Lloyd Center For The Environment Inc

Programs: Environmental research: since its founding, the lloyd center has focused its research activities on assessing and documenting the distribution and ecology of the natural resources of southeastern new england. The three biggest lepidoptera projects were: 1) a survey of lepidoptera at ma military reservation army national guard training site ("camp edwards") in order to compare the current status of rare moth species with the results of the 1996-98 inventories conducted by the lloyd center, 2) a survey for moths at westborough cedar swamp for the sudbury valley trustees, and 3) the unveiling of mass moths, a project aimed at identifying and mapping the 2,500+ past and current distribution of moths in massachusetts. Collaborating with tufts university, the lloyd center completed its 16th year as the buzzards bay coordinator of the seabird stranding network, documenting instances of seabird mortality and live-bird activity on the western shoreline of buzzards bay. Lloyd center scientists conducted additional rare-species habitat assessments in martha's vineyard, westport, and cape cod. The center also gathered baseline data for its biodiversity initiative, documenting the biota of southeastern massachusetts. The center continued its collaboration with martha's vineyard conservation agencies and produced rare-habitat assessments for a growing number of private landowners. In addition to its continuing work in protecting piping plovers and state threatened species including diamondback terrapins on the commonwealth's division of conservation and recreation beaches in bristol county, the center completed its 32nd year of monitoring and protecting the federally-listed ("threatened") piping plovers. Research staff also participated in bioblitzes in dartmouth, rhode island and berkshire county, as well as the massachusetts bristol county north american butterfly association's fourth of july butterfly counts.

environmental education: the lloyd center continues to provide and increasing number of unique hands-on science programs for schoolchildren and adolescents in over 20 different new england cities and towns, at levels ranging from kindergarten through college. This past year, the lloyd center worked with over 50 pre-school, elementary and middle schools in the region, visiting a growing number of students on a regular basis to teach interactive lessons on relevant and critically important environmental issues. Three of the curriculum-based offerings, feathery focus (an ornithology program specially created for the third-grade level) and turn-the-tide (a program dealing with the ecosystems of local estuaries, taught on the fifth-grade level), as well as the new climate science learning project have proven to be especially effective. All education programs are designed to meet the massachusetts curriculum frameworks in science and technology/engineering and in history/social studies. For children ages 5-15, the center's education department annually provides up to 15 distinct summer programs designed to help students develop a better understanding of science and a deeper appreciation for the need to protect the fragile nature of our coast. Every year, as many as 13,000 students benefit from the participation in lloyd center education programs.

environmental outreach: the lloyd center offers a wide variety of programs designed to engage the minds of southeastern new england citizens of all ages, expanding their understanding of the fragile nature of our coastal environment and the importance of working together to protect it. This past year lloyd center outreach staff interacted with over 2,450 people at various community outreach events as well as popular lloyd center programs such as canoe tours, kayak trips, birthday parties, nature walks, shore-birding expeditions, seal and whale watches, midnight "owl prowls", butterfly and moth identification workshops, and at our own community outreach events, and koko the owl and friends animal encounter. Five miles of rustic hiking trails, open to the public every day from dawn to dusk on the lloyd center's hardscrabble nature preserve, and a broad variety of live marine animal exhibits, complemented by programs and seminars, continue to draw a growing number of citizens of all ages to our visitor center. In addition, outreach collaboration with partnering organizations continues to prove exceptionally effective in promoting lifestyle changes aimed at a more sustainable use of natural resources. The center's unique website provides a vast amount of environmental research and education information for those who seek it electronically.