Defenders Magazine

On the Ground: Florida's Eco Troopers Make the Grade

© PeterJohannes/peterjohannes.com

At Pelican Island Elementary School in Sebastian,
Florida, students won t to preserve land around
their school-prime habitat for the imperiled gopher
tortoise and the federally threatened Florida
scrub jay.

Panicked, the baby tortoise awkwardly scraped the soil, trying to escape to the back of its foot-long burrow. In pursuit: a lone finger with 10 children's heads peering over it. 

The point was to catch the two-inch- long imperiled species, which had dug its home in the path of a mowing tractor at Pelican Island Elementary School in Sebastian, Florida, and relocate it--with the permission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)--to more suitable and survivable grounds.

The children, part of the school's "Eco Troop," got a morning away from their desks to watch the delicate operation--and learned about what it takes to save an endangered species. It's a lesson that students at Pelican Island (fittingly named after the first designated wildlife refuge in the United States) have been learning for several years now--to the benefit of surrounding creatures and habitat.

Beginning in 1999, each successive year's Eco Troop--always made up of fourth and fifth graders--led the fight to save the land around the school, today home to between six and 10 rare gopher tortoises and three families of federally threatened Florida scrub jays. Already impacted by agricultural development and invasive species, these creatures are also imperiled by urbanization of their habitat--along with new homes come busy roads, domestic cats and pesticides. Recently, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission proposed that the tortoise, currently considered a species of special concern, gain further protection as a state-threatened species.

The idea to turn land adjacent to the school into a wildlife haven originated with a teacher's assignment to solve a local environmental problem. "Someone's parents suggested buying up the scrub jays' habitat, and the kids thought it was a great idea," says Bonnie Swanson, the school's former principal.

To raise the money, she first looked into a federal grant targeted to help purchase land contiguous to a conservation area. "I thought, ‘This school could be called a conservation area, and who better to convince the school board of that than the children,'" she says.

Their Eco Troop presentation worked. Soon after, a realtor--and parent--identified 24 lots next to the school, and FWS approved Pelican Island's plan to protect scrub jays, which would help the Eco Troop get the grant money. But before it was finalized, the board balked--there had previously been a rift between it and FWS over wetland conservation--and the children had to go back and argue their case again. They won, thanks in part to a nine-year-old boy who, when told, "The school board isn't in the business of conservation," stood up in true Jimmy Stewart style and said, "We're all in the business of conservation," says Swanson.

The next hurdle was to raise $60,000--25 percent--of the matching grant. But they did it. In total, the Eco Troop students raised $280,000, which allowed them to purchase 17 lots in a three-year span. "When we bought the first two lots in 2001, we had the kids sign a fake deed," says Swanson. "Just as they were doing this at the ceremony, scrub jays came down and landed right on the kids' heads. They're very social birds and love peanuts."

Part of the area later became a nature trail and outdoor learning center that allows other grades and the greater community to learn about pine scrub species and habitat. This year Defenders of Wildlife teamed up with the Eco Troop to create public service announcements about endangered species that were broadcast across the country, hoping to inspire others to make a difference protecting wildlife in their own neighborhoods.

But the Pelican Island fight isn't over yet. The city is now eyeing one of the lots to widen a road that passes the school. "Now the children are learning that when you say there's a conservation easement, it could mean nothing," says Swanson, who moved on to another local school in 2004 but is still closely involved with the project.

"We're now trying to set up a monitoring board. I won't be around forever and we want to make sure that the kids' wishes are followed." She's confident it will happen. "The school superintendent told me he never thought we could do what we've done already. He said I was like a dog that had a rag in its mouth and wouldn't let go. It wasn't a very appealing way to describe me," she laughs. "But…."

Swanson has kept in touch with every student involved with the Eco Troop. "They still talk to me about the project all the time," she says. Some of the students witnessed one of the lots getting bulldozed because they didn't get the money to buy it in time, and they remember it. "By the time they hit college, they are going to be prepared for everything," she says. "They're going to be able to talk to public servants and politicians--they'll know what to do."

She's done follow-up with parents as well. "They said when they discovered their children had no fear, the whole family began to understand that they could speak up as well," she says. "So much of this was never intended to become what it became."

And that baby gopher tortoise? "We relocated it to a safe place off the trail," says Deb Berg, the teacher in charge of the relocation. "Although their tendency is to return to their original burrow, this one, fortunately, never came back to that spot.

Apparently it dug its new digs--literally.