[PCA] QR app for tree ID education!

Gorman, Lewis lewis_gorman at fws.gov
Thu Jul 9 10:46:51 CDT 2015


The QR tags  nicely add a level of technology for younger generations of
smartphone users and educators.

One note: if the labels described in this article are plastic, please be
advised that they are easily subject to vandalism. Labels made of this
material were used in the creation of an arbor trail for my son's Eagle
Scout project adjacent to a middle school, and within a couple of years,
they were all broken.

The trail was restored last year using heavy aluminum signs with the tree's
image and a QR code mounted on 4x4" pressure treated posts installed in the
ground with rebar and concrete .  All are still in place.
Cost is about $13 per sign (4x8").  Posts, rebar and concrete are extra.



Lewis E. Gorman III
Biologist
Endangered Species Recovery Program

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services

MS: Ecological Services

5275 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22041-3803


703-358-1911-w

On Wed, Jul 8, 2015 at 3:46 PM, De Angelis, Patricia <
patricia_deangelis at fws.gov> wrote:

> Excerpt from the National Association of Conservation Districts June 30
> "Forestry Notes:"
>
> Subject: A little technology is going a long way
>
> Sometimes the best ideas are borrowed. When Macon County (Illinois)
> Conservation District Executive Director Paul Marien was touring the
> Southern Illinois University campus a while back, he couldn't help but
> notice a series of quick response codes (better known as QR codes) attached
> to various trees on campus. Later, he'd learn the codes were used as a
> teaching tool to help engage tree identification students. Still, as much
> as Marien marveled at the technology, he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it
> before. It made too much sense.
>
> Upon returning back to Macon County he immediately began exploring how his
> district might use the tool to help local residents learn more about native
> trees. Marien decided a good start would be to add QR codes to a select
> number of trees within the conservation district's 24,000-square-foot
> nature center and along the bike trail it manages nearby.
>
> "So many people are using smartphones for different things," he says.
> "This was a no-brainer, a great public outreach tool."
>
> But Marien's biggest fear was technology. How were the QR codes
> manufactured? How did they sync with Southern Illinois University's
> resources? Marien enlisted the help of Millikin University student Alyssa
> Eckberg, who build QR codes as part of a school project. Marien selected 19
> trees – Kentucky coffee tree, walnut, white oaks, red oaks, shagbark
> hickory – that represented a good variety of trees visitors would commonly
> find in the county. And the cost was reasonable – a total of $195 for two
> sets of each aluminum label, which Macon County Conservation District staff
> installed in March (with no harm done to the tree).
>
> The result has been overwhelming.
>
> Read more at:
>
> http://www.nacdnet.org/resources/forestry/featured-stories/a-little-technology-is-going-a-long-way-in-the-woods
>
>
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