The Nature Conservancy and Intel Corporation Launch Berkshire Taconic Landscape Educational Web Site
Aozotorp
Educational Web Site
New Educational Site for Parents, Students & Teachers
Includes Educational Lesson Plans
NEW YORK, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Nature Conservancy and Intel Corporation
have created a new educational Website, www.lastgreatplaces.org, to help
teachers, parents, children, residents, and everyone interested in nature,
history and geography to learn more about the BerkshireTaconic Landscape, and
the threats it now faces. Compiled by the Nature Conservancy and Intel, the
website includes contributions by many regional experts, ecologists,
historians, geologists, naturalists, planners and social scientists.
"Environmental responsibility is important to Intel, which is why we have
supported the Explore the Last Great Places web site," said Terry McManus,
Manager of Intel's Environmental Health and Safety Signature Projects. "The web
site enables students, parents and teachers to take a virtual tour of the
Berkshire Taconic region, and learn about its human history, geography, forests
and wetlands, and diversity of life."
Commenting on the site's launch, Bill Weeks, executive vice president of the
Nature Conservancy said 'The Berkshire Taconic Landscape, like other Last Great
Places, is a unique area that harbors a concentration of rare species and
offers excellent examples of endangered terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In
selecting Last Great Places, we consider the vulnerability of the site, the
threats to it, and the ability to lessen those threats and sustain the
diversity of life." It joins the inaugural web-based tour of the San Pedro
River of Mexico and southern Arizona.
Lesson Plans
The site contains nine lesson plans -- three plans each for elementary, middle,
and high school students -- developed with support from Intel, the Nature
Conservancy, an educational consultant, and teachers from the Berkshire Hills
Regional School District, in Massachusetts. (All conform to national and state
standards in English language arts, science, math and social studies.) In the
"Diversity is the Spice of Life" lesson plan, students learn how to classify
plants and animals according to their physical characteristics. In another,
"Aargh!!! Invaders!!!," students learn about invasive species. In addition to
focusing on conservation, the Berkshire Taconic Website also investigates the
many cultural, commercial, historical and other dynamics that affect the
natural environment.
Located in the three-state region of southwestern Massachusetts, eastern New
York and northwestern Connecticut, the 120,000 acre Berkshire Taconic landscape
contains one of the largest, healthiest, and most diverse forest blocks
remaining in southern New England. The Nature Conservancy cites the region as
one of the key ecological gems remaining in southern New England. The wetlands
that surround the mountainous forest are some of the best global examples of
calcareous, or "sweet" water wetlands, and the entire landscape area is home to
more than 150 rare and endangered species. Today, this integrated landscape
faces increasing development pressure impacting both its ecological and
cultural heritage.
Learn more about the Nature Conservancy at http://www.nature.org , and the
Conservancy's Berkshire Taconic Landscape Program at
http://nature.org/berkshiretaconic . Additional information about Intel is
available at http://www.intel.com/pressroom . Information on Intel's
environmental programs is available at http://www.intel.com/go/ehs .
Information on Intel and education is available at
http://www.intel.com/education .
Online Release and Pictures:
http://nature.org/aboutus/projects/berkshire/press/press682.html
http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X50491741
SOURCE The Nature Conservancy
CO: Nature Conservancy; Intel Corporation