Monitoring activities in Margaret River Independent School’s forest area has resulted in the formation of an Ethics Committee.
The committee oversees parameters set by students for the safety of animals that may be captured in the pitfall traps set in the school’s Nyindamurra Nature Reserve.
Year 4 teacher, Lindsay Burke and MRIS Science Consultant, Pam Tuffin are members of the committee along with Yr 4 students Tyrell May and Hamish Crawford.
Lindsay said pitfall trapping is an interesting and informative science tool used to discover how the school is impacting the forest through the monitoring of species trapped.
“The safety of the creatures trapped is paramount so weather predictions and weather monitoring whilst the traps are open, water depth in the pitfalls, night and early morning checking, manner of release of catches and complete sealing of traps when not in use are all areas examined by the Ethics Committee.”
The Ethics Committee is calling on the school and community for input on how to better interact with the forest in an ethical way.
