Working Groups: K-12 Watershed Education

LTEEC Symposium on Place-based Learning in Schools Draws 120 Educators
By John Cobourn, UNCE

At LTEEC’s Fifth Annual Meeting on Sept. 28, 120 participants met to learn about new ways to improve environmental education in the schools of our region. LTEEC’s survey of educational program needs in January 2004 rated school-based programming as the most important area for improvement. This finding was reinforced by the record-setting attendance at this year’s Annual Meeting.

The purpose of the symposium was to get teachers, agency representatives and other community members together, and to inspire them to implement new forms of experiential service learning. The planning committee for the event included 15 teachers and natural resource professionals.

LTEEC has been working with the Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) and Adopt-A-Watershed for three years to establish community K-12 teams on the north shore, the south shore, and the Nevada shore. SWEP has taken the lead in the Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District, and has several model programs. On the south shore, Diana Reiner has been working with interested teachers for several years, assisting them in forming community-based projects. Dan Allison was also hired recently by SWEP to assist teachers with new programs on the south shore. Model programs and projects were showcased at the symposium, so participants could learn to use exciting new methods in their classrooms.

The unifying concept for the conference was “place-based learning.” Place-based learning is the study of the community and environment where the students live and go to school. The Lake Tahoe Basin is such a fascinating environment that students enjoy learning a “sense of place.” The local environment can become the context for learning science, math, language arts, and social sciences. Students experience a real-world connection with this kind of subject matter. Extensive research has shown that students become more engaged and enthused about learning and present less discipline problems when they study their home environment and learn about how they can protect it. Such students have also been shown to score better on the standardized tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Educators presented programs including LTEEC’s guest speaker list (Community Leaders in the Classrooms), in-class activities such as Project Wet, and off-campus programs where teachers take classes for organized field trips. The “Cadillac” approach, however, is the service-learning project, where a teacher has the class plan, organize, and implement an environmental restoration, monitoring or educational project with the assistance of other community organizations and businesses. Local expert Dan Allison refers to this as a “place-based service-learning” project.

The goal of the planning committee is to help teachers get started. For some educators, inviting a guest speaker is the first step. At the end of the symposium, we asked participants to commit to a project for this school year, and also to start planning a more ambitious service-learning project for the next year or two. This challenge was answered by 40 teachers, agency staff, and other community leaders, who submitted their future plans along with their evaluations of the symposium. Interestingly, 39 of the 40 respondents rated the importance of the tools presented in the symposium as 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, for being “important to use in Tahoe area schools.”

last modified: April 12 2005

Teacher Workshops
Project WET, Project WILD, GLOBE and Adopt-A-Watershed curriculum is presented to teachers at workshops held throughout the year. Teachers should contact Leslie Allen at (775) 832-4138 to request specific workshops or to find out details.

last modified: April 21 2005

K-12 Watershed Education Update Summer 2003
K-16 Watershed Education Strategic Plan

The Kindergarten through College Grade 16, or K-16, Watershed Education Strategic Plan has been released in DRAFT form for comments. The plan provides the history and background of efforts to provide environmental education in our schools. It includes a listing of opportunities and a detailed timeline with goals and objectives for the next five years. Jill Sarick, Tahoe’s regional coordinator with Adopt-a-Watershed, is anticipating sharing this document with many different agencies, organizations, community groups, businesses, and administrators, but she needs your help. Are you a member of an agency or organization that would like to hear about plans to enhance K-16 watershed education? Are you a board member or administrator who would benefit from hearing a collection of issues, concerns and opportunities expressed for K-16 watershed education? Do you know of community groups who were not included in our first round of discussions and feel that their perspective would be valuable to include in this document? To receive a copy of this document, contact Sarick, (775) 832-4167 or jill@adopt-a-watershed.org.

Leadership Development for K-16 Education

Leadership Teams are forming in South Lake Tahoe and Nevada communities for place-based and watershed education programs. Leadership Teams are comprised of community leaders, teachers, students, parents, administrators and others interested in promoting the development of enduring and high quality place-based service learning programs. Issues, concerns and opportunities likely to be raised include No Child Left Behind, educational standards and proficiency tests, fundraising, project support and staffing, and professional development. Public support and involvement in K-16 education is critical; budget deficits, declining infrastructures and increasing emphasis on testing are resulting in changes to our public school character. Please make your voice heard. No meeting dates have been set, but we have tentatively agreed to meet sometime Aug. 4 — 15. If you are interested in sitting in on these discussions, please contact Sarick, (775) 832-4167 or jill@adopt-a-watershed.org.

Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) Update

Thanks to tremendous support from our partners and teacher enthusiasm, Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships has had an extremely successful 2002-2003 school year in the Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District (TTUSD) in Placer County. Our community partnerships continue to be the backbone of our programs, and this year we had more classrooms than ever participating in community projects. In addition to our community-based watershed projects and professional development, SWEP is supporting an ever-growing Watershed Education Leadership Team and this spring hosted a very successful fundraiser, Run for the Rivers 10k Fun Run.

More than 60 teachers have been directly involved in watershed projects this school year. That translates into over 2,100 students throughout the TTUSD learning about their watershed and community through hands-on experiences. Projects have ranged from water quality monitoring and native grass restoration to watershed-inspired art and poetry projects. Not only are these hands-on projects teaching students about their watershed and all that it contains, but community projects are a valuable way to reinforce classroom learning.

SWEP expanded the professional development opportunities for teachers and community partners by hosting workshops designed to engage educators in science exploration with students, while incorporating disciplines such as math, social studies, art and language arts. A Community Leaders in the Classroom workshop was hosted for resource professionals and other nonformal educators working with youth in our community. With over 150 people trained this year, these were valuable learning opportunities for everyone involved.

Through a generous scholarship from Adopt-A-Watershed, SWEP has been able to send a team of teachers, administrators and resource professionals to an intensive eight-day leadership institute, hosted by Adopt-A-Watershed. This group of committed individuals forms the Tahoe Watershed Education Team which helps to guide K-12 watershed education efforts in the Tahoe-Truckee area by hosting workshops, supporting student projects, and mentoring new participants.

last modified: August 30 2004

K-12 Watershed Education Update Fall 2003
K-16 Watershed Education

Adopt-A-Watershed is working with the Lake Tahoe Environmental Education Coalition (LTEEC) and its partner agencies to encourage and assist school teachers at all levels to incorporate environment-based education into their classrooms. This effort recognizes that students need to be motivated to learn basic math, science and language arts skills in an integrated and interdisciplinary fashion. A K-16 subgroup continues to seek interested teachers and parents to further these goals. To learn more or to volunteer contact Jill Sarick, regional coordinator, Adopt-A-Watershed, (775) 832-4167.

Environmental Literacy Council (www.enviroliteracy.org)

If we are to protect the earth and our future, we need to equip today's students to be tomorrow's environmental stewards. Our classrooms must become places where students achieve a deep understanding of complex environmental issues. A forest, for example, may be a place of great beauty; a natural resource critical to the health of neighboring communities; a local ecosystem supporting rich plant and animal life; and a vital component in the planet's great biogeochemical cycles for regulating global climate. The council seeks to help teachers and their students see this, to analyze and evaluate risk, and to understand the limits and impact of our actions.

Such an approach accepts that environmental issues involve many dimensions —scientific, economic, aesthetic and ethical. It recognizes that our knowledge is rapidly evolving and that scientific evidence is often uncertain. Above all, it acknowledges the critical importance of environmental literacy, not only to the individual and society, but to the environment itself.

Education and the Environment: Want to know more about the environmental education movement? How can we maximize our efforts in educating our young people? How can we achieve success in our educational performance mandates while fostering our young people to remain civically engaged? This report produced by California Department of Environmental Education lends some strategies. See http:/
/www.californiaee.org/.

Video Project Needs Teacher Input

LTEEC recently received an EPA Environmental Education grant to produce videos of “The Lake Tahoe Report” news segments for distribution to teachers and other educators. We need input from teachers to create classroom units based on these segments. Who is interested in receiving a copy of these videos? Do you have specific needs (e.g. VHS tape, segment length, topics covered)? Contact Heather Segale, (775) 832-4138. “The Lake Tahoe Report” videos will be available June 2004.

Advancing Education Through Environmental Literacy

A free publication and CD-ROM on environmental education is now available from the Environmental Education & Training Partnership (EETAP). EETAP collaborated with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development to produce “Advancing Education Through Environmental Literacy.” Included are descriptions of schools successfully implementing environmental education programs and summaries of research documenting how schools have raised test scores of their students by using the environment to help teach content in subject areas such as social studies, science, reading, and math. The CD-ROM provides a sample of 43 free EE activities (including several PLT activities). The activities are linked to different grade levels and subject areas and provide an introduction to environmental education. By using them, teachers can explore how environmental education can help meet academic standards, boost student learning, and promote environmental literacy. To obtain your copy, send your name and mailing address by e-mail to EnviroEdTrainingPartnership@uwsp.edu.

Space Science for Schools

Space Science for School (SS4S) is a Nevada nonprofit corporation with a charter to “stimulate students to excel in science.” The prime focus of SS4S is partnering volunteer astronomers and scientists of our region with science teachers. Educators will be trained by “Project ASTRO,” a successful National Science Foundation grant program for bringing astronomy and science to the classroom and into the field, and will create a local chapter of Project ASTRO. The program will begin within the year for Incline Village schools and is expected to expand to other Washoe and Placer County schools in the future.

The monthly star party program at Burnt Cedar Beach will continue into the fall. Beginning in October, a six-week, beginning astronomy course, “Astronomy For The Fun Of It” will be offered to the public at Aspen Grove, sponsored by the IVGID Recreation Department. Plans include a tuition-based summer space camp program in 2004 for small groups of students and parents. SS4S is fundraising for equipment acquisitions (including a mobile observatory and telescopes) and staffing. Learn more about how your organization can collaborate with SS4S by contacting Paul Guttman, (775) 720-6999, or pguttman@nvbell.net.

NNREC Annual Conference

Approximately 50 attendees participated in the Nevada Natural Resource Education Council's (NNREC) Annual Conference “Partnership Ignites Environmental Education” on Sept. 27. The conference provided an opportunity for teachers, students, watershed managers and community members to build partnerships that will enhance education and promote watershed stewardship. A workshop on how to do a restoration project with students, a local history lesson, a review of the “Projects” curriculums (WET, WILD, Learning Tree), Community Leaders in the Classroom (for community partners) and working sessions on how to build leadership in communities for watershed education were provided. Tim Brown, former executive director, Utah Society for Environmental Education (USEE), and now Green Space Design, was the keynote speaker, talking about how unique partnerships allowed USEE to become one of the most influential EE organizations in Utah and the country.
NNREC, LTEEC and Adopt-A-Watershed are looking at ways to expand the K-16 watershed education program into Nevada and will be working with interested individuals to make it happen. Contact Jill Sarick, (775) 832-4167, if you are interested in getting involved.

Resources for Educators

A 30-page collection of materials is now available to help teachers summarize some of the current administration’s actions on environmental protection law and policy, and to integrate ongoing debates into course preparations for the coming academic year. The materials are part of the annual “Update for Teachers” published each summer in conjunction with an environmental law and policy course book. For a copy of the 2003-04 National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment Update, send an e-mail with “Request 2003 Update” in the subject line, and your mailing address and school affiliation in the body, to: environmentallawanpolicy
@bc.edu.

A Web site for K–12 educators is available that features brief text and animated presentations on topics such as planting and tending gardens; incorporating 4–H projects in the classroom; and helping students become more aware of how plants, animals, and humans interact with ecosystems. Some activities are available on CD-ROM and in Spanish. See http://www.urbanext
.uiuc.edu/SchoolsOnline/index.html.

last modified: August 30 2004

K-12 Watershed Education Update Winter 2004
New Adopt-a-Watershed (AAW) Regional Coordinator: Dan Allison is the new regional coordinator for Adopt-A-Watershed in the Lake Tahoe Basin and Truckee River Watersheds. He is excited about continuing and enhancing the work Jill Sarick has done, developing relationships among all the providers and learners of place-based education, coordinating these efforts to bring them into alignment with education standards, and helping create sustainable communities and environment in the watershed. Dan can be reached at (775) 832-4167.

Good luck to Jill Sarick who is leaving the Tahoe region. We wish her the best in San Luis Obispo, California, and during her travels. She will be missed!

Adopt-A-Watershed Place-based Leadership Development: Adopt-A-Watershed will hold its 2004–2005 West Coast Regional Place-based Leadership Development Program. Adopt-A-Watershed helps communities develop educational programs focused on the local watershed, encouraging environmental stewardship and enhancing student learning. Their Leadership Development Program builds teams of strong and knowledgeable leaders within the community. The goal is to establish high-quality and enduring education programs focused on the local environment and engaging the community. For a downloadable flyer, visit http://wwwStatic.kern.org/gems/region8/AdoptAWatershedPlacedBasedLe.doc

Teach Tahoe Curriculum
Teachers are working with LTEEC on development of a “Teach Tahoe” curriculum. Lessons on Lake Tahoe issues will augment in-class videos of the existing “Lake Tahoe Report” televised news segments to provide local students with real-world examples and place-based learning. We need teachers to help align curriculum to the standards and we are seeking Service Learning Partnership funds to provide stipends for teachers.

Environmental Education in Schools on the Nevada Shore
A new community-based leadership team recently formed to assist teachers in Tahoe’s Nevada schools in increasing place-based learning in their classes. The group seeks the support of teachers, school administrators and other community members. For details, contact Dan Allison, (775) 832-4167.

River of Words Contest
Each year, in affiliation with The Library of Congress Center for the Book, River of Words conducts a free international poetry and art contest for youth on the theme of watersheds. The contest is designed to help youth explore the natural and cultural history of the places they live, and to express, through poetry and art, what they discover. The contest is open to any child in the world, from 5-19 years of age. Students may enter on their own, or as part of a group (classroom, Girl Scout troop, 4-H, etc.). Students and teachers may check the Website at http://riverofwords.org/contest/, or contact Dan Allison, (775) 832-4167, allisondan@sbcglobal.net. The deadline for entry is Feb. 15.

Environmental Education in the School Setting
Teaching about the natural and built environment provides a real-world context for learning by linking the classroom to the students' community. Because environmental education encourages inquiry and investigation, students develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective decision-making skills. Environmentally literate students become citizens who are able to weigh various sides of an environmental issue and make responsible decisions as individuals and as members of their community. Quality, standards-based environmental education improves everyday life by protecting human health and encouraging stewardship of natural resources. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Environmental Education, http://www.epa.gov/enviroed.

Place-based Teaching Addresses Multiple Student Needs
The Federal No Child Left Behind Act doesn't answer the essential question teachers need to ask. Why, asks Michael L. Umphrey (www.edheritage.org), in a nation of unprecedented material abundance, are growing numbers of children suffering from depression, addiction, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and other spiritual and behavioral problems? And are there things we can do in the schools to address it? Umphrey's solution is to create education-centered communities. When we turn to young people and tell them that we need them, we offer them what they really want: an invitation to be a member of a good community, a chance to do meaningful work, and a place to be someone who matters. Five activities for creating place-based learning environments are included in Umphrey’s report at http://www.edheritage.org/articles/03Oct16_TinklingCymbals.htm.

State Board Action on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Science Tests
In January 2004, the California State Board of Education approved the plan for NCLB testing as originally proposed. The middle school (grades 6-9) test will be administered in eighth grade and will test all the physical science standards. The high school (grades 10-12) test will be administered in 10th grade and will cover a selection of middle school life science and high school biology standards. The tests will be field-tested in 2005 and operational in 2006. Blueprints for the NCLB test can be found on the California Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Website at http://www.cascience.org/NCLBtest.pdf.

last modified: August 30 2004

K-12 Watershed Education Update Spring 2004
Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) Keeping Busy

Jan Ellis, program manager, SWEP, has been staying busy this spring with projects in the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District. SWEP’s mission is to promote environmental stewardship through comprehensive watershed education, service-learning, and collaborative hands-on community projects.

South Tahoe and Nevada K-12
Leadership Teams Formed

Both South Lake Tahoe and Nevada have formed leadership groups to collaborate and promote environmental education in these regions. Contact Dan Allison, (775) 832-4167, for more information.

Teachers’ Association for Outdoor & Adventure Education, Inc.

The Teachers’ Association for Outdoor & Adventure Education, Inc. (TAO) is a Truckee-based 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to offering outdoor educational experiences to schools and youth groups, combining academics with adventure experiences. Visit www.taoeducation.org

TAO is running an intensive six-week summer school program this coming summer for 10 English Language Learner (ELL) students, combining outdoor education and environmental education with academic literacy instruction. TAO is partnering with SWEP, the Tahoe - Truckee School District, the ESL departments at North Tahoe High and Truckee High, the Boys and Girls Club in Truckee and Sagehen Research Facility.

Great Basin Outdoor School
Programs

The Lake Tahoe Basin will be more fire safe this summer thanks to children cooperating with the Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF) on an on-the-ground hazardous fuels reduction project at Spooner Lake State Park. Great Basin Outdoor School children will reduce fire danger and lake-clouding erosion by gathering downed wood for chipping by NDF and then redistributing the chipped material in areas needing mulch for ground cover. Service-learning and stewardship projects are encouraged as long-term environmental values of the outdoor school program.

Great Basin Outdoor School’s mission is to ignite children’s passion for learning and foster cooperation, respect, and responsibility through hands-on discovery in the outdoor classroom.  Children learn during four-day field studies, building academic and social skills and developing their understanding of the natural world.  Fifth- and sixth-grade classes, high school and college students, and teachers study local ecology with standards-based lessons at Camp Galilee, during spring, fall, and winter programs.  Service-learning projects and place-based education help develop a commitment to sustainability and a connection to the earth.

For more information, contact Sue Jacox, suejacox@nvbell.net.

last modified: August 30 2004

NRCS Assists Schoolyard Makeover to Protect Lake Tahoe
By John Stern, Public Affairs, NRCS

A unique conservation effort partnered an elementary school with NRCS, the Tahoe Resource Conservation District, and parents and volunteers. Kindergarten, fourth and fifth graders joined parents and teachers wielding shovels, wheelbarrows and buckets, to complete the first stage of a Best Management Practices (BMPs) school yard makeover.

The project was the brainstorm of TRCD Conservation Leader, Scott Cecchi and Jan Ellis of the Sierra Watershed Education Partnership (SWEP). Adding BMPs will help the Tahoe Lake Elementary School comply with lake protection ordinances that require developed properties in the Tahoe Basin be retrofitted with measures to protect water quality. The intent is to protect Tahoe's world-renowned water clarity. NRCS furnished technical support in choosing appropriate plant materials, and provided advice on engineering options. NRCS also contributed some materials, including terracing stones, gravel, native plants, and topsoil, as part of this demonstration project.

Tahoe Lake Elementary teachers designed curriculum and activities to take advantage of the project’s multiple learning opportunities. They use project-based real-world learning, an interdisciplinary teaching approach shown by education researchers to increase student self-discipline and to produce substantial gains in math, science and language arts learning. Curriculum that connects student learning with their environment will be used as a prototype to target similar future partnerships with other schools in the Tahoe Basin.

last modified: December 13 2004

Lake Tahoe is Losing Water Clarity
Lake Tahoe waters have been losing transparency at an average of about one foot each year since the late 1960s.

Lake Tahoe’s exceptional clarity is a result of the absence of suspended sediment and free-floating, single-celled algae in the water. Given undisturbed conditions, the lake’s water quality would change so slowly the changes would be undetectable over a human lifetime. Human settlements and logging activities that began in the late 1880s have contributed to the rapidly declining clarity. Lake Tahoe’s clarity has decreased by more than 33 percent since the 1960s and is steadily declining at the rate of one foot a year. Scientists say that the rate of water quality deterioration at Lake Tahoe has been steady for so long it may become irreversible in 10 years.

Lake Tahoe’s water quality problems are not caused by industry or by wastewater treatment plants. The causes of water pollution are the daily activities of the thousands of residents and visitors in the Lake Tahoe watershed. We all need to learn to reduce our impact on the environment—impacts like erosion, over-fertilization, spills, leaks, and disturbances of soils and stream environment zones.

last modified: December 27 2005

Fish Species of the Lake Tahoe Basin
Lake Tahoe Report #151
January 9, 2006
By John Cobourn and Heather Segale

In terms of lakes, Tahoe is a relatively harsh environment for fish. It was cutoff from other bodies of water many thousands of years ago, so as it evolved, only seven species of fish evolved in it. However, since the introduction of humans and human intervention at Lake Tahoe, that number has changed.

According to Brant Allen, fisheries biologist with the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, “The original native game fish was the Lahontan cutthroat trout, which is no longer in the lake. But, there are still six native species of fish swimming in Tahoe.” The Lahontan cutthroat trout, named for the distinctive red streak under its chin, once topped Lake Tahoe’s food chain and weighed as much as 40 pounds. This fish thrived in the Tahoe Basin and migrated the length of the Truckee River between Tahoe and Pyramid Lake.

The native fish that still survive in Lake Tahoe include:

· The mountain whitefish (Prosopium willaimsoni) is Lake Tahoe’s only native game fish. It lives near the bottom to a depth of about 100 feet.

· The Lahontan redside shiner (Richardsonius egregious) is a native minnow that is abundant in the shallow shorezone and can usually be seen in large numbers around marinas and rock crib piers. It grows to 3 to 4 inches long.

· The Lahontan speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus) is another native minnow that grows to about 2 to 3 inches long. It is difficult to find, as it seeks the cover of rocky substrate on the bottom of the lake.

· The tui chub (Gila bicolor) is a bottom-oriented chub that feeds on zooplankton or sediments on the bottom of the lake.

· The Tahoe sucker (Catostomus tahoensis) is a bottom feeder that grows to about 16 inches long.

· The Paiute sculpin (Cottus beldingi) grows to about 3 inches long. It lives under rocks and is rarely observed in less than 10 feet of water.

The native Lahontan cutthroat trout went extinct in Lake Tahoe in 1939, due in part to overfishing, competition with nonnative species, and the development of dams. In particular, Derby Dam below Reno and Sparks and the Tahoe Outlet Dam in Tahoe City isolated the Tahoe population of cutthroat trout from other populations within the historic range.

Beginning in the late 1800s, when the effects of human environmental changes had reduced the numbers of Lahontan cutthroat in the lake, humans began introducing nonnative fish species in hopes of increasing Tahoe’s yield of game fish. These introductions included lake trout from the Great Lakes, Chinook salmon, Atlantic salmon, golden trout, Arctic grayling, Great Lakes whitefish, brook trout, brown trout, and rainbow trout. Of these fish species, the lake trout, brown trout, brook trout, and rainbow trout were able to establish self-supporting populations in the Tahoe Basin.

In the 20th century, additional introductions of nonnative invertebrates and fish further altered the Tahoe Basin ecosystem. Using the best available science at the time, exotic species were introduced with the intention of adding a recreational component or supporting an existing fishery. Unfortunately, not all of the species behaved as expected in the clear, cold waters of the Tahoe Basin.

After 70 years of alteration, the aquatic ecosystem now supports nonnative lake trout (Mackinaw) as the top predator. They are accompanied by rainbow trout, brown trout and kokanee salmon, providing multiple recreational fishing opportunities for shallow and deep-line anglers. The native Lahontan cutthroat trout is now among the most endangered western salmonids. Fortunately, as noted above, the other six native Tahoe fish species have survived the planned exotic introductions and continue to thrive within the Tahoe Basin.

In recent years, new threats to Tahoe’s remaining native fish have arisen. A number of warm-water fish species have been illegally introduced to Lake Tahoe, including largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, and sunfish. While these fish are typically associated with warm-water environments, their populations are able to grow and spread within the Tahoe Basin. Taking advantage of seasonally warm water in bays and marinas, the fish feed on native minnows and successfully spawn.

Scientists from University of California Davis and University of Nevada Reno plan to study the potential expansion of these species, and with help from the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, implement a plan for their control. “The warm-water invasive species appear to pose a great risk to Tahoe’s remaining native species,” states Brant Allen a research biologist for UC Davis. “Their ability to consume large numbers of fish and the apparent overlap with native minnow spawning areas is a big concern.”

Warm-water fish invasions are not new to California. Nearby Lake Davis continues to experience problems resulting from the illegal introduction of northern pike, a voracious predator. Controlling the spread of similar species in the Tahoe Basin could go a long way to preserving native fish and assist the recovery of Tahoe’s once great Lahontan cutthroat trout.

The Lake Tahoe Report is a collaboration between John Cobourn, Water Resource Specialist with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, and Heather Segale, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the University of California, Davis. For more information, contact Heather Segale, (530) 583-3279, or logon to www.lteec.org, www.tahoe.unr.edu, or terc.ucdavis.edu.

last modified: January 10 2006

Bald Eagle Viewing More Likely During the Winter
Lake Tahoe Report #153
January 23, 2006
By Heather Segale and John Cobourn

Sighting a bald eagle is a magnificent experience, especially after the bald eagle’s near extinction in the not-so-distant past. The bald eagle population fell to endangered levels of less than 500 pairs in the early 1960s due to hunting, habitat loss and contamination of waterways and food sources by various pollutants and pesticides, most notably DDT.

There was a similar drop in eagle populations at Lake Tahoe during the late 1980s, when the two nest sites in the basin were both inactive. There are usually only one or two pairs of bald eagles in the Tahoe Basin during the summer. However, during the winter, bald eagles migrate to Tahoe because it is more temperate than Alaska and Canada. According to wildlife biologist Stewart McMorrow, “as many as 20 eagles have been counted in the Tahoe Basin during the winter months.”

Bald eagles live near large bodies of open water, such as lakes, marshes, seacoasts and rivers, where there are plenty of fish to eat and tall trees for nesting and roosting. Bald eagles feed primarily on fish, but also eat small animals, such as ducks, coots, muskrats, turtles, rabbits, and snakes. Occasionally, they also eat dead animals. They are a kind of predator called raptors. They swoop down to seize fish in their powerful, long and sharp talons. They exert approximately 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch in each foot. They can carry their food off in flight, but can only lift about half their weight. Bald eagles can fly at speeds of about 65 miles per hour in level flight, and up to 150 or 200 miles per hour in a dive.

Bald eagles are monogamous and mate for life. A Bald eagle will only select another mate if its faithful companion dies. They build large nests, called eyries, at the top of sturdy, tall trees. The nests become larger as the eagles return to breed and add new nesting materials year after year. Bald eagles make their new nests an average of 2 feet deep and 5 feet wide. Eventually, some nests become 10 feet wide and weigh several tons. When a nest is destroyed by natural causes, it is often rebuilt nearby. Bald eagles line their nests with twigs, soft mosses, grasses and feathers.

The female lays one to three eggs each spring, which hatch after about 35 days of incubation. Feathers of newly hatched bald eaglets are light grey, and turn dark brown before they leave the nest in about 12 weeks. When they are 3 or 4 years old, bald eagles have mottled brown and white feathers under their wings and on their heads, tails and breasts. The distinctive white head and tail feathers do not appear until they are about 4 to 5 years old. Their beaks and eyes also turn from dark brown to yellow during this time.

Bald eagles are about 29 to 42 inches long, can weigh 7 to 15 pounds, and have a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet. This makes them one of the largest birds in North America. Females are larger than males, but both have white heads and tail feathers and yellow beaks.

The bald eagle is our national symbol, so when it became threatened with extinction in the 1960s, people took notice. Strong endangered species and environmental protection laws, as well as active private, state and federal conservation efforts, have brought back the bald eagle population from the edge of extinction in the United States. The use of DDT pesticide is now outlawed in the United States, which has contributed greatly to the return of the bald eagle to America's skies. There are now over 5,000 nesting pairs and 20,000 total birds in the lower 48 states. There are over 35,000 bald eagles in Alaska.

There are several other common raptors living at least part of the year in the Lake Tahoe Basin. One of the most common is the osprey, which is somewhat similar in appearance to the bald eagle, having white markings on its head and throat and a dark brown back and tail. It also preys mostly on fish. Most nests that you see in the Tahoe Basin are osprey nests. Sometimes eagles will steal freshly caught fish from the slightly smaller ospreys.

Forest hawks, which do not fish for food, include the sharp-shinned hawk, the Cooper’s hawk, and the northern goshawk. Such raptors are called accipiters. Other raptors in the Basin include the merlin, the great horned owl, the western screech owl, the flammulated owl, the northern Pigmy owl, the northern Saw-whet owl, and the rare California spotted owl. Red tail hawks also frequent Tahoe, and peregrine falcons sometimes pass through the region.

For more information about the birds of the Tahoe Basin, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/recreation/wildlife/birds.shtml.

The Lake Tahoe Report is a collaboration between John Cobourn, Water Resource Specialist with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, and Heather Segale, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the University of California, Davis. For more information, contact Heather Segale, (530) 583-3279, or logon to www.lteec.org, www.tahoe.unr.edu, or terc.ucdavis.edu.

last modified: January 23 2006

Lake of the Sky - The Lake Tahoe Story
A Robust Multimedia Presentation by David C. Antonucci

Amazing Facts and True Stories About Lake Tahoe:

Lake of the Sky — The Lake Tahoe Story brings the mysteries and science of Lake Tahoe to everyone. Using state of the art multimedia techniques, the viewer experiences an exciting and informative journey of discovery. Accompanied by live narration from a qualified environmental scientist, the audience will explore the mystique of Lake Tahoe. Participants will have greater understanding, leading to a deeper appreciation and lasting memories of Lake Tahoe.

Centered around the most frequently asked questions and mysteries of Lake Tahoe, the 45-minute presentation covers the Lake’s most fascinating and timely aspects. Viewers will learn about the natural forces that created Lake Tahoe and take a virtual dive into the underwater world. They will experience the pioneer movement, follow historic trails and live through Tahoe’s Gilded Age. Using simple and easy to understand concepts, scientific concerns are explained together with the future plans to protect the Lake. Live narration complemented by ample graphics, video and animation scenes make the presentation lively and interesting. The presentation is fully customizable to provide more detail or additional subjects of interest to the audience. Examples are recreation, geology, water resources and biological resources.

• How was Lake Tahoe formed?
  
• How large and deep is Lake Tahoe?
  
• How much water is in Lake Tahoe?
  
• Where does the water go?
  
• Why is it so blue?
  
• How cold is the water?
  
• Does it ever freeze?
  
• Is Lake Tahoe's clarity threatened?
  
• What is the history of Tahoe?

Learn the answers to these and many more exciting facts about Lake Tahoe in Lake of the Sky — The Lake Tahoe Story.

Fees and Charges: Base fee is $295 for groups up to 150 persons in the Lake Tahoe area and includes audiovisual equipment and setup.
About the Presenter: David C. Antonucci is a 30-year resident of Lake Tahoe. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in environmental engineering. He has been directly involved with plans and activities to protect Lake Tahoe throughout his 32-year career and is considered an expert on Lake Tahoe environmental issues. He has served on many boards and organizations dedicated to visitor interpretation and preservation of Lake Tahoe.

Contact information:
David C. Antonucci
Phone: 530-525-5410
Fax: 530-525-7745
Email: dcantonucci@msn.com
P. O. Box 1050
7205 Antelope Way
Homewood, CA 96141-1050

last modified: January 24 2005

Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) Announces New Programs
As the school year ends, Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) is busy expanding its support for Tahoe Truckee Unified School District teachers and students with some exciting new programs.

This summer, SWEP will be working with the School-to-Work program to create a summer internship program for students interested in pursuing environment-based careers. These students will be working with various agencies, nonprofits and community groups to learn the basics of water quality monitoring, data collection, and resource management.

SWEP has created the Teacher’s Interpretive Hike Series for teachers and others who want to incorporate the environment as a tool for learning. This is an exciting opportunity to explore the local area with resource professionals and experts, focusing on specific aspects of our unique watershed. Participants will gain ideas and information on how to interpret nature and science in the field with students.

For more information about SWEP or the programs it supports, please contact Christine McMorrow, program manager, (530) 525-6692, or Jan Ellis, project director, (775) 831-6071.

last modified: July 8 2002

Marine Research & Education: Conservation Through Education
Educating our youth about environmental issues in the Lake Tahoe Basin is crucial to protecting our environment. The primary mission of Marine Research and Education (MR&E) is to provide an environmental education program promoting the conservation of natural resources in the Lake Tahoe Basin in simple, easy to understand methods and language. The MR&E program is an exciting, hands-on experience intended for children K-12 and other community organizations. The program consists of two segments; an “on land” classroom and an “on the water” classroom aboard the vessel ‘Prophet.’ Students learn about the ecology of the Tahoe Basin through a model of the lake and how elements like surface runoff, erosion, and pollution affect the quality and clarity of the water, and use real scientific methods like Secchi disc monitoring, plankton trawling, microscope viewing and water quality testing to help apply knowledge gained inside the classroom. For more information, call Laura Selden, (530) 544-7409.

Marine Research and Education would like to invite members of the Tahoe Basin community out on the lake for our water quality testing trips. Until recently, our outings have been open only to educational field trips for K-12 students. Now we have opened the first Monday of each month to members of the community who would like to join us aboard the Prophet. Come out, learn about the lake, and help us gather data.

last modified: July 8 2002

Tahoe Truckee K-16 Watershed Education Program
The Tahoe Truckee K-16 Watershed Education Program is coming into form. Thirty-five formal and nonformal educators met in January 2003 to help set the vision for a K-16 watershed education for the Tahoe Truckee area.

Mission: The “Tahoe Truckee Watershed region” work/s collaboratively to implement and evaluate sustainable place-based learning and restoration programs that instill a lifelong commitment to watershed stewardship.
 
Vision: As leaders in education, we agree to collaborate in order to create sustainable and place-based, lifelong learning opportunities that promote watershed stewardship and natural resource conservation. We seek to support these programs so that they may become integrated into the sociopolitical infrastructure in the Lake Tahoe and Truckee River region.

Our K-16 program already has two community coordinators working in the Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District (TTUSD). Our next goal is to fund community coordinators in South Lake Tahoe. We also hope to secure funding for the Nevada side of the Lake and continue supporting our community coordinators in North Tahoe/Truckee.

By the fall of this year, we hope to have educational teams operating in North Lake Tahoe and South Lake Tahoe. We also plan to implement a professional development series that will benefit the entire region, a curriculum plan that will help standardize what is offered to the schools, and a networking structure that will help us share information and resources most effectively.
 
Sometime around Spring 2005, we will have coordinators operating in the different communities in South Lake Tahoe, North Lake Tahoe and the Nevada side. Once these coordinators are hired, we can implement a standardized curriculum plan that seeks to create programs which build awareness within the elementary grades. We will work at the middle school level to offer programs that allow students to practice skills in monitoring, restoration and communication. Finally, at the high school and college level, we will work with students and teachers to design programs that allow students to apply these skills during participation in internships and school-to-work programs. It is our goal that every student who lives in the Tahoe Truckee region receives a minimum of three experiences that relate to their community. The core of these programs will be place-based education and service-learning.
 
For more information on the results of the K-16 visioning session, please logon www.edgateway.net and look for the Tahoe Truckee working group discussion list serve. You will find notes from that meeting, as well as discussions, information and other meetings notes to review. If you would like to be informed of what's happening on a more regular basis, please e-mail Jill Sarick at jill@adopt-a-watershed.org.


Place-Based Learning

Do you feel like there is a growing disconnect with our sense of community? Do today’s students understand real issues that the community faces? Place-based Learning (PBL) to give students an opportunity to relate to issues in their community, which helps gives relevance and meaning to those issues. In the long-term this may help agencies with their need to protect our watersheds with increased buy-in from the community. A big part of PBL is high quality service learning, in which students participate in service projects that meet a real need in the community. Students look at real community issues and solve real community needs in PBL.

Students Provide Information to the General Public
KOLO-TV staff was recently at the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board office (right) to film the tabletop watershed model as demonstrated by about 15 elementary school children and to interview two Regional Board staff about nonpoint source pollution in the Lake Tahoe Basin. This presentation was included in one segment of “The Lake Tahoe Report” on KOLO-TV which airs on News Channel 8 each Tuesday evening.

Toni Rockwell’s third-grade class at Rideout Elementary School also participated in presenting information to the public for a “Lake Tahoe Report” news segment on Earth Day. Students learned about local environmental issues to gear up for the Earth Day event and were filmed making presentations on the insights they gained. Students demonstrate what they have learned by reporting to their peers, parents and other community members.

Rockwell, with help from community members, such as Christine McMorrow, Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP), got the children involved in various fun projects to teach about Lake Tahoe’s environment. Rockwell is one of a growing number of teachers who have been implementing “place-based learning” in the school curriculum. This method supplements textbook study with experiences and projects where the kids live. By learning about the Tahoe environment, students get the sense that school is relevant to their daily lives. Furthermore, studies show that using the environment as an “integrating context” can improve student performance on the standards-based tests now administered in our schools.

last modified: June 20 2003

Lake Lessons for Kids
Hundreds of children will learn about Lake Tahoe this spring during seven four-day programs with Great Basin Outdoor School. Fifth- and sixth- grade classes will stay in cabins at Camp Galilee on the east shore to study water quality, geology, astronomy, and forest and wildlife ecology.

A trip aboard the Prophet with Marine Research and Education to learn about threats to Tahoe’s clarity is a highlight of the program. Spooner Lake is the site of other field studies for the classes.

Working in small study groups, the children experiment with scientific instruments such as water test kits, increment borers, and thermometers. Songs, skits, stories, and stargazing fill the evening hours.
Contact Sue Jacox at Great Basin Outdoor Schools, suejacox@nvbell.org or (775) 849-1890, for more information or to schedule your class for this exciting program.

last modified: June 25 2002

No Child Left Behind
What new education reform laws mean to Tahoe-Truckee educators...

Did you know that roughly 68 percent of major business firms report educational shortcomings in their employees? Some high schools in the United States never graduate more than 50 percent of their students. Eighty percent of students entering elementary schools feel good about themselves, but by the time they are seniors in high school, only one in five has positive self-esteem.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, signed into law in January of this year by President Bush, is said to have some of the most sweeping changes to elementary and secondary education since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was enacted in 1965.

Enhanced education opportunities are desperately needed, not just for our individual students, but for the entire nation. We are facing a serious challenge, but there is hope. On the horizon, in many classrooms across the nation, education is undergoing a silent reform. One important change includes new teaching methods and programs such as Service Learning, Tribes, Project-Based Learning, Place-Based Learning (PBL), Using the Environment as an Integrating Context (EIC), and more. NCLB imposes time requirements and accountability on the outcomes of this reform.

NCLB changes the federal government’s role in kindergarten through 12th grade education by asking America’s schools to describe their success in terms of what each student accomplishes. The best known requirement of this Act is standardized testing in all grade levels for reading, math and (soon) science to show that students are meeting academic standards. The Adopt-a-Watershed program in the Tahoe Truckee region assists schools in implementing effective teaching methods to enhance student learning and achievement.

To keep informed of developments in NCLB visit www.ed.gov. For information on Service Learning, check out www.learningindeed.org, and for more information on Using the Environment as an Integrating Context (EIC), go to www.seer.org.

last modified: October 14 2002

Place-Based Learning Reference
The Place-Based Learning Reference is a collection of resources to support the implementation of place-based learning and service-learning in K-12 education throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin and Truckee River Watersheds.

last modified: October 20 2004

Environmental Education Shown to Improve Student Achievement on Standardized Tests
Using the “Environment as an Integrating Context” (EIC) for learning is recognized by the Education Commission of the States (www.ecs.org) as one of the “promising practice(s)… that show evidence of success in improving student achievement.” In simple terms, EIC uses local natural and community surroundings as the “venue” for teaching and learning.

The State Education and Environment Roundtable undertook a nationwide study of 40 schools beginning in 1996. Research from the study indicate that EIC has positive effects on learning. These effects include:
- Better performance on standardized measures of academic achievement in reading, writing, math, science and social studies, and on teachers and instruction
- Reduced discipline and classroom management problems
- Development of problem-solving
- Increased engagement and enthusiasm for learning
- Greater pride and ownership in accomplishments (Lieberman & Hoody, 1998)

last modified: October 30 2001

Resources For Teachers
Community Leaders in Classrooms Resource Guide For Teachers

Contact Heather Segale, (775) 832-4138, if you are a teacher looking for a guest speaker or a natural resource professional interested in being included on this list. The resource guide provides local teachers with the information they need to find guest speakers to discuss environmental topics in the classroom. Area professionals will also have the opportunity to develop their skills with an upcoming workshop on presenting and motivating students of various ages.

last modified: September 4 2002