Introduction

Armand Bayou Nature Center (ABNC) is a 2,500 acre nature preserve in the highly urbanized area between NASA's Johnson Space Center and the Bayport Industrial District. ABNC is literally "Nature at your Doorstep".

ABNC protects three vanishing Gulf Coast habitats, including coastal flatwood forest, coastal tall grass prairie and an unchannelized estuarine bayou with surrounding wetlands. The ABNC preserve is home to more than 370 species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. More than 220 species of birds either reside at the center or use it as a safe resting place on their long migratory journeys.

ABNC strives to "Reconnect People with Nature" ABNC's mission is two-fold:

Preservation – Protect and restore ABNC's endangered native coastal tallgrass prairie, coastal flatwood forest, wetlands and natural bayou ecosystems, i.e. be a "Living Museum", and
Education – Be an environmental and Texas historical educational destination.

ABNC is a private not-for-profit 501(c)3 institution. As such, ABNC receives no automatic funding or support. A significant portion of ABNC's income does come from admissions to the Center and its programs. ABNC, however, relies on generous donations for the remainder of its funding.

An ecosystem or habitat is a home for plants and animals. This habitat meets the plants and animals' needs of climate, soil, food, space, etc.

ABNC's habitats make it a wonderful setting for hands-on wetlands education.

This Wetlands Curriculum Guide was prepared by a grant from the Galveston Bay Estuary Program (GBEP), a program of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). GBEP's Mission is to "Preserve Galveston Bay for Generations to Come".

The purpose of this curriculum is to:

Summarize ABNC's wetlands education programs

Appendix 1

Provide a list of other wetlands education resources

Appendix 2

Provide hands-on wetlands experiments for grade school students

Appendix 3

Develop a wetlands field guide with animals and plants characteristic of ABNC

Guide is a separate document. References for guide are in Appendix 4.

Add virtual tours of the Center and wetlands resources and data to the ABNC website.

Described in Appendix 2.B.

You may download a complete PDF* copy of the Wetlands Curriculum Guide and Wetlands Science Experiments.

* Adobe Acrobat Reader is required.