Environmental Studies students help plan park

Eleven students in the Environmental Studies program have been working with a local community to develop plans for a new park. Details...

Students in a senior environmental studies class, taught by Janet MacFall, director of the Center for Environmental Studies, and Doug Redington, associate professor of economics, have assisted the town of Swepsonville, N.C., in the early planning stages for a new park site on the Haw River in southeastern Alamance County.

Working with the Haw River Land & Trails Association (HRLTA), the town of Swepsonville and a park planner with the National Park Service, the students performed an environmental assessment and developed a preliminary plan for the park site. The students presented their findings to the Swepsonville town council on Dec. 4.

Two of the students will continue to work with the planner from the National Park Service, the town and a regional planner from the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments this spring to develop the final park plan. This plan will be submitted to council members at a future meeting and serve as a guideline for park development on the site.

The students who participated in the project are:

  • Luke Pangle
  • Dave Sybert
  • Christy Donhauser
  • Kevin Russell
  • Dan Hornyak
  • Rashida Farves
  • Brittany Connelly
  • Amy Kettlewell
  • Vicki Obenchain
  • Trisha Romano
  • Vanessa Kitchen