MG21 partnered with the ALNC to create a new course for MG21, Land Management at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center. The purpose of this course was to decide, as a class, how to manage a piece of land at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center (ALNC). Using concepts and ideas related to Urban Ecology, students. researched what rehabilitation, conservation, or alteration they propose to do to the land.
The class will operate as a cooperative group, focusing on teamwork, communication (via Trello- a social media tool), and collaboration to create short-term, mid-term and long-term goals for this project. We will also work in partnership with employees and volunteers at the ALNC, as well as Monona community members for guidance and feedback. The students in this course will spend time both in the classroom, and also at ALNC to learn, and practice, skills used by ecologists in the field. The knowledge based portion of the class will involve brief lessons on topics within Urban Ecology relating to public health, land use, biodiversity and waste. Students, in small groups, will select a topic of interest to research in further detail later on in the course. Each research group will become experts in their subjects, and will be responsible for presenting their data/findings to the class as well as employees of the Aldo Leopold Nature Center. The ultimate goal of the class is to have the knowledge and understanding to write what is called a Request for Proposal (RFP); something our partners at the ALNC write often to get guidance for potential projects. Students will write an RFP and, through the ALNC, will submit it to the City Council, or another governing body yet to be determined.
