Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

I have always had a love for and enjoyed the outdoors. I would often visit Howell Woods, which is a local Environmental Learning Center in Johnston County, North Carolina just to experience the outdoors. We also enjoyed viewing the wildlife exhibits. Howell Woods is a 2,800-acre natural resource learning center open to the public that offers a variety of environmental education programs and recreational activities. Their web address is here: http://www.johnstoncc.edu/howellwoods/
Three years ago, I started volunteering my time there and doing what ever was needed in order to learn what ever I could. As a volunteer, I help with grounds keeping, prescribed burns, documenting wildlife, upkeep of the trails, leading hiking tours, representing Howell Woods at events, cleaning up litter, upkeep of the live museum, as well as feeding and caring for the injured birds of prey housed there. I soon began to notice the need for improvements. However, these improvements could not have been made due to lack of funding. I wanted to know why there seemed to be a lack of funding and how or what I could do to help make any improvements become a reality.
The sad truth is many state parks and places like Howell Woods are being underfunded, facing cut backs, or being closed all together. It soon affected me on a personal level seeing some staff members cut and several people that were there were laid off. This was very sad and discouraging to me, so I took it as an opportunity to be proactive and make a difference by contributing my skills and abilities to better promote awareness and education of Howell Woods and other natural resource/wildlife facilities.
Two years ago, after much thought and discussion with friends and family about what more I could do, I decided to help promote Howell Woods and the North Carolina state parks by combining technology, social media, photography, and video to bring about more public awareness and community support for these places. I started an online public photo blog of my experiences at Howell Woods.
Since taking a more active volunteer role at Howell Woods as well as another local North Carolina state park, Raven Rock, I have set several goals that I am progressing towards accomplishing with this project. The first goal is utilizing communications through creating a photo blog and a Facebook fan page to promote awareness to the surrounding communities for Howell Woods and the North Carolina state parks. With this goal I am hoping to encourage others to take an interest in natural resources and the environment as well as educational learning centers, specifically Howell Woods.
The next goal I have set is to increase the public attendance at the annual educational Woodstock event held at Howell Woods. With this goal it was my hope that through advertising within my newly created social media sites, as well as creating visual posters to display at various businesses and schools, Woodstock attendance would be at a record high.
Another goal of my project is to create multiple resources that would allow Howell Woods to be accessible to the handicapped by filming the trails and posting them to my blog, fan page, and the Howell Woods website. People who are physically unable to walk the trails can still have the trail experience and, if possible, doing so could raise funds.
To me, this project has taught me that I truly can make a difference in my community. My blog has been recognized at county, state, and national levels through my involvement in FFA and I have also given a presentation at the Johnston County Soil and Water Conservation District. I was selected to attend the 2014 Resource Conservation Workshop held at North Carolina State University and was a finalist for the Grady Lane scholarship. Never before have I been able to contribute to my community on such a scale. I started this project and have kept it going for three years and counting. I have updated the photo blog monthly since January of 2014. Each monthâ€™s post encircles a topic of interest about Howell Woods and is a great way to get information about our environment out to the public. I am very proud to have created this blog and volunteered my hours for Howell Woods.
I hope to have a career in environmental science after I graduate from college. Volunteering at Howell Woods has given me the opportunity to aid local conservation efforts and keep my state a beautiful, healthy environment that I hope will last for generations to come.