By Sami J. Grimes

An invasion is happening—aquatic invasive species are harming ecosystems, the environment and public welfare. Since 1970 there have been at least 150 new invasions. Who can keep track of all the different types of species? You may want to ask a student in the Great Lakes region. In February alone, 400 Ohio schools received invasive species newspaper supplements from a joint effort created by NOAA Sea Grant Great Lakes Programs and the Toledo Blade's Newspapers in Education Program (NIE).

“The supplements distributed in Ohio are part of Sea Grant's ongoing effort to educate students and teachers about exotic species in the Great Lakes region,” says Sharon Moen of Minnesota Sea Grant who coordinated the NIE partnerships. “In particular, the hope of this project was not only to have students read about invasive species, but it was also to have high school students think critically about these aquatic problems by writing an essay on how to successfully manage invasions.”

In collaboration with NIE—a program that promotes the use of newspapers as educational resources in schools, NOAA Sea Grant is paving a new way to reach students and educators. By this summer, each Great Lakes Sea Grant Program (PA, WI, MN, MI, IL/IN, NY, and OH) will have worked with their local NIE programs to provide students with learning materials focused on aquatic invasive species. As part of this effort the Erie Times News NIE program created a 16-page newspaper supplement that was adapted and distributed by the following local newspapers: Toledo Blade, Chicago Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Muskegon Chronicle, Erie Times News, and Buffalo News. Most Great Lakes Sea Grant Programs also coordinated with the NIE programs to provide an educational workshop on invasive species for teachers.

The project included an essay contest where middle and high school students had a chance to win $100.00. The goals of the essay contest are twofold: to educate students about aquatic invasive species, while gathering creative, unique approaches from students to help solve some of the invasion problems.

In Michigan, Representative Peter Hoekstra from the 2nd District, was so impressed by the caliber of the essays, he included the first place essay into the Congressional Record on January 21, 2004: “Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert into the Congressional Record an essay written by Alyn Kiel, an 11th grade student at Montague High School in Montangue, MI. The essay is titled, ‘Purple Loosestrife: A Beautiful Killer,’ and it is an excellent discussion of a very serious but commonly overlooked environmental problem around the Great Lakes and throughout the Nation…”

What type of invasive species did the students learn and write about? The supplement features zebra mussels, sea lamprey, purple loosestrife, round goby, among others, and it provides one place for students to easily learn about invasive species. “Since we felt this information was important in educating not only the students, but also our general readership, we produced an extra 65,000 copies to distribute to our general readership making our total circulation 85,000 including the copies that were sent to area schools. The success of our partnership with Sea Grant that included the supplement on invasive species and a joint NIE/PA Sea Grant teacher workshop, allowed us to sell the supplement to additional newspapers such as the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y. and 5 others not originally involved in this project," said Anna McCartney NIE coordinator for the Erie Times-News and Pennsylvania Sea Grant’s NIE partner of the project.

Because of its need for more science-base information and materials, NIE programs were delighted to partner with Sea Grant. “Partnering with programs, such as NOAA Sea Grant, allow NIE to produce strong, scientific supplements,” says McCartney. In fact, the NOAA Sea Grant NIE supplement became a model for other NIE programs, and it led to the development of a supplement for International Coastal Cleanup, which is the largest beach and waterway cleanup program with data collection in the world, and a project that NOAA participates in locally.

Through the NOAA Sea Grant–NIE Partnership, educators are finding excellent curriculum resources. “The Great Lakes Invasion publication fits exactly in our study of the Great Lakes. The workshop was entertaining, eye-opening and educational,” says Rick Carveth from Monroe Middle School, Monroe, Michigan.

Luciana Taschini, from the Choir Academy, Chicago, IL said, "Next year I plan to use Sea Grant's Great Lakes Invasions guide in my 4th and 8th grade classrooms. The guide is very easy to understand so the kids should really enjoy it. The Rival for Survival game section seems really clever for students. This will fit well with my 4th grade units on how different species interact and survival/food web concepts, and I can use this for my 8th graders as they study vertebrates and invertebrates.”

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois-Indiana, and Michigan Sea Grant Programs have completed this project reaching an estimated that 1025 classrooms, or about 40,000 students. Other Great Lakes states are launching their initiatives this year. Currently, Ohio Sea Grant is hosting their essay contest, which will finish toward the end of March, and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is additionally hosting a creative contest, where students describe creative ways to tell others how to control invasive species from spreading. By the end of 2004, an estimated 48,000 students will have received invasive species information through the NIE partnership.

“In the long term, education is one of the most, if not the most effective ways to combat invasive species,” says Dorn Carlson, NOAA’s Invasive Species Matrix Manager. “Sea Grant’s efforts in the Great Lakes continues to show results, and this project is another way they are making a difference.” Furthermore, this project supports NOAA’s Mission Goal to “Protect, restore and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem management approaches,” and the specific objective to increase the number of invasive species under control.

In the past, NOAA Sea Grant Great Lakes Programs have developed an invasive species traveling trunk, a school compendium on invasive species known as ESCAPE (Exotic Species Compendium of Activities to Protect the Ecosystem), and many other services in order to help students and educators learn about invasive species.

If you are interested in downloading the Great Lakes Invasion guide, please visit our website at www.iisgcp.org/edu/br/grlksinv.pdf

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