Jakim’s Nature Walks…

David Jakim, has over a decade of experience leading guided nature walks across Long Island and New York City. He is a top expert on the ecology and biodiversity of the Port Washington Peninsula, where he has mapped and studied every habitat. Jakim has a broad educational background including an MA in Earth Science Education, an MS in Environmental Geoscience, a B.S. Major Equivalent, and a B.A. in Philosophical and Cultural Studies. He is also a certified GLOBE citizen science teacher trainer. He is also a distinguished GLOBE citizen science teacher trainer with the Queens College school of Earth and environmental sciences where he has trained hundreds of teachers to take their classes into the woods, to have experiences in nature, to conduct inquiry-based learning, authentic research, and to take action to benefit the environment. Jakim is an award-winning environmental educator at Sands point Preserve where he has been leading nature walks since 2018. As an educator with the Queens College School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Jakim has trained hundreds of NYC public school teachers to supervise their classes to conduct authentic environmental research, supervise nature studies across the disciplines, and utilize interactive geospatial data visualization systems for citizen science and exploration of the environment outside of school. Jakim is also the co-founder of the Metropolitan Monarch Alliance - a $120,000 EPA-funded partnership with Queens College, public schools, and environmental centers to promote community involvement in education and the promotion of resilient ecological communities.Jakim is a distinguished educator at Queens College with “College Now” where he has led programs to support students interested in science and ecology as they transition from high school to college

As a leader in environmental conservation and environmental conservation education, Jakim’s walks explore how humans interact with ecological communities and the earth as a system. To this end, Jakim has founded and led numerous organizations including ReWild Long Island 501(c)(3), the NYC Metropolitan Monarch alliance, the Port Washington Monarch butterfly alliance, and the committee and the coalition to protect and preserve the Hempstead Harbor Woods. Jakim has also served as a leader and chairperson on different initiatives with the village of new pulse environmental conservation commission, PW Green 501(c)(3), the center for disaster resilience solutions 501(c)(3). Currently, Jakim serves on the Board of Directors of transition town Port Washington 501(c)(3) and the Long Island Conservancy where he served as an expert advisor in environmental science. Through this work, he has been instrumental in protecting special ecological communities and establishing the Millbrook Preserve in the village of new Paltz and the 140 acre Hempstead Harbor Woods in Port Washington, NY. He has received multiple grants and awards for the foundation of these organizations.

Jakim has also received awards from the Wilson ornithological Society for study of birds for land-use planning in the Hempstead Harbor Woods; and award from the open space Institute for his research in biodiversity conservation in the Hudson Valley; a grant from the Explorers club for his biodiversity assessment in the village of new Paltz, NY; from the Garden club of America for your research and field botany; and from Hudsonia Ltd. To train a group of land-use planners to conduct biodiversity assessment in new Paltz and Lloyd, NY. In addition, Jakim has been awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation including one for “exploring the effects of fire on vegetation change and the carbon cycle in a boreal ecosystem,” and a second for a study of "“ anthropogenic and natural environmental change”on Block Island, NY.

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