In the News

Tahoe Students Care for Their Schoolyards…
date posted: December 22 2005

Lake Tahoe Report #75
July 9, 2004
By John Cobourn and Heather Segale

Teachers and students are working with scientists and engineers to design a natural garden in a portion of the playground at Tahoe Lake Elementary School in Tahoe City. They plan to remove a portion of pavement under the roof eaves of a classroom building, and then plant, study and maintain native species there.

The garden area directly under the roof’s drip line will be stabilized within a sturdy planter box that will receive roof runoff. The plants in the box will use some water, with the rest of the water infiltrating into the ground. This structure will highlight an infiltration system, which is a “best management practice” (BMP) being used to protect Lake Tahoe’s water quality. By infiltrating roof water into the ground, the planter box will reduce the amount and force of runoff that carries sediments into Lake Tahoe. Additional garden-like water infiltration areas will be installed nearby to handle runoff from very intense storms.

In addition to teaching water quality protection, this community demonstration site will function as a Schoolyard Habitat, as defined by the National Wildlife Federation. The school’s students have helped design the project by mapping the coverage and drainage patterns on the schoolyard. They also are hoping the native plants that they will plant and grow, will provide food, water, and cover for birds, butterflies, squirrels and other wildlife. National Wildlife Federation Schoolyard Habitat training for local teachers will be held in Tahoe City Aug. 30 and 31.

Students participating in planning and planting the garden will be learning many lessons in addition to water quality and wildlife habitat. As a “service-learning project,” this garden provides students with the experience of contributing something tangible to their community. It gives them a sense of connection to the real issues of where they live. Also called “place-based learning,” such projects motivate students to get deeply involved in learning across the curriculum, because they are studying the place they call home. Students learn math and language arts skills by observing pre-project conditions, monitoring the effects of the garden after completion, and comparing the two. Students learn to observe plant growth and soil erosion, and record observations in written form. They also take physical measurements, and do the math to interpret the data they collect. Such real-world practice is ideal for meeting the demands of today’s standards-based curriculum, while allowing students to experience the difference that stewardship makes in improving their local environment.

Research has shown that such interdisciplinary education improves students’ ability to process and retain information and build important learning skills. Furthermore, students realize that they are citizens in their community and can make a difference. Many will grow up with a sense of responsibility for protecting their environment and contributing to their community.

A grant written by Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) and awarded by Sierra Nevada Alliance will fund most of this project’s construction costs. Another California water quality grant, collaboratively written by SWEP, Lake Tahoe Environmental Education Coalition (LTEEC), University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, University of California Cooperative Extension, Adopt-A-Watershed, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and Tahoe Resource Conservation District, will fund similar projects in two other north-shore schools and three south-shore schools. These projects will all be demonstration sites that display various types of BMPs and native vegetation, and provide Schoolyard Habitat areas.

The organizations involved are committed to increasing the number of such innovative, place-based learning projects at Lake Tahoe schools. The Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District has embraced such environmental education and service-learning projects. Hopefully, other area schools will support their teachers in bringing these methods into their classrooms in the future.