This week on Sustainable Idaho, Scott and Rachel are exploring the ISU Sustainability Club. Speaking to Eizaak Jordan, the club President, Sustainable Idaho explores the clubs current plans and why students should be getting involved.
This week on Sustainable Idaho, we are exploring the ISU Sustainability Club
We covered the Sustainability Club last November, but I think it’s fair to say the club has reached new exciting heights since then – so it’s time for an update.
This week we speak with Eizaak Jordan, the club President, to find out what new and exciting things the club has been getting involved with. We also hear from Alissa Salmore, an Environmental Planner for the Idaho Transportation Department, about her recent collaboration with the Sustainably Club for an Explorative Education Day.
From our previous episode on The ISU Sustainability Club, we know their original mission statement was to seek sustainable solutions to local issues and strengthen campus environmental awareness and community, among faculty, staff and students.
Eizaak Jordan, is an ISU political science student, and is the President of the Sustainability Club. We started by asking Eizaak about the history of the club and club’s current goals.
Eizaak explained that the club was created last March (just before COVID took hold), and aims to create an environmental consciousness on campus and promote sustainable practices.
Bearing in mind the club was only convinced last March, we continued by asking Eizaak how many members the club has.
Eizaak stated that the club has about 50 members on its mailing list and has seen about 20 of those members getting involved with club activities.
Undoubtedly, like most aspects of normal life, the ISU Sustainability Club has been impacted by the pandemic. For instance, the clubs weekly meeting is hosted on zoom. However, now the weather is more conducive, Eizaak has been busy organizing some exciting club activities.
Eizaak explained that he has organized a number of community restoration days and explorative education days, which are free to attend for club members and the general public. One of the community restoration days featured participation from the Sage Brush Steppe Land Trust and worked to clean a prominent local trail in Pocatello. A recent explorative education day was hosted on the Upper Portneuf River and explored biodiversity offsetting by a state agency.
As Eizaak mentioned, the club recently hosted an explorative education day on the Upper Portneuf River. The event, which was a total hit, took place on March 26th on the E. Old Oregon Trail Road, 8 miles east of McCammon. The event focused on exploring an environmental offsetting project being conducted by the Idaho Transportation Department. To ensure the event was educational and fun, the event featured a geologist, stream ecologist, and a birder. The event was led by Alissa Salmore, the Environmental Planner in charge of the offsetting project for the Idaho Transportation Department. We spoke to Alissa about the project and the value of the Sustainability Club getting involved.
Alissa explained the Department of Transportation must offset damage it causes to the environment (during road building) using biodiversity offsetting tactics. Practically, this means is they harm, degrade or destroy a natural area, they must aid, restore or create a new natural environment elsewhere.
After being contacted by Eizaak, Alissa kindly agreed to lead a field trip to one the Department of Transportation offsetting sites. At the site, Alissa explained the value of maintaining wetland ecosystem processes.
Alissa told Sustainable Idaho that she was pleased by the number of students interested in this type of activity and that is was great to see them getting involved in an off-campus project.
Eizaak stated that it’s very valuable for students to get involved with real field work – which in turn will translate to useful knowledge and experiences that will improve a student’s academic work.
We would like to thank both Eizaak Jordan and Alissa Salmore this week. Join us for Sustainable Idaho every Tuesday morning at 7.35am.