Current members and graduates not yet at college converged to
remove trash and tires from a wooded area just outside sunset marina.
May 2008
7th and 8th State Envirothon
The third and final year for the all senior team. Despite
being
held in a very hectic time of year and the replacement off the very
talented Hannah Mattison, Rocky put forward their best performance yet.
They got second in the recreational impacts category missing first by
1.5 points on a 100 point scare, and also got second on their
presentation missing first by .75 points on a 100 point scale.
The
other categories had strong performances as well. Overall we got third
place in the entire state, a new record from our region. And with
underclassmen that are already outscoring the seniors at regionals, I
have high hopes for future teams.
24th Rain Garden Seeding
A group of E.A.C. volunteers teamed up with a local group
of the Natural
Area Guardians to seed a newly added rain garden at Black Hawk State
Park. Because of recent heavy rain we could only prepare the perimeter
by raking, spreading seed, and covering it with straw mats. We also
removed debris from the adjacent forest to help the new seeds grow. The
rain garden will play a key role in absorbing runoff from the parking
lot and preventing erosion downstream in the park.
April 2008
8th Regional Envirothon
This year Rock Island High School entered 5 teams for a
total of 25 people. For the third year in a row Rock
Islands team took first place and advanced to the state level. The
winning team achieved top scores in Aquatics and Recreational Impacts.
Another Rock Island team achieved the top score in the soils category.
February 2008
IMAX Film:: The Alps
22nd Rock Island "Green Team" Conference
The city of Rock Island formed a panel of people to pursue
environmental initiatives in the city. Six representitives of the
Environmental Action Club attended a meeting to learn about new
programs and make suggestions.New computer policies to reduce power
consumption and green roofs were among the topics discussed. However,
the main issue was the banning of leaf burning in Rock Island starting
in fall of 2008. The main issue preventing it was people who physcially
could not bag leaves themselves and could not afford to hire it done.
E.A.C.students suggested contacting many service organizations within
the high school, and of course pledged their full support.
January 2008
12th and 13th Bald Eagle Days
Many members volunteered at the annual Bald Eagle Days
festivle.
They sold posters of wildlife to support E.A.C. We would like
to
thank those that purchased posters and especially those that made
donations.
30th Bald Eagle Watching
Bob Motz took E.A.C. students eagle watching. With his
skill and equipment we got a whole new view of the eagle.
December 2007
8th Cross Country Skiing
Several members recieved a lesson in cross country skiing
and
thanks to some recent snowfall, were able to try out their new skill.
November 2007
3rd Black Hawk State Park Maintenance
Several members teamed up with local volunteers to clear
away
brush that was interfering with the native wildlife's habitat.
15th Recycling Bin Labeling
10 students worked together after school to tape labels to
over
700 bins in just over 2 hours. The bins are for distribution to local
schools interested in starting a recycling program.
October 2007
7th Niabi Zoo
Over our school's fall break a few members went to Niabi
Zoo to
get an up close view of some animals and to see the new giraffe section.
September 2007
3rd Labor Day Parade
A dozen members represented E.A.C. in the annual Rock
Island Labor Day Parade.
21st Clean Coal Petition
Eight members collected signatures on a letter to our
representative in Congress urging support of clean coal technology.
25th Recycling Conference
Members Jennelle Black, Erin Gehn, Emily Marzolph, Ryan
Noe, and Mia
Schoeneman, attended a regional recycling
conference to tell other schools how we started a recycling program and
how we manage it.
28th Rocky Homecoming Parade
E.A.C. marched in Rocky's annual Homecoming Parade.
30th Canoing
We had an excellent turnout to go canoing on the Wapsi
River.
Despite most of us having no canoe experience, only 1 canoe flipped
over. After 8 miles of paddling we were all ready for a nap.
August 2007
18th
X-Stream Clean Up
This year our site was Vanderduff Park. A dozen members
made short
work of removing a mountain of trash from banks of the Rock River.
July 2007
30th Recycling Container Preparation
Members worked together to repaint our aluminum can
containers and add labels to our newly acquired paper containers.
E.A.C.'s winning Envirothon team competed at the state
level
against the top 15 teams in the state. Despite much harder test, we
received 5th place overall.
The Environmental Action Club has had a booth at Bald Eagle
Days for
some time now but only recently has started selling posters to
support the club. This year we also sold coffee for the Costa Rica Trip.
Students helped out in two hour shifts.
Environmental Action Club helped Living Lands &
Waters along
with
various other organizations plant trees in a recent suburban
development. The trees were only two feet tall, but there was over one
hundred of them. We also put mulch around the base of every tree to
protect it.
The Environmental Action Club went on the Living Lands
& Waters
Barge to learn about their efforts. There we met some of the crew
members that make the X-Stream Clean Up and other projects possible. We
also learned more than we ever wanted to know about the reproduction of
mussels.
The Environmental Action Club helped Living Lands &
Waters haul
away small Honey Suckle trees. Honey Suckle is an invasive species that
had dominated over half the island. For several years the Army Corps of
Engineers has been working to remove it and they are nearly done.
Because of safety concerns the Corps of Engineers had cut the trees
down and put herbicide on the stumps, but the trees needed to be
carried by us to the trail where they could be chipped.
Five members of the E.A.C. advanced to compete at the state
level. We took fifth place overall and tied for first in the current
environmental issue category.
Nahant Marsh Clean Up
The E.A.C. joined many community members to clean up
portions of Nahant Marsh.
On this visit, the Environmental Action Club
performed maintenance on the prairie such as weeding and cutting down
and hauling away trees that would damage the prairie.
Our site was the east side
of Sunset
Marina. Here we removed piles of trash from the woods. The
clean
ups appear to be helping because there were fewer large items this year
as opposed to just one year ago.
