Colorado students and teachers know more about the function and value of wetlands thanks to a University of Colorado at Boulder outreach coordinator whose efforts have been recognized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Lannie Hagan, coordinator of CU-Boulder's Science Discovery/Science Explorers program, is among six recent winners of "Friend of U.S. EPA" awards. The winners were honored by the agency's regional office which serves Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 27 tribal nations.
"The work that Science Explorers does is invaluable to the region because it reaches a very large public audience with the message that wetlands are important and need to be protected," said EPA hydrogeologist Darcy Campbell, who nominated Hagan for the award. "Lannie has shown a sustained commitment to environmental education. Her workshops consistently get the highest ratings from teachers and students."
Science Explorers offers daylong, activity-based science workshops to teams comprised of a teacher and five students from grades five through eight. Attendees receive materials and curricula to take back to their schools so they can present the activities and concepts to fellow teachers and students.
Hagan developed a curriculum for the 2002-03 school year called "Wetlands: Nature's Water Wonders," that included lessons on hydrology, wetland plants and wetland soils. The EPA contributed materials and reviewed the curriculum, and the agency's wetlands team praised Hagan's work.
"Wetlands are important as breeding grounds for animals and rare species of plants, as well as for recreation and to clean water," Hagan said. "They act as a sponge in times of drought and filter pollutants.
"Unfortunately, they're disappearing at an alarming rate. Only 2 percent of Colorado is wetlands, but that makes what we have left even more important," she said.
This year, Hagan and other Science Explorers teachers led wetlands workshops in 18 locations around the state. In past years, Hagan has written or assisted in creating workshop curricula about glaciers, the ozone and Antarctica, oceanography, thunderstorms, nature's recycling processes and other topics.
Hagan graduated from CU-Boulder in 1972 with a degree in biology and an emphasis in ecology. She said her interest in the environment developed at an early age and was fostered by her father.
For more information about the Science Explorers program visit .