9/25/2009 Tilden Elementary's "Best Field Trip Ever!"
The fifth grade class from Tilden Elementary brought the sun today when they joined us in the Greenbelt for a lesson on watersheds, biodiversity, and restoration practices. As we hiked into the site at 14th and Holly, buphalo showed the kids how to collect fireweed seed and expounded on the wonders of the thimbleberry plant (you can use the leaves to make a container for the delicious berries and later use the leaves for toilet paper!). The kids were then asked to look at a restoration site through their “scientific and artistic lenses” and tell us what they found; they found a lot of colorful fungi and insects. Before leaving this site, buphalo asked the class to rate the vertical structure of the forest canopy (thumbs down) and the biodiversity of the planted area (thumbs up).
We then moved down the trail and the class had a snack while buphalo gave a lesson on watersheds with the help of three wonderful volunteers acting as a river, a lake, and a creek!The next lesson was even more hands-on as we happened upon a swath of English ivy and the kids were told why it’s bad for the forest and how to identify and remove it. After all that hard work we had lunch and a dance party with The Yellow Hat Band!
Once everyone was full, the band led us to our next work site where we pulled up 200ft2 of Himalayan blackberry and planted three Douglas firs in a fast-forward demonstration of restoration practices. Normally, we wouldn’t plant until mid-October when the rains start, but we wanted the class to see what happens once we remove all of the invasive plants. Luckily, the little trees have received some rain recently! Thanks for great day, Tilden, and we’re glad it was “the best field trip ever!”
