York Town News
Back to Brazil
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - In what has now become a tradition, York Middle School science teacher Jeff Wilford is back in Brazil, this time with nine local students spending 15 days volunteering their time to study the world's largest wetland, the Pantanal.
The Pantanal, which Wilford explained is roughly the size of Kansas, is dominated by the Paraguay River, extends into Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil and is a haven for giant otters, jaguars, anacondas and hyacinth macaws.
This year's team includes current York High School students and recent graduates Nick McMahon, Luke Graziano, Andrew Loane, Kiegan Munn, Anna Lifvergren, Kortnee Cribby, Haley Westman, Kelsey Greenier and Katie Rasche, who were selected to accompany Wilford and Lynnfield Middle School teacher Liz Kinzly to participate in a research project designed to gather data on the delicate and threatened ecosystem that is the Pantanal.
And local residents have a chance to be a part of the project via the "Live Connect" with two-way video at the York Public Library this Tuesday, July 10, at 7 p.m.
"All are invited," Wilford said - adding that is especially true for his seventh-grade students who have studied the Pantanal.
Last year, Wilford led a group of six York High School students to the area, and he noted that several of those former student volunteers are planning to be on hand to answer questions at Tuesday's event.
In the Pantanal, this year's team of students are monitoring water quality, tagging and tracking wild peccaries, collecting data on giant river otters and working on a project attempting to protect the Pantanal's crocodile population from poachers. In addition, the students will complete wildlife surveys while on horseback as well as on foot - counting, mapping and observing animals and their prey. While they are working mostly in the field, they will also be conducting laboratory analysis in a state-of-the-art facility.
"Even though we are in the middle of this vast wilderness," Wilford explained, "the setup is amazingly high tech since it is run by the state's largest university, Uniderp."
While the trip is organized and supervised by the two science teachers, the team of students, which arrived in Brazil late Sunday afternoon, is working with a research team of multicultural scientists led by Dr. Alexine Keuroghlian of Uniderp and the Institute for Biological Diversity.
The focus of Keuroghlian's study is on the peccary, a small pig-like animal, and on feral pigs, which are the peccary's main competition for resources in the Pantanal. The peccary is central to the diet of the endangered jaguar and, as a fruit-eater, has a key role in maintaining the biodiversity of this critical area of the world, Wilford explained, adding that in addition to the jaguars, the Pantanal is also the home of the world's largest parrots, otters, snakes, storks and anteaters.
"They say things are big in Texas, but they don't have anything on the animals of the Pantanal," he said.
For Anna Lifvergren, who graduated from York High School last month, hearing about last year's trip from York High School alumnus Chris Mace sparked her interest, but because she knew the expedition was a by-invitation-only opportunity, she did not expect to be able to go.
"Then, earlier this year, I received the invitation, and I panicked! Last time I was on a plane, I was flying home from Greece and the plane almost went down," she said. "I almost immediately ruled out the trip, until I started thinking about it. How many times will I be able to fly to a foreign country to participate in research? I went from panic to sheer excitement."
At the group's first meeting to discuss interest in the trip, Lifvergren said she was hooked.
"Mr. Wilford explained we would visit a school, participate in several modes of research with people he greatly admired, we would snorkel and see wildlife up close - I wanted to do all of it right away," she explained. "Not that I needed more convincing, but I was also swayed because Liz Kinzly was also going on the trip. She was my sixth-grade science teacher and she is much of the reason I am the student I've become."
Nick McMahon said he decided to be a part of York's Team Pantanal 2007 because he believes this trip could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"I also had a good friend who went on the trip last year and he said that it really was a life-altering trip," he explained. "And on top of that, it is great to get more world experience before I head off to college."
McMahon, who plans to study business at Bryant University in Rhode Island in the fall, said he hopes to someday open his own small business, so he believes that having international experience such as this will only help any effort grow his own business.
"I really hope to gain more worldly experience and really get to know another part of the world because, as it is now, I have really only experienced New England, with only a few trips outside New England to see family down in New Jersey," he explained. "I really hope to learn about the local wildlife in the Pantanal and how exactly I can help to keep the area's wildlife happy, healthy and safe."
Lifvergren, who will be attending the Honors Program at Simmons College in Boston, Mass., on the Dean's Scholarship, said she believes the trip is an excellent opportunity to try something she has always been interested in - scientific research - and to gain some hands-on experience.
"All the projects we will be working on will require biology and chemistry, such as animal classification and water testing," she said. "I look forward to entering my first (college) lab and answering the question, ‘So what did you do this summer?' with actual science experience."
Wilford explained that the trip is not a school sponsored activity, and students have been responsible for raising the funds necessary to pay for the travel and expenses of the expedition.
To be ready for the trip, Lifvergren and McMahon explained, the team had to prepare for a full day's flight and were required to be vaccinated for Yellow Fever with recommendations for vaccines for a host of other diseases common to the area.
Lifvergren added that the students involved came together very quickly as a team, although they did not all know each other well before signing on for the trip. Before their departure on Sunday, she said the trip will be hard work, but also a lot of fun.
"I am super excited about the science - I want to learn about the immediate dangers to the Pantanal. Who knows? It may be my calling. I want to work with wildlife and see it up close. I want to meet Brazilian students as a way to broaden my horizons and become a citizen of the world. I want to come home with experiences I'll never have again and that few people get to have. And," she joked, "tanning would be nice, too."
Want to learn more about Expedition Pantanal before and after Tuesday's "Live Connect" at the library? Visit http://www.expeditionpantanal.org/, which chronicles the work being done by York students in the effort to save this unique area of the world and watch upcoming editions of The Independent for more news from the field.
