Environmental Education

Master at Work — Master Naturalist program graduate Charles Brenke of Vancleave teaches Oak Park Elementary students how to recognize trees by their leaves during a field trip to Gulf Islands National Seashore Park in Ocean Springs.

Mississippi Master Naturalists

The innovative Master Naturalists training program provides competent instructors to assist teachers, youth groups and community organizations with the ever-growing environmental education efforts in South Mississippi. Estuarine Ecologist Dr. Mark LaSalle, with Audubon Mississippi's Moss Point Field Office, instructs the curriculum and hands-on training program.

In 1998, Chevron funded the Master Naturalist pilot program that established the Gulf Coast Region Master Naturalists group.

Due to the success of the Master Naturalist program on the Gulf Coast, the program expanded into other areas of the state. The Delta Region Master Naturalist group was established in 2001.

Since the training program began in 1998, the Master Naturalist program has established a pool of knowledgeable individuals who complement the abilities of the Extension Service and other organizations to deliver quality environmental education programs. These trained volunteers have assisted with a wide variety of educational programs and initiated a number of community projects.

As nature tour guides, these Master Naturalists have led children and adults through a wide range of natural habitats from long-leaf forests to wet pine savannas, sharing their knowledge about plants and animals that live there, as well as the importance of seeking a balance between utilization and conservation of natural resources.

As instructors, they have shared details of how people must be good stewards of the land through wise use of resources and recognition that we are part of the natural world around us.

Also, as environmental education leaders in their communities, they have initiated development of several nature trails associated with area schools and communities that will increase future environmental education opportunities.

For more information on the course, contact Dr. Mark LaSalle in Audubon's coastal office in Moss Point at 228-475-0825, or mlasalle@audubon.org

Teacher’s Workshop — Audubon Mississippi's Dr. Mark LaSalle (front) helps teachers identify tidal marsh animals and plants during a session of Chevron's Teachers' Coastal Wetlands Diversity Workshop.

Teachers’ Coastal Wetlands Diversity Workshop

Since 1995, Chevron has sponsored an annual Coastal Wetlands Diversity Workshop for 15 teachers from the four public school systems in Jackson County. Estuarine Ecologist Dr. Mark LaSalle, with Audubon Mississippi's Coastal Field office in Moss Point, instructs the five-day, hands-on workshop.

As part of the course, teachers create lesson plans based on the Mississippi Education Department accredited course and pass on what they learn about coastal wetlands to their students in grades K-12.

Local teachers apply, through the administrative offices at their respective schools, each May for the annual workshop.

Mississippi Envirothon

Chevron partners with the Mississippi Soil & Water Conservation Commission to sponsor the statewide Mississippi Envirothon, the state’s largest environmental education program for high school students. Affiliated with the National Envirothon program, Mississippi Envirothon is designed to educate and challenge high school students in the environmental sciences.

Combining in-class curriculum with hands-on field experiences, the program shows the students the important roles people play in today’s environmental issues such as forestry, wildlife management, and water quality and soil erosion.

After classroom and hands-on study, five-member high school Envirothon teams compete at the area level, with winning teams advancing to the state level. Chevron sponsors local and state level competition in Mississippi. The state winner participates in national Envirothon competition.

For information on how to organize an Envirothon Team, visit the Mississippi Envirothon website at
http://www.mswcc.state.ms.us/

Mississippi Audubon's Great Backyard Bird Count

Chevron partners with Audubon Mississippi to bring the National Audubon Society's annual Great Backyard Bird Count to hundreds of classrooms throughout Mississippi. The Great Backyard Bird Count, held each year nationwide in February, helps scientists track the abundance and distribution of North America's winter birds.

The Mississippi Great Backyard Bird Count Classroom Activity Kit is a CD provided free of charge to 2,000 K-12 teachers throughout Mississippi. The kit is designed to help teachers engage their students in environmental education projects using common, backyard birds.

Participants spend at least a few minutes over the course of Bird Count weekend identifying and counting the birds in their backyards and/or local parks, and then enters the information into an online database at this link: http://www.birdsource.org/

To obtain the Mississippi Classroom Activity Kit, contact Audubon Mississippi's Central State Office in Vicksburg at 601-661-6189, or Dr. Mark LaSalle in Audubon's coastal office in Moss Point at 228-475-0825, or mlasalle@audubon.org

In the spring or fall of each year, employees and Chevron friends and family clean more than 8 miles of beach on Petit Bois, Horn and Sand Islands.

Mississippi Coastal Cleanup

Partnering with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and numerous other government agencies, environmental groups and businesses, Chevron sponsors the annual Mississippi Coastal Cleanup in Jackson, Harrison and Hancock counties. The event raises awareness and educates the public on the detrimental effects of marine debris on marine and coastal wildlife.

Held in conjunction with the worldwide Coastal Cleanup sponsored by the Ocean Conservancy, the annual event draws over 4,000 volunteers from the tri-county area. As a major sponsor, Chevron and its Pascagoula Refinery provide funding for an appreciation gift for each volunteer.

The coast-wide event is organized by the Mississippi Coastal Marine Debris Task Force, of which Chevron’s Mississippi Public & Governmental Affairs Office is a founding member.

For more information on the Mississippi Coastal Cleanup, visit this link www.coastalcleanup.ms.gov

Conservation Field Day

Chevron partners with the Jackson County Soil & Water Conservation District to sponsor the annual Conservation Field Day for all 5th grade students in Jackson County.

At the two-day event staged on the grounds of Shepard State Park in Gautier, students tour the park’s nature trail with a Master Naturalist guide and “visit” environmental education stations where they learn about such subjects as recycling and soil conservation.

Contact the Jackson County Soil & Water Conservation District Director Kathy Hamrick at (228) 826-2482 for further information.

Brackish Marsh – Mississippi Museum of Natural Science visitors view the live striped mullet, marsh fiddler crabs, and Sheepshead minnows in Chevron’s exhibit.

Mississippi Museum of Natural Science

Mississippi’s impressive 73,000-sq.-ft. Museum of Natural Science is recognized as the Southeast’s premier environmental education facility. Dedicated in March 2000, the $18 million modern museum is located on 300 acres inside of LeFleur’s Bluff State Park adjacent to the Pearl River in Jackson.

Chevron's $50,000 sponsorship of the facility's brackish marsh exhibit was part of the private sector's $1.6 million contribution that was combined with $16 million in state funds to construct the museum. Chevron's exhibit is part of the museum's system of 20 aquariums that hold 100,000 gallons of water and 200 species of native fishes, reptiles, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates.

Visit the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science web site at http://www.mdwfp.com/museum/default.asp 

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