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The program addresses all aspects of riparian areas, desert frailty and adaptation, water conservation, roles of various agencies, personal responsibility, desert safety, and empowering students to get involved as citizens in making environmental decisions. The program is set up to integrate with the California State Framework for science, the California State Environmental Education Guide, Project Wild, Project Wild Aquatics, Project Archaeology, Leave No Trace, Tread Lightly, and the National Wildlife Federation's Naturescope (Desert).
The perennial riparian area winds down through the canyon surfacing intermittently to create small corridors of lush desert riparian plant and animal communities against the arid mountains and Mojave desert lands at the eastern end. The canyon is naturally set up for the six interpretive stations for the field study activities all located within one mile of the parking lot.
SEEP hopes to set the stage for a lifelong excitement about the outdoors, and a desire to learn about and care for the environment. By learning what living things need for a healthy environment they will realize how they can positively affect that environment. SEEP will provide students with the skills and the knowledge necessary to make intelligent personal and social decisions concerning the environment and its resources.
Contact: Katie Wash, Wilderness Specialist
Grade Level: 5
Partners:
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Sand Canyon is a perennial riparian area that runs from the top of the Eastern Sierras to the floor of the Mojave Desert in the northeastern portion of Kern County near the Inyo County line. Sand Canyon is an exciting and dramatic place. Not only can students learn about ecology, cultural, and historical aspects of the Mojave bioregion, but the area is also an example of how these aspects intertwine around the idea of water in the past, through time, and into the present.
The program will begin with a full-day pre-site classroom session in which the students will be briefed on what they should expect to see in the canyon. Topics such as desert safety, low impact conservation practices from the "Leave No Trace" program, and living in a desert rain shadow will be discussed. Then, students will spend a day observing the rich biodiversity of life in the canyon, and will complete a field journal. The field day consists of six stations; Archaeology, Art, Water, Plants, Birds and History. (Many of the people who lived in Sand Canyon during the construction of the LA Aqueduct are still living in the Ridgecrest area and present a History Walk, showing children their house sites and recounting what it was like to be a child living in Sand Canyon.) The program will conclude with a half-day post-site classroom session, a review of the students' journals, a discussion on the importance of water to the riparian area, and the idea of water conservation in our own lives.
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