To earn this badge, complete 6 requirements—3 from Pine Barrens and 3 from Ocean sections.
Pine Barrens:
1. Develop an animal profile for an endangered animal. What is their habitat look like? Does their coloring help them blend into their surroundings? What do they eat? What eats them? How are their young born and how to the parents care for them? What do their tracks look like? Make plaster cast of animal tracks or an endangered animal poster.
2. Two major fruit crops grow naturally in the Pine Barrens, the blueberry and the cran- berry. Find out some interesting facts about one or both fruit. Then bake something using the fruit. Resources listed below.
“The Best of Blueberries” by Marilyn Schmidt
“Cranberry Cookery Complete” by R. Marilyn Schmidt
3. Using the following resources pick 4-8 trees and create your own tree identification guide by sketching or gluing a sample leaf, bark and fruit/seed for each tree. Label each one with the correct name. Remember do not pick anything from a living tree.
“Trees, Leaves and Bark” by Diane L. Burns
4. Soil Erosion takes place in the Pine Barrens and along the New Jersey coast. Weathering is the breakdown of the earth’s materials: erosion is the movement of these weath- ered materials. Water, wind, glaciers, gravity, and people can cause erosion. Soil erosion ex- periment kit may be borrowed. Call for rental.
5. Explain fires role in the Pine Barrens ecosystem. Make a list of the benefits of “fire” in the Pine Barrens. See attached. Firewise DVD available for borrow, for leader to review for additional information.
6. Visit the Forest Resource Education Center in Jackson or Cattus Island County Park and Cooper Environmental center to learn more about the Pine Barrens.