BURRILLVILLE – Third graders from Callahan Elementary School in Burrillville participated in a cleanup of Eccleston Field on Tuesday in conjunction with the town wide Earth Day cleanup, said Julie Riendeau, a volunteer with the National Park Service’s Volunteers-in-Parks program through the Blackstone Heritage Corridor.
Riendeau, who is called “Ranger Julie” by students, leads Callahan students in nature programs several times a year, she said.
“I go to Erin Jasmine’s third grade class once a month presenting environmental or history programs, so the nature hike is one I do in April,” Riendeau said. “The cleanup is something we do after to make it better than we found it.”
Before the clean-up, Riendeau led two groups of students on nature walks along the Clear River, stopping at stations she set up along the banks to discuss the different animals that make their homes there.
At the first station, Riendeau pointed out a squirrel nest in the trees and talked about how squirrels build their nests.
“My backyard is literally a squirrel house,” said third grader Nathalia D’Ambra.
The next stop was to examine a bat house someone had installed in a tree next to the river. When the children recoiled at the idea of bats, Riendeau assured them that “bats eat insects, so they’re good.”
The students also discussed camouflage and how it helps animals. Riendeau held up a picture of animals using camouflage to blend into a tree.
“Where? I can’t see it,” said Tristan Brissette.
“That’s the point!” Riendeau replied.
Students also examined a taxidermied otter with fish as its prey, and several real birds’ nests with unhatched eggs.
They also handled real deer antlers.
“Oh my god that feels so smooth!” said Liem Nguyen.
Riendeau held up a plastic turtle with eggs.
“Turtles lay eggs and then they go back into the water and they never know if the eggs hatched or not,” she said to a dozen surprised faces.
Riendeau has done volunteer work like this for 20 years, she said.
“She’s amazing. She gets all of the supplies and information and does a different theme for each program,” said Anya Wilczynski, interim director of the Blackstone Heritage Corridor. “She’s all about connecting kids with nature.”
Wilczynski said it’s her hope to get more schools involved in the program.
“It’s a way of getting involved in nature at a school-aged level,” she said. “Also the students had statewide testing earlier today, so it’s great to get them outside.”
Beautiful story. We need new Julie’s in the world.