Check out a Watershed Explorers Field Trip!

2012 Program Video

 

2010 Program Video

 

 

Solano RCD is very grateful to their current local funders!

Solano County & all City Jurisdictions

Vallejo Water Conservation Program

Fairfield Suisun Sewer District

Suisun Resource Conservation District

City of Suisun City

Vallejo Sanitation and Flood Control District

Potrero Hills Landfill

The Watershed Explorers Program is a completely locally funded field trip program for County third graders. Trained watershed educators utilizes science and place-based learning to build awareness and understanding of local creeks and watersheds, their unique ecosystems, and ways in which we care for them. In-the-field discussions and activities teach children about the fragile habitats of birds and other wildlife. Students learn the importance of water quality in their watershed and discover that it is negatively impacted by urban runoff and its components: trash, oil, household chemicals and other human and domestic animal waste and discards. Concepts are directly linked to California State Standards and the program offers local children, many of whom have little or no experience being in open space settings, a concrete, experiential introduction to their watershed and creatures that inhibit it.

Watershed Explorers - 2012 Rockville Park  

There were 923 students from 39 classes involved in the program this year. Six field trips took place at Hanns Park with a total of 11 classes of students. Nine field trips were held at Rockville Park with 28 classes participating. The program totals are show below. 1,198 students and parents attended at one of the two locations from February through June 2012.

The program’s primary goal is to introduce students to, and foster an awareness of the outdoor, natural world. Participants leave the program:

• understanding the impact of storm water on their watershed, particularly the impacts of oil, chemicals and human debris in that storm water;
• learning individual stewardship practices in their watershed, i.e., how they can mitigate or eliminate the impacts of their own and their family’s behaviors around storm water protection and water quality;
• understanding the difference between native and non-native, invasive plants;
• knowing about at least one pollinator species the study watershed is habitat to.

Prior to the field trip, teachers are provided with manuals to prepare students for their experience. Students are given journals and participate in various activities, including: 

• making their own paper watershed model to observe what happens when oil or other contaminants are improperly disposed of somewhere in the watershed;
• learning how water flows;
• calculating the number of gallons of water they use each day and discussing ways to lessen their consumption;
• drawing the life cycle of a plant, reading about pollinators and discussing phenology and its relevance to the interconnectedness of humans, animals, weather and our environment.
  

Students arrive at the field trip site as young scientists. They are assigned tasks and equipped with instruments to assist them with data collection: a journal, clipboard, magnifying lens, and binoculars.

The first stop on their hike is an interactive learning experience about the relationship between human behaviors in urban areas and the impact of those behaviors in wild or open space. An enviroscape presentation demonstrates the dynamics of a watershed and how it is affected by pollution. This hands-on activity provides students with a three-dimensional visual of the watershed and allows them to see how urban runoff enters nearby storm drains and ends up in the Sacramento River, Suisun Marsh, Carquinez Straight or San Pablo Bay (depending on the students’ residence).

As students continue their exploration, they look for traces of birds, insects and mammals, hiking through open spaces only miles from their home. Using the program journal, they identify plant species, learn how some plants are pollinated and learn how seed dispersal works for different plants. While engaged in these activities, students are asked to continually keep in mind how everything in nature fits together to create systems to support life on the planet, from plants, to wildlife to humans.

Watershed Explorers - 2012 Hanns Park

Our community fundors make this program free to all participants.

For more information about this program, or any of Solano RCD's education programming, contact Mariane Butler, Education Program Manager, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707.301.5778