Original images from John Rudolph, East High School [Image Description] Yellow text reads “Welcome to the Duluth East Outdoor Classroom And Wildlife Sanctuary 11/16/17.” Two multi-signposts on either side of the image with a grassy area and track field in the background. On the left, a blurred wooden four-sign post with natural resource logos and text. The bottom sign displays the Conservation Corps logo. On the right, a metal three-sign post. Top sign is white and reads “Minnesota School Forest” with an image of trees sprouting out of an open book. Below, a two-tone green sign that reads “Certified Wildlife Habitat” with blurred text underneath. The third bottom sign is lime green and reads “Certified Schoolyard Habitats Site” with the outline of a dark green tree in the background.[Image Description] Vertically split image with a photo of a wooden multi-sign post on the left and bulleted text on the right. The wooden signpost is the same from the image above. Yellow text with a bright green background titled “We thank our partners!” and divided into two sections: “CTE Courses” and “Financial” both with corresponding organizations underneath. Under “CTE Courses”: Forestry, Fish and Wildlife Management; Plant Science; and Manufacturing Tech. Under “Financial”: Duluth East High School Foundation; MN Department of Natural Resources; Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund; and Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa.[Image Description] View from behind an outdoor classroom on a hillside. Yellow text and arrows point to key elements of the space. “Bat house”, “Suet Blocks” and “Trail cam” point to those hard-to-see objects in the trees. “Bird Feeders” appears between two feeders on posts at the front of the classroom with a flowing creek in the background. “Seating for 48 students” appears beneath red bleacher-style seating leading up the hill in the foreground.[Image Description] Alternative view in front of classroom looking uphill at red bleachers. Yellow text “Bird Feeders” and “Wildlife Brush Pile” point to those respective features in the treeline near the top of the image. Red bleacher rows have large stone rows running parallel behind them to prevent erosion.[Image Description] Vertically split image with a close-up of a trail camera hung on a tree with branches growing in all directions on the left. Yellow text on the left reads “One of Three Trail Cameras” on a bright green background.[Image Description] Yellow heading reads “Awesome Job FFWM Students and Conservation Corps”. Subheading reads “Minnesota and Iowa”. Text appears on top of image with a view of the classroom.A new outdoor classroom is open for business! Several partners including; Duluth East High School Foundation, the MN DNR, the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund and Conservation Corps came together to build an outdoor classroom and wildlife sanctuary. Our Youth Outdoors School and Community Forest Crew worked hard to help create a space for students of Duluth East High School to engage in outdoor learning.
Features of the classroom include seating for 48 students, bird feeders, suet blocks, a bat house and 3 trail cameras. In order to get the classroom ready for students, crews spread 10 yards of class 5 gravel along the path and across the seating area, installed a very simple step system using boulders and class 5, erected a 4×4 and chain railing system to aid movement up and down the hillside, and we began to create a trail leading to the Eagle’s nest.
The work will not stop here, however. Future plans include building a simple bridge across the creek, extending the trail from the bridge to the Eagles nest and completing maintenance on the trail built last year. The class will also be concentrating on invasives, mostly buckthorn.
“Working with Conservation Corps Minnesota and Iowa was a major factor in the success of our project. CCMI foreman Nick Cox was easy to work with. Nick repeatedly confirmed that CCMI was meeting our expectations, plus reconciling the work completed with our plans. Nick was also a valuable resource for ideas and cost control; Nick recognized the budget restrictions of a school project and made suggestions to keep the costs down.
The work crew was also awesome, working hard on the project and asking if we were satisfied.
I was so happy with the end result of the project, I am planning on asking for assistance with invasives next fall. Our forest is being over run by buckthorn, amur maple, and black locust. Although we cut a lot down this fall, the work would go much faster with chainsaws. I hope we qualify for a team effort cutting, chipping and spraying next year.
