The Fayette Tribune, Oak Hill, W.Va.

Local News

Related Photos

  • Christina Johnson, biology instructor at Bridgemont, and her niece, Jordan Keenan, a seventh grade student at Cedar Grove Community School from Hugheston, work together during the event. Steve Keenan

    1A2 girl and mom .jpg

  • Andrew Middleton of the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection and AmeriCorps Regulatory Program, works with William Frampton, foreground, and his brother, Paul, watching, to create one of the 35 bird and bat houses that were made Monday. Steve Keenan

    1A3 man and boy .jpg

  • Kenan Baltaci, assistant professor of electrical and computer technologies at Bridgemont CTC, and his wife, Aysegul, work together to create a birdhouse at the Martin Luther King Day of Service event at Davis Hall Monday. Steve Keenan

    1A4 man and woman .jpg
January 23, 2013

Area volunteers reach out on MLK Day of Service

From Staff Reports

MONTGOMERY — Around 50 people showed up at Davis Hall on the Bridgemont CTC campus on Monday, even though there was no school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Bridgemont faculty, staff and students, students and staff from WVU Tech, as well as community members, local volunteers from the Morris Creek Watershed Association, and local school children volunteered for a project geared at helping improve the local environment.

Prior to the hands-on portion of the event in which the volunteers constructed 25 bird houses and 10 bat houses, Dr. Deborah Beutler, associate professor of biology and sponsor of WVU Tech’s Biology Club, gave a presentation on the role of birds and bats in the community, and the importance of creating wildlife habitat.

“Bats are important to humans because they eat the insects that irritate us. For example, one little brown bat can eat 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour; they are voracious predators of insects,” she said in an earlier press release.

“Bats are nocturnal so they need a place to roost during the day. In the forest, bats roost in caves and rotten, hollow trees. In human-dominated habitats, bats can also use mines and chimneys as roosts. However, humans are eliminating roosting sites for bats by removing hollow trees, closing chimneys, and closing the entrances to mines and caves.

“The bird houses will be used by birds that are also insect eaters. Traditionally, they nested in rotting trees and the cavities made by other birds. However, they are frequently outcompeted for those cavities by European starlings, a bird species introduced to the U.S. by humans. The bird houses we are making have a small opening and provide a nest site for the native cavity nesters. The starlings are too big to fit in the opening,” Beutler said.

Volunteers could either take the houses home with them, or donate them to be placed throughout the Morris Creek Watershed.

The event was co-sponsored by Bridgemont CTC, WVU Tech and the Morris Creek Watershed Association.

Among those who volunteered was Jordan Keenan of Hugheston, a seventh grader at Cedar Grove Community School. She attended the event with her aunt, Christina Johnson, the life science instructor at Bridgemont, and her cousins, Emily and Sydney Johnson.

“I really enjoyed it,” Keenan said. Her house was to be donated to the local watershed group, but she and her relatives planned to take a copy of the plans home to make their own in the future.

The main planning force behind the highly successful event, according to Jeanne Smith, dean of student services at Bridgemont, was Robert Jackson of Morris Creek, an AmeriCorps worker and MCWA member. “He did more work on this than anyone,” she said.

Anyone interested in working with the Morris Creek Watershed Association may check out the group’s website at www.morriscreekwatershed.org, or attend the monthly meeting on the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the watershed office at 328 Morris Drive, Montgomery.

For more information on Bridgemont CTC, please contact Smith at 304-734-6617 or e-mail jsmith@bridgemont.edu.

Beutler can be contacted at 304-442-3202, or by e-mail at Deborah.Beutler@mail.wvu.edu. You may also visit techbiology.wvutech.edu.

Text Only
Local News
  • coda uke Deadline June 1 for Coda Kidz

    The sound of music and children’s laughter are in the air as budding young musicians, ages 5 to 12,  discover their musical talent in the fun and innovative summer program, Coda Kidz.

    May 23, 2013 1 Photo

  • Fayette working to improve disaster response

    Improving the county’s communications during a disaster is a top priority of the Fayette County Office of Emergency Services, says the agency’s new director.

    May 23, 2013

  • School projects are prioritized in Mount Hope

    Mount Hope wants a new elementary school. That much is clear. But how and whether that’s going to happen is by no means apparent at this stage in Fayette County’s effort to address its numerous aging school buildings.

    May 23, 2013

  • izzys treehouse Smilin’ and playin’ at Izzy’s Treehouse

    May 23, 2013 1 Photo

  • Two Memorial Day events planned at Huse Memorial

    For those looking to spend their Memorial Day weekend taking part in a traditional graveside ceremony, Fayetteville offers two: A candlelight vigil and a groundbreaking for a new veterans’ memorial.

    May 23, 2013

  • carrie hill Memorial Day celebration

    May 23, 2013 1 Photo

  • Manchin rep to visit Oak Hill today

    U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced his office launched its fifth “Commonsense Connections” Week Monday. Representatives from Senator Manchin’s office will make more than 95 stops across West Virginia – traveling to all 55 counties – to meet with constituents, hear their commonsense priorities and concerns, and gather their feedback.

    May 23, 2013

  • cms hannah kaley kayden CMS Social Studies Fair winners

    May 23, 2013 4 Photos

  • jennifer williamsd Williams earns degree

    Jennifer Leigh Williams of Oak Hill received her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree (cum laude) from the West Virginia University Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources on Saturday, May 18 at West Virginia University Coliseum.

    May 23, 2013 1 Photo

  • Honor rolls

    May 23, 2013