Archive for January, 2010

Late July 2009, Nogales, Arizona. A hundred meters from the US-Mexico border, in the sweltering, early morning hours of this dusty border town, three Great Basin Institute staff members are gathered at McDonald’s. They haven’t come for breakfast burritos or hash browns. Nor is this a pit stop en route to the next town. This fast food landmark is the destination of a two-day road trip that began at the Institute’s headquarters, in Reno, Nevada. The purpose of the trip? Sixteen Universidad de Guadalajara biology students will soon arrive, eager to catch a lift north to the Great Basin and the University of Nevada, Reno. There, these students from central Mexico will embark on a fourteen week internship, sponsored by the Institute’s International Conservation Volunteer Exchange (ICVE). The internship program will immerse these apprentice biologists in ecological restoration projects, field classes, intensive English classes, and the Great Basin Institute family.

ICVE-Mexico grew out of GBI’s long-standing restoration and education projects on Mexico’s central Pacific coast. GBI founder and Executive Director, Jerry Kier, describes his motive for the program: “In 2001, on behalf of the Institute, I developed an international field course for the Costa Alegre area, on Mexico’s central Pacific coast. With support from the University of Nevada, Reno, this course explored issues related to Mexico’s coastal environment and natural resources.”

From 2001–2004, GBI’s Mexico field courses engaged over 70 students in international conservation theory and practice. Students from a range of disciplines studied at various conservation sites, in partnership with the Universidad de Guadalajara, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as well as regional conservation nonprofits and local school districts. Since then, more than 180 international students and volunteers have joined GBI and its network of faculty researchers from the University of Nevada, along with partnering institutions, including the University of South Florida, California State Channel Islands, and Chico State University.

Long term, Keir envisioned field studies in Mexico as a cultural exchange of conservation practices, one that linked the ecological restoration courses in Mexico with the conservation efforts of the Nevada Conservation Corps—GBI’s largest, long-standing program. He explains, “Based on our success with universities in Mexico, in 2004 we founded the ICVE. This program answers the need for greater global ecological literacy. It makes sense, from a conservation standpoint, to use environmental service as a means to achieve this ecological literacy.”

Now, in the July heat of Nogales’ overcrowded McDonald’s parking lot, excitement and anxiety mounts. All sixteen Guadalajara students have checked in. After a round of friendly greetings, the group loads backpacks, sleeping bags, and suitcases into the camper-covered bed of a large, white, GBI truck, careful to retrieve their iPods before finding a seat for the long journey ahead. After so much planning, the ICVE-Mexico program is ready to roll.

Two days later and some 760 miles north, GBI staff and the biologist interns arrive in Reno. The road-weary interns settle into a furnished brick house with a large, landscaped yard, across the street from the University of Nevada campus. Before heading into the field, the interns will attend a two-day, bilingual orientation designed to introduce them to a range of conservation projects, techniques, and theories. They’ll also complete six hours of training dedicated to project safety.

On the first Monday of August, at dawn, the newly trained ICVE-Mexico interns gather in the University of Nevada-Reno’s northern parking lot to meet the rest of the Corps, 250 strong this summer. This parking lot has been the staging area of the Nevada Conservation Corps for the better part of ten years. NCC and ICVE members gather here between six and six-thirty every Monday morning to load up gear, get project details, and fan out across Nevada, restoring and conserving our public lands. Corps members “spike camp” close to their project site, in the forest and in the desert, twelve months a year. After spending up to eight days in the field, the crews return to the near vacant parking lot in the late afternoon, where they debrief with GBI staff and unwind ahead of their three-day weekend. For ICVE-Mexico interns, however, these weekends seem short.

While all sixteen ICVE-Mexico interns receive academic credit from the Universidad de Guadalajara, ten are also enrolled in full-time course work at Guadalajara’s sister school, located in Melaque, on Jalisco’s Pacific coast. This means that on top of forty hours a week in the field, and four hours a week in intensive English classes, these Melaque students also put in about fifteen hours every week completing on-line tests and homework from their home university. Now that’s dedication!

Throughout the 14 week course, the ICVE-Mexico interns receive cross-disciplinary conservation training and education. To gain first-hand knowledge of Nevada’s varied ecosystems, the interns support a range of ongoing NCC projects. They apply techniques they learn in the classroom to removing noxious weeds along the Truckee River corridor, rehabilitating wetland areas in the Jarbidge Wilderness, reducing forest fuels in the Lake Tahoe Basin, and constructing a new trail system in the high, remote, deserts near Hickison Summit. The course curriculum also focuses on erosion control projects in sensitive wetlands and watersheds. This applied education will prepare these biologists to work on environmental issues facing them at home, on central Mexico’s Pacific coast.

October is nearly over. ICVE-Mexico’s first field season is drawing to a close. Our sixteen biologist interns have become seasoned field conservationists. In fourteen short weeks, they have treated and restored over 22 acres of forest and wetland habitat and built 1.5 miles of new trail for Nevadans to enjoy. They have submitted final research papers and completed field evaluations. As they load their belongings into the back of the large, white, GBI truck— once more retrieving their iPods for the long drive ahead—the gregarious, fun-loving group falls silent. This journey has come to an end. The time has come for the interns to say goodbye to their adopted GBI family, their new found friends in the NCC, and the Nevada wilderness they know so well. As the interns head home to the state of Jalisco, back to their studies, they are, perhaps, carrying with them the summer experience of a lifetime.

On November 8-9, eight lucky 5th graders from the Paradise Professional Development School (PPDS) took to the canyon land for a two-day camping trip, co-led by GBI’s Laura Brinson and Emily Montoya. Joined by Daphne and Amalia from the Public Lands Institute (PLI), the four environmental educators loaded the Environmental Science Club students into vans for a fun-filled trip to Moenkopi Campground, located in Red Rock Canyon NCA.

Housed at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus, the mission of the Paradise Professional Development School (PPDS) is to be a hub for teacher education, research, and innovative learning for pre-school through 12th grade students. Partnering with regional agencies, including nonprofits such as GBI, makes it possible for PPDS to provide access to environmental education opportunities.

As environmental educators trained in outdoor safety, Laura, Emily, Daphne, and Amalia are well equipped to manage an excited bunch of ten-and eleven-year olds on an outing like this one. After a safety lesson, the kids chose their own campsite and helped each other set up tents. Then they got down to the fun business of exploring their campground.

Later in the afternoon the group drove from Moenkopi campground to Red Springs for their first taste of hiking and rock scrambling. Afterward, Park Ranger Gina Mele met everyone at the base of the Calico Hills to introduce the students to Red Rock NCA’s geological wonders, including the Keystone Thrust Fault, as well as the surprising variety of native plants and animals that thrive in Red Rock Canyon NCA. One of three perennial springs in the Calico Basin, Red Springs feeds a grassy marshland area at the base of sandstone cliffs. Several Native American cultures have called this oasis home; Red Springs’ many petroglyphs—some etched into boulders, and others, such as a Blanket panel, carved into the cliff face—speak to the area’s cultural importance. Today, fencing protects the spring from wild burros and a boardwalk keeps people from trampling the meadow. After her talk, Gina led the group on a guided boardwalk hike for a closer look at the Rock Art.

Back at camp, Daphne showed the kids how to start a fire and taught them the importance of fire safety. Then they ate an authentic camp dinner of fire-roasted hot dogs and chips, which was of course followed by s’mores for dessert. That night everyone sat around the campfire telling ghost stories before capping off the night with a moonlight hike. The next morning everyone pitched in to make delicious breakfast burritos. After breakfast they packed up tents, sleeping bags, food, and trash before heading out to hike near Red Springs. For the next few hours the kids climbed, hiked, and scrambled up, over, and around the rocks. When it came time to leave, all the kids exclaimed, “This campout was fun!”

The four educators and their students worked together to make this trip special. Outings to places like Red Rock Canyon NCA give these budding scientists from PPDS a chance to explore the outdoors, and to shine as a group.  As Emily said, “The kids got along great and were very well-behaved.”

-Emily Montoya

Saturday, October 3, 2009 proved a fine day for fishing at the 11th Annual C.A.S.T. “Catch a Special Thrill” for Kids Event. The C.A.S.T. Foundation, created in 1991, aims to increase awareness about disabled and disadvantaged children in communities nationwide. This year, Lake Mead played nature’s host to 39 excited children from AmeriFace, the Blind Center of Nevada, Give me A Break, and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Ranger Amanda Rowland and GBI Research Associate Laura Brinson gave participants and their families short interpretive talks on various animals that live in the Mojave Desert. The whole group also enjoyed a full morning of fishing. Afterward, the happy anglers and their families joined the hard-working volunteers for a fantastic lunch, provided by the Railroad Pass Hotel and Casino. Following lunch, participants were presented with a trophy and a gift bag filled with goodies. The Bureau of Reclamation is a primary sponsor of C.A.S.T. for Kids events. Cohosts of this event include the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the Las Vegas Boat Harbor, and the Nevada Striper Club.

- Laura Brinson

It’s the last week of July and one-hundred meters from the U.S.-Mexico border, three of the Great Basin Institute’s staff has gathered in the sweltering early morning hours at a McDonalds in the dusty border town of Nogales, Arizona.  They are not here for breakfast burritos or hash browns, nor a general pit-stop on the way to the next town.  This fast food landmark is the destination of a two day road trip from the Institute’s headquarters, in Reno, with one purpose:  to greet sixteen biology students from the Universidad de Guadalajara, of Mexico, and return them to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada where they will be enveloped in ecological restoration projects and field classes, intensive English classes, and the Great Basin Institute family.  These sixteen biology students have made their way to Nogales to set out on a fourteen week internship fully sponsored by the Institute’s International Conservation Volunteer Exchange (ICVE).

ICVE-Mexico, as the course has been dubbed, is the product of GBI’s long-standing leadership in restoration efforts and education on Mexico’s central pacific coast.  Great Basin Institute founder and Executive Director Jerry Keir describes his motive behind the program: “In 2001, on behalf of the Institute, I developed an international field course located on the central pacific coast of Mexico. With accredited support from the University of Nevada, Reno, this course explored issues and problems related to Mexico’s coastal environment and natural resources.”

From 2001-2004, GBI’s field courses in Mexico engaged over 70 students across disciplines in furthering their understanding of international conservation theory and practice.  Students studied at various conservation sites in partnership with the Universidad de Guadalajara, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as well as regional conservation nonprofits and local school districts.  Over 180 international students and volunteers have since joined GBI and its network of faculty researchers from the University of Nevada, and those from partnering institutions, notably the University of South Florida, California State Channel Islands, and Chico State University.

In GBI’s long-term ambitions for this program, Keir envisioned a true exchange of ideas, techniques, and culture between the ecological restoration courses in Mexico and the on-the-ground conservation efforts of the Nevada Conservation Corps, GBI’s largest, long standing program.  Keir continues: “Based on our success with universities in Mexico, the Institute founded the International Conservation Volunteer Exchange, which has been in operation since 2004. The impetus of the ICVE program was predicated upon the need for, and desire of, expanding global ecological literacy through service and education using environmental service as a vessel.”

Now it’s 2009 and, in the July heat of Nogales’ overcrowded McDonald’s parking lot, excitement and anxiety mounts.  All of the long-awaited Guadalajara students have been accounted for, and, after a captivating session of affable greetings, the sixteen ICVE interns begin to load their backpacks, sleeping bags and suitcases into the bed of a large, white, GBI truck with a camper shell, careful to not forget their iPod’s before finding a seat for the long journey ahead.  It’s finally here; the long envisioned ICVE-Mexico program has come to fruition.

After a two day journey north, the conglomerate of young biologists finally arrives to Reno, where they will make their home in a large, non-descript brick house across from the University of Nevada campus.  As part of their training and education, and before any field work can commence, the interns are required to go through a rigorous two-day, bi-lingual, orientation where they are introduced to various projects, technique and theory, and project safety.   Once the interns complete their orientation, it is time for them to be immersed into the rest of the ICVE and Nevada Conservation Corps, 250 members strong during the summer of 2009.

On the first Monday of August, at dawn, the ICVE-Mexico interns make their way to the University of Nevada-Reno’s northern parking lot to meet with the rest of the Corps for the first time.   This parking lot has been the staging area of the Nevada Conservation Corps for the better part of ten years now.  However, most of UNR’s student population of 16,000 would never know.  NCC and ICVE members congregate at this parking lot between six and six-thirty every Monday morning to load up their gear, collect project details, and fan out across Nevada to various project sites, rehabilitating and conserving the many open spaces we share.  Members live, eat and sleep near their project site, spiking in the forests and deserts of Nevada.  After spending up to eight days in the field at a time, the crews once again return to the mostly vacant parking lot late in the afternoon, well after the majority of UNR students have finished their classes for the week, to debrief with GBI staff and unwind for their long weekend ahead.   However, for the ICVE-Mexico interns, their weekend may not seem near long enough.

While all of the ICVE-Mexico interns receive academic credit from the Universidad de Guadalajara, of the sixteen interns, ten are also enrolled in full-time course work at Guadalajara’s sister school 150 miles to the west in Melaque, on the pacific coast of Jalisco.  So, in addition the forty hours per week spent in the field as required for the internship, and four hours of intensive English classes, these ten students from Melaque spend up to fifteen hours per week taking on-line tests and completing homework assignments from their home university.

Throughout the 14 week course, the ICVE-Mexico interns receive cross-disciplinary training and education in conservation. To better understand aspects of the diverse ecosystems Nevada has to offer, the ICVE-Mexico interns support an array of ongoing projects of the Nevada Conservation Corps.  From practicing varied approaches in removing noxious weeds along the Truckee River corridor, rehabilitating riparian zones in the Jarbige Wilderness, forest fuels reduction/restoration in the Lake Tahoe Basin and constructing a new trail system in the high, remote, deserts near Hickison Summit, the ICVE-Mexico interns were given a curriculum of projects focused on erosion control in sensitive riparian zones and watersheds.  This applied education and training will prepare these biologists to work environmental issues facing them at home, on central Mexico’s Pacific coast.

With Nevada Day (October 31) just around the corner, the inaugural field season for ICVE-Mexico is drawing to a close.  The interns are now seasoned field conservationists.  In their short, fourteen week course the interns treated and rehabilitated over 22 acres of forest and riparian zones and built 1.5 miles of new trail for Nevadans to enjoy.   With their research papers turned in and graded, their field evaluations completed, it is time for the interns to say good-bye to their adopted GBI family, their new-found friends in the NCC, and the Nevada wilderness they have come to call home.  As they load their belongings back into the large, white, GBI truck – again, being overly cautious not to forget their iPods for the long drive ahead – the delightful, fun-loving group falls silent.  Little by little, they are realizing that this journey has come to an end and it is time to head back to the state of Jalisco, back to their studies, carrying with them, perhaps, the summer experience of a lifetime.