall serving as the Soil Health Wall, with the right wall serving as an agricultural Specialty Crops Wall. Just 8 feet wide, the trailer packs a lot of visual pop into its rather small area. The back wall of the trailer serves as a soil and water litter and pollution control education wall. The left side of the back wall shows clean water with healthy fish, lily pads, a crawdad and a duck floating from the ceiling. The right side shows the negative effects of litter and contamination, showing sickly wildlife and litter such as a tire, 10-gallon drum, plastic bottles, construction waste and household rubbish. The “pond” sculpture extends from the wall and onto the ceiling, where the duck is swimming and roots from the lily pads hang down. The trailer, stationed in Kanawha County, is a DA-compliant outdoor classroom and available through the West Virginia conservation agency to service all of West Virginia.
Some of the topics of discussion students usually focus on are: what makes up soil and the layers of the soil profile, as well as the organisms in the soil and their benefits to the soil and quality of water; the effects of pollution and litter on fish, plants and wildlife; nonpoint source pollution, which may include illegal dumping; and malfunctioning septic systems, which will ultimately affect the soil and water quality.
The West Virginia Soil Tunnel Trailer is a diverse educational display. “It can allow each person who visits the opportunity to see what they cannot normally see, feel what they would not normally feel and learn what is generally not taught,” explains Aimee Neeley Figgatt, Outreach Specialist, WV Conservation Agency. For more information or to see about scheduling a visit, please contact Aimee at soiltrailer@wvca.us or call 304-957-1400.
The Tyler County Board of Education met in regular session on Monday, May 2nd at 7 p.m. at the board office in ...
Copyright © Tyler Star News | https://www.tylerstarnews.com | 720 Wells Street, Sistersville, WV 26175 | 304-652-4141 | Ogden Newspapers | The Nutting Company