Functional Habitat Expansion

Overview

Started in 1989, the Clinch River Environmental Studies Organization (CRESO) is an educational/research collaboration comprised of three primary partners and an expanding number of secondary supporters. Primary partners include the Department of Energy Environmental Management Office (funding and project oversight), Anderson County Schools (staff, student researchers, building maintenance, security, insurance, and technical support), and Oak Ridge Schools (staff, student researchers, business and budget oversight, and technical support). The main goal of CRESO is to actively engage middle and high school students in long-term ecological field studies focusing on the flora and fauna of the East Tennessee Valley and Ridge ecoregion.  Over 800 students have served as primary researchers and hundreds more have experienced elements of the program as field assistants, visitors, or through outreach efforts. While most participants come from Anderson and Oak Ridge school systems, students from other schools throughout the area are also represented. Bringing together a diversity of students of various ages and backgrounds in order to accomplish common goals and promote a deeper sense of community is a cornerstone of the CRESO mission. Staff members and partners encourage and actively demonstrate teamwork as the overriding principle of scientific research. Friendships developed through students having common interests and helping each other, often under harsh field conditions, while upholding exceptional research standards and ethics embodies the core of the CRESO program. Because many high school participants enter STEM related paths after graduation, the CRESO emphasis on teamwork and ethics serves them well. It should also be pointed out that the two originators of CRESO became life-long friends because of their mutual excitement and passion about the fascinating plants and animals linked to the Valley and Ridge ecoregion. Thus, a key motivator behind CRESO was the heartfelt desire to introduce young people to local wildlife, which continue to be a constant source of joy, questions, and discovery on an almost daily basis for its founders.