Chris Banyas
Life Editor
“Our world is in peril. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, can no longer stand the terrible destruction plaguing our planet. She sends five magic rings to five special young people.”
Those rings representing, of course, the powers of Earth, fire, wind, water and everyone’s favorite, heart, all worked together with a little help from a certain Captain to protect the planet every Saturday morning.
Questionable 90s cartoon references aside, the Ecology and Conservation Biology club recently formed at ISU aims to offer students not only a chance to make a difference in the natural world but to further their college educations as well.
Created in part by club president Jonathan Dudko, a graduate student in the biology department, the club is in the final stages of its incubation and hopes to officially hatch soon.
“Our constitution is actually still being considered by ASISU. We’re not officially recognized by the university yet, but the application has been submitted. We’re just waiting to hear back,” said Dudko.
Dudko arrived at ISU from Texas A&M and while not working as a TA or RA, works to solve a natural mystery.
“My master’s will be looking at the incubation recess movements of sage grouse while they’re nesting. While the sage grouse are sitting on nests, there are two periods of the day that they take a break,” said Dudko. “Those generally occur right at dawn and right at dusk for about a half-hour. The birds go somewhere and they do something, we don’t know quite what.”
The idea for the club arose in part due to Dudko’s experience with another club during his undergraduate years.
“I was very involved in my school’s chapter of The Wildlife Society and I think that was really instrumental in helping prepare me for the real world after graduation,” said Dudko. “That helped get me better prepared and introduce me to aspects of ecology and wildlife management that weren’t necessarily part of the curriculum.”
The club, while not yet official, currently has “just under a dozen and a half members” according to Dudko, and has already participated in several cleanups and other activities.
“There’s an O’Neall property outside of McCammon that’s owned by the university. We helped remove trash and kind of overgrown vegetation from there as part of a restoration effort,” said Dudko. “We helped with this school’s chapter of the American Fisheries Society and the Stream Ecology Center to clean up the Portneuf River during the city’s annual effort. We’ve had a workshop on radio telemetry, which is actually how I track my sage grouse, so that’s a skill that could potentially have a direct benefit to making students more competitive when it comes to looking for a job.”
While the club potentially offers biology students more than students focusing on other areas of study, it is open to all, as the goals of the club transcend the classroom.
“The world really is all tied together and things that influence one aspect of not just nature, but the world as a whole, have not necessarily obvious repercussions throughout other levels of ecological systems,” said Dudko. “Understanding how different pieces of that puzzle all fit together I think helps make all of us more responsible citizens.”
Currently there is no website for the club but there is a mailing list available. Interested students should contact Dudko directly at ude.usinull@anojkdud.
“What makes this club successful and will continue to make it successful is the student involvement, it’s not just any one member, not just me, but it’s really the collective effort from all of the students,” said Dudko.
