How do you value nature? Studying natives & invasives at Talbot Elementary
As part of the 5th grade emerald ash borer unit, Talbot students discussed the different ways items are valued, including economic, environmental, educational, cultural, and recreational values to understand the impacts of the invasive emerald ash borer infesting ash trees around the City. Ash trees provide a variety of values including lumber for furniture (economic), habitat for wildlife (environmental), topics for school lessons (educational), basketmaking (cultural), and baseball bats and hockey sticks (recreational). The students then identified ash trees located on the school grounds and measured their diameter at breast height to calculate the annual environmental value individual ash trees provide to the school.
In addition to studying the invasive emerald ash borer, both the Talbot 4th grade and 5th grade students studied native plants and the values they provide to their environment. The 4th graders helped nurture native plants in the school rain garden and the 5th graders helped replace the invasive plants in the school courtyard with native ones.