?Life abounds? at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, and that served as the theme for some local students who participated in the most recent offering of the refuge's program to teach about the environment through the camera lens.

Developed and taught by the Friends of the Heinz Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum Photo Group, ?Learning About the Environment Through the Lens? is a combination of classroom learning, field work, and creating a ?hands-on? display over two consecutive Saturdays. In the past, individual local area high schools provided up to six students per session. This time, a general invitation was put out through press releases and the friends' newsletter, ?Marsh Musings.?

On May 1, the students spent the day at the refuge. The first half of that day included PowerPoint presentations with handout materials aimed at giving them a sense of place, and both the human and natural history of Tinicum Marsh, the Darby Creek watershed, and the Heinz refuge. This was presented by refuge staff member, Bill Buchanan. The second half of the classroom presentations dealt with photography, presented by the Friends of the Heinz Wildlife Refuge Photo Group member and volunteer, Mark Bohn.

In the second half of the day, the students were briefed on the use of 35 mm SLR cameras. The students had to figure out proper exposure settings for each shot. They were assisted by three more Photo Group members, Frank Doyle, Robert Richards and Larry DiPietro. All three have served as mentors in the program in the past.

It was then out into the field where the students, each with a mentor, worked on capturing images that could best embody their theme.

The film was processed and on May 8 the students returned to review and edit the prints. They then went to work on both an individual display and a team display. Upon completion of their projects each student was presented with a certificate and a Friends of the Heinz Wildlife Refuge T-shirt. Their displays will be on exhibit in the Cusano Environmental Education Center through the next several weeks.

NORTHEAST REGION, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE -- Conserving the Nature of the Northeast