Fall/Winter 2005
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Spring 2004 || Fall 2004 || Spring 2005 || Current NewsletterIt is fall and a new school year has been launched at the RVOEP. The site is ready thanks to Duane Wells, Bill Smith, and the Parlin Forks inmates. Over 700 students are already scheduled for fall field trip programs. The gray squirrels are busy gathering acorns and the pileated woodpeckers can be heard noisily calling as they fly through the forest. When the heavy bills of these giant woodpeckers pound on hollow tree trunks they make a sound like wild drummers that echoes across our woodland. Most of our songbirds have left for their long flight south after fattening up on insects gleaned from the oaks and madrones, or after feasting on an array of forest berries. Of course, looking over everything are our Turkey Vultures, gathered each morning on the dead branches of a tall, lightning-struck Douglas Fir tree. Wings spread, facing the sun; they wait for the arrival of the school bus and the excited voices of the children as they look up in admiration.
This year we welcome Melissa Wolf, our new Outdoor Education Teaching Assistant. She brings a love of nature, a variety of experiences working with children, and a great deal of enthusiasm. Melissa was raised in New York and is quickly learning the attributes of poison oak! Amy Aikman and Adrienne Simpson have moved on to other important paths in their lives, but have volunteered to help Melissa learn our programs and a few of the techniques that help keep children focused in the wild. Amy and Adrienne where very instrumental in helping develop our RVOEP programs and we will all miss their day-to-day involvement.
During the 2004-05 school year the RVOEP was able to provide over 2000 students with field trip programs and about 1500 students with classroom programs during the winter. We look forward to seeing about that many students again this year. The RVOEP is a community- supported project of the UUSD and receives no funding from the school district. Last year the project was very gratified to receive over $14,000 in donations and grants from our community, in addition to a $50,000 anonymous donation. This enabled us to pay for the Educational Coordinator and instructional assistant so that we could offer high-quality small group experiences, as well as provide transportation funding for field trips. A recent donation of $3,250 from the Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op will pay for about half of the 2005-06 school year transportation costs. Since the School District is not able to provide funding for the RVOEP, fund raising continues to be a challenge.
The RVOEP continues to flourish because of the hard work of its dedicated volunteers. Duane Wells and Bill Smith are faithful volunteers at the site. With the occasional help of others, they perform the various tasks necessary that keep the RVOEP operational. Judy Corcoran has taken on RVOEP membership responsibilities. The educational program has been enhanced by the involvement of Audubon members Roger Foote, Chuck Vaughn, and Kate Marionchild. Of course, Jennifer Harris’s many years of volunteer leadership and involvement in all aspects of the RVOEP continue to benefit the project even though she has moved to the Bay Area.
This fall, Mrs. Ballestra’s and Mrs. Burrell’s fifth grade classes from Redwood Valley School conducted a Macroinvertebrate study to determine the quality of water for salmon and steelhead in the Russian River at the RVOEP.
Early last winter 50 students from Mr. Stearns and Mrs. Petitte’s classes planted sedge along the riverbank to help control erosion.
Mushroom enthusiasts always learn a lot about mushrooms during the RVOEP workshop with Mark Albert.
We Welcome A New Outdoor Education Instructional Assistant
My name is Melissa Wolf and my family and I arrived in Ukiah about a year and a half ago, from Oakland. I have previously worked at the Oakland Rotary Nature Center on Lake Merritt, as a summer camp counselor. Among other things we studied the birds that resided there, twice daily feeding throngs of ducks, geese and, of course, pigeons!
I also volunteered at the Oakland Zoo working with animals such as snakes, kangaroo rats, hedgehogs, and chinchillas to name a few. I have been a childcare provider off and on for a number of years, as well.
It is exciting to be on board with RVOEP integrating my interests in animals, nature and sustainable ecology with the education of children. I look forward to a colorful and enlightening year.
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