Conférence Environnementale - 15 March 2019

Friday 15 March 9am - 1pm, followed by lunch. 7am bird walk and campus tour.

To present and discuss environmental work and organizations in the north of Haiti.

Location: Université Chrétienne du Nord d'Haïti, Haut Limbe, 1 hour drive from Cap Haitien
https://goo.gl/maps/QRo8Xn3UGu32 If you are coming from Cap on Rt Natl 1, after you climb the steep hill and have finished the descent, look for the yellow C.A.M. sign on the left and turn there!

Coming from Limbe, look for the yellow C.A.M. sign on the right before you begin the climb up the steep hill.

Keep going until you see the ocean scene mural on the right - go through the gate. Parking available on campus.

Présentations par:
• Societe Audubon Haiti - http://audubonhaiti.org/
• Fondation pour la Protection de la Biodiversite Marine (FoProBiM) www.foprobim.org
• Ministère de l'Environnement d'Haïti
• Berlin Desir - Leader de la réalité climatique
• Debbie Baker – Éducation environnementale
• Agr. Guy Buckmaster - UCNH Reforestation and Restoration Initiative

Booths/posters about environmental work in Haiti welcome! Please contact Debbie Baker naturesphoto@hotmail.com.

Morning walk to see the birds on campus! Over 30 species here!

Étudiants avec ID/Students with ID – free registration, nominal lunch fee.
Lunch and registration fees (nominal) and process to be announced!

Environmental Education in Haut Limbe

Evangelic Baptiste

In Nov. 2018 my translator and I started going to schools in Haut Limbe to teach about the importance of birds in Haiti’s environment. As in other communities, the children’s first response to the question “Do you like hawks” is “no, they eat chickens!” We explain that hawks eat many more mice and rats than chickens, and also talk about the importance of parakeets to spreading seeds and hummingbirds in pollinating. Many boys have killed birds with slingshots, including my translator. He regrets this saying he wouldn’t have done this if only he knew that birds were important! So we are on an anti-slingshot campaign. Most of this kids in the 10 or so schools in the area know who he is and have starting telling on each other! I will keep track of our progress in future blogs.

Bon Berger (Limbe)

Bon Le Berger Kindergarten

Emmaus du Haut Limbe

Limbe Academy

Environmental meters for an ecology class in Haiti

Light meters

Each semester I take my Eco-201 students to the waterfall Bassin Zim near Hinche to practice a bioassessment of the watershed.  This year I used several models of environmental meters.  I had been using the Sper Scientific meter that has 4 instruments in one: temperature, % relative humidity (RH), wind, and light.  I first used this meter at the Amazon Academy in the Peruvian rain forest, where light levels do not exceed the maximum reading of 20,000 lux.  However, light levels in Haiti are higher, thus my quest to test other meters. Also the Sper meter has hold and mx/min buttons that put the readings on pause that can only be canceled by pushing certain buttons for 2 seconds. This confounds the students. Thus I purchased 3 different light meters, and 2 different anemometers (wind meter).  Here are the reviews of their use with university students in Haiti, with the color to match to the photo.  From the price you can see it is cheaper to buy light and wind meters separately.  I underlined the features I prefer.

Wind meters

Sper Scientific meter – 4 instruments, max of 20,000 lux is too low, numbers get stuck – have to press proper button 2 sec. to exit mode. Wind, temperature, and rH works fine.  Has case. Need screw driver to access 9v battery. $126.54 on Amazon Dec. 2016. Gray.

UNI-T UT383 light meter – Only light in lux or fc, max 199,999 lux. Easy to turn off hold and max/min. No case, unprotected light probe. Easy access to 3 AAA batteries. $21.99 on Amazon Dec. 2017. Red.

URCERI MT-912 light meter – Temperature and light (lux or fc), max 200,000 lux. Hold min/max 2 sec. to turn off, press hold once to turn off. Back-lit screen (will this use up batteries?). No case, attached cover for light probe! Easy access to 3 AAA batteries. $19.99 on Amazon Dec. 2017. Yellow.

Leaton Lux Meter L830 – Only light in lux or fc, max 200,000 lux. Easy to turn off hold and max/min. No case, cover for light probe. Easy access to 9v battery. Gray.

PEAKMETER MS6252B Digital Anemometer – Also has temperature and RH. Six choices for wind units: knots, m/s, km/h, mil/h, ft/m, ft/s. Backlight option. Comes with case, need screwdriver to access 9v battery. Comes with cable to download to computer. $39.95 on Amazon Dec. 2017! Yellow.

MASTECH MS625B Digital Anemometer – Exactly like PEAKMETER except green. $50.98 on Amazon Dec. 2017. Green.

BirdSleuth Caribbean for UCC preschool

Last week I led the first BirdSleuth seminar for the preschool teachers at UCC in Caiman.  13 teachers attended, with 2 of their children who were great for demonstrating teaching techniques.  We began with a 40 minute presentation about the importance of birds, showing photos on my ipad of birds found in Haiti.  After lunch of rice and beans with onion sauce, we began the games.  I gave each teacher a habitat and a bingo card, and showed how activities can be scaled from preschool to older kids.  My translator Donacien and I demonstrated the habitat and survivor games, then all joined in and had fun playing them.  I gave the preschool a BirdSleuth manual and set of survivor, scavenger hunt, and bingo cards for their resource room.  The elementary school principle is now asking that I give a workshop for her teachers!

  

BirdSleuth Caribbean at Wynne Farm

Recently for the staff of Wynne Farm Ecological Reserve in Kenscoff I had the opportunity to teach a 2 hour seminar on the importance of birds and to Haiti share BirdSleuth Caribbean teaching activities.  I met with the 15 participants while my university ecology students took a tour of the reserve and farm.  Participants included Jane Wynne and her daughter Sarah who run the reserve, staff, student interns, and others who had strong ties to the conservation ethic of the farm.

We began with a discussion about the importance of birds in Haiti, including pest control, pollination, seed dispersal, education, ecotourism, and art (including Haitian John James Audubon).  I then introduced the Cornell Ornithology Lab BirdSleuth educational materials sent to me by Birds Caribbean.  We practiced the Habitat and Survivor gamesof Lessons 4 & 5 and feedback helped me improve my use of them.  I gave Wynne Farm two manuals and two sets of the survivor, scavenger hunt, and bingo games.  They gifted me with Rene Durocher’s beautiful Les Oiseaux d’Haiti book of bird photography.  Thank you Wynne Farm and Birds Caribbean!

BirdSleuth Caribbean at Bassin Zim

On 8 Dec. 2017 I took my Eco401 class (Biodiversity, juniors) to the waterfall Bassin Zim (near Hinche) so that we could have an ecology program for the children that hang out there. These kids don’t go to school, but instead hang out at the park to earn money helping visitors (see past blogs here).  I take my Eco201 class (freshmen) there to practice bioassessment of the watershed, and wanted to do something different their junior year that would help them learn some teaching techniques, and in turn help the kids at the falls. So we did some BirdSleuth Caribbean activities that we previously practiced in class.

There were 13 university students, plus me and the interpreter, and there were 15 kids (ages 6 to 16?), so after a short introduction about ourselves and the importance of birds, we paired up for the Bird Habitat scavenger hunt.  We then played the bird habitat game in which a ‘bird’ needs to find food, water, shelter and space.  My students and the kids bonded a bit, and stayed together as pairs when we had free time to explore the park.  My students shared their food with the kids.  One of my students found a tiny snake, and did not kill it!  Huge victory for the snakes of Haiti! 

Drinking and wash water survey – Caiman Haiti

On 5 Dec. 2017 I performed a comparison of various water quality test kits on 3 water sources in Caiman Haiti.  The goal was to see which kits are more suitable for teaching, and which are more precise in nitrate measurements.  Water sources were an unprotected well used by village residents for washing and cooking, a university cafeteria outdoor sink used to wash dishes, and a household drinking water dispenser supplied by a reverse osmosis system (treated water) at the university.  The sink water and treated water come from the same well.  In summary, the Lamott and Waterworks kits that use plastic test strips are more convenient and have more precise lower chemical ranges than the kits that use dissolvable pills (LaMotte® Water TesTab® Kits).  Also, the reverse osmosis system appears to reduce nitrates and phosphorus in the water.

Water samples were obtained 6:30 – 6:45am in sterile whirlpacks.  Prior to the chemistry tests, sterile pipettes were used to place 1 ml of each sample on 3M petrifilm to determine presence of fecal coliform.  Before each chemical test, vials were rinsed three times with the sample to be tested.  All tests rely on the user differentiating color shades that represent gradations in the amount of chemical being tests.  The Lamotte Testabs require vials and monitoring the time taken for the color to develop.  Phosphorus tabs take longer to dissolve, while the pH tabs crumbled as I removed them from the packaging.  Also, the ranges of chemical values are crude and too low for my purpose of testing drinking water.  One can only get a range estimate which is a problem when testing a critical chemical such as nitrate (> 10 mg/l nitrate-N in drinking water is hazardous to infants).  Also, the tabs measure nitrate as nitrate-NO3 which must be converted to nitrate-N to compare to USEPA drinking water standards.  There is also the question of what to do with the used solution when one does not have a sink to wash it down.  I have my students pour the solution into a tub which I then dilute and pour among vegetation away from the waterbody we are testing. 

Plastic strip kits used were Lamotte Insta-Test (phosphorus, pH, and nitrate/nitrite), Waterworks (nitrate/nitrite), and SenSafe (chlorine).  These are much simpler, and the only waste is the small plastic strip.  However, the color changes quickly, so one must be ready with the container that has the color shades.  This was a problem when I had only one container but had 5 groups of students test their water at the same time.  I learned this when the phosphorus test continued darkening before I could reach all groups, thus giving values that were too high.  This test requires the 10ml sample tube that is used for the Testab kits.  The plastic strip is folded into the cap of the tube, then the cap placed on the tube, thus inserting the strip into the sample.  After removing the cap and strip, one looks through the tube from the top to compare color, and it was difficult for me to distinguish shades.  Also, nearby color, such as a shirt or notebook, can influence the color seen through the tube.  The Waterworks kit has more precise ranges of 0, 0.5, 2 5, 10, 20, 50 nitrate-N ppm than Lamotte with 0, 5, 10, 25, 50 nitrate-N ppm, so I will save the former when testing wells, and use Lamotte in the classroom.

Lamotte Testab Nitrate-NO3 (cafeteria & well)

WaterWorks nitrate-N

Lamotte pH (treated drinking water)

Lamotte phosphate (cafeteria and well)