Annual Amphibian Walk offers education in nature
Fourth-grader Kailey Demi stood at the end of a pond, her pink boots almost touching the water, eyes fixed on a small island a few feet into the pond where a Canada goose sat on its nest. Her mother, Shannon Demi, called her away from the pond. The rest of the group — more than 30 people who turned out for Salem Land Trusts’ annual Amphibian Walk last Friday — was walking down the trail at Walden Preserve, in search of insects, animals and amphibians to add to the frog eggs and salamanders they had already seen.
“My daughter is really into science. She is loving it. This is right up her ally,” said Shannon as Kailey ran to catch up with the group. Demi said it has been challenging finding extra curricular activities to suit Kailey’s interest.
“Finding science programs is difficult. I want to expose my kids to as much as possible,” she said.
Exposing children to nature and science is the goal of the amphibian walks according to Diba Khan-Bureau, a Salem resident and professor of engineering at Three Rivers Community College. Khan-Bureau has been leading the amphibian walks for the last 10 years. She said the annual family event is a good time to get kids back outdoors after a long winter and to inspire them to take an interest in science and their environment.
“It’s a wonderful time to really enjoy being in the woods and it’s really important that we start to include our young people. They are the next scientists who will be the ones studying and trying to help the environment. We need those young kids,” Khan-Bureau said.
The Salem Land Trust has been organizing its Amphibian Walk for the last 20 years for that reason. The walk is scheduled for the last week of April, corresponding with both Earth Week and the start of busy season for the bugs, insects and animals who call the Land Trusts’ 200 acres over six properties home. Even during a cool spring like this year’s, the last week in April is generally when the area gets its first big spring rainfall, which is exactly what the critters and crawlers are waiting for said Khan-Bureau.
“After the rain on the roads you will see salamanders. It is their time to move and to mate and to lay their eggs. This is the time for migrations of the amphibians and the frogs and the salamanders. They come out for hibernation,” she said.
Walden Preserve is just the place to help kids find both inspiration and insects, said Khan-Bureau. The 400-acre property, owned by the international conservation group the Nature Conservancy, is home to vernal pools — both the large ponds made by beavers and the small pools that fill up only in the spring — making it a great place for amphibians and insects to reproduce.
For some of the students in Khan-Bureau’s environmental engineering class, coming out for the Amphibian Walk was a chance to put their classroom learning to good use, help children identify amphibians and explore the nature around them while they earning some extra credit.
Mark Scaplen, a Colchester resident and one of Khan-Bureau’s students, said he has always been a nature lover and he was eager to see what information he could pick up about the local population of frogs.
“I’ve always been fascinated by how amphibians spend all winter in the mud. Their heart rate slows down to practically nothing. They’re very resilient,” he said.
Scaplen brought along his wife, Anya Scaplen, who was just eager to enjoy some warmer weather.
“It’s spring so its just nice seeing green,” said Anya Scaplen. “You don’t even realize what you drive by somedays.”
j.hopper@theday.com
Twitter: @JessHoppa
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