The West Virginia Department of Education received a $65,000 grant from the National Geographic Education Foundation to conduct the study. High school students will create a model that predicts bird populations in relations to highly mobile human populations and the effects on the ecosystem.
West Virginia has one of the highest rates of urban sprawl in the nation. Students will focus their efforts along the 60-mile stretch between Huntington and Charleston under the guidance of geographers, ecologists, planners and teachers.
The West Virginia Geographic Alliance, which has been sponsored by the National Geographic Society since 1992, will be the umbrella organization overseeing this project.
For more information regarding the study, please contact Sharon Flack, Social Studies Coordinator for the West Virginia Department of Education, at 304-558-7805.