Winter 2007/2008
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Current Newsletter
What Happens at RVOEPOver 900 students were able to participate in fall educational programs at the RVOEP. Phyllis Binder’s fifth grade class from Redwood Valley spent a morning examining the Russian River as a habitat for salmon and steelhead. After writing a "postcard to a fish" (see the RVOEP Homepage) describing their findings, they are planning to follow up with a restoration project and plant sedge along the river to stabilize the banks and improve riparian habitat. We have been finding owl pellets in the forest, giving us hope that the Spotted Owl we discovered last year is still hanging around. Night Camp participants had the exciting opportunity to hike deep into the forest with Iris Koski to try and call the Spotted Owl. Iris is an experienced owl caller involved in surveying Mendocino Redwood Company forests for Spotted Owls. Talking about owl’s, during Flight School last spring, Adam Martin’s fourth graders watched a Raven and a Great Horned Owl battle over territory. It was quite a battle, but all observers agreed, the longer beak of the aggressive Raven definitely gave it an advantage. It may be the last we see of that Great Horned Owl! Our October rains brought on an abundance of mushrooms, much to the excitement of the 40 people that showed up for our mushroom workshop with Mark Albert.
During the winter months, Helen Menasian our Educational Coordinator and Melissa Wolf, the RVOEP Instructional Assistant, head into classrooms with special environmental programs. This year, with the support of a grant from our local Peregrine Audubon Chapter, over 300 students will be able to take part in a hands-on investigation of what a Barn Owl eats. Each student will dissect an owl pellet and use the bones and skulls they find to identify the Barn Owl’s prey. In addition to learning about owls, students will discover the world of shrews, voles, pocket gophers, mice, rats, and Jerusalem Crickets, all-important components of the owl’s forest and meadow food web. For more information about RVOEP programs visit our website, www.rvoep.org.
The RVOEP continues to flourish because of the hard work of a cadre of dedicated volunteers. Duane Wells and Bill Smith, with the help of Parlin Forks inmates, keep our site functioning. Wendy Pollitz, Kathy Tobin, Jean and Steve Lincoln and others organize and run our Wildlife Film Festival. Judy Corcoran keeps our memberships up-to-date. Cathy Monroe helps with everything and acts as chairperson. Chuck Vaughn can be counted upon to help with anything having to do with birds. Chuck Williams acts as our resource person for any native plant activities. All of our workshop leaders volunteer their expertise to help others gain an understanding and appreciation of the natural world. It’s fun to help at the RVOEP! WE WELCOME VOLUNTEERS!
LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
By Helen Menasian, RVOEP Educational Coordinator
In 2001 the Ukiah Unified School District received an anonymous donation to fund a teaching position at the Redwood Valley Outdoor Education Project (RVOEP). This was the beginning of an exciting and challenging mission for me----designing and implementing a comprehensive outdoor environmental education program. The goal: to involve as many students as possible in meaningful hands-on learning opportunities on 45 acres of woodlands. Almost seven years later, it is gratifying to look back and see that, with the help of a cadre of volunteers from our community, we are truly providing a unique and rich learning opportunity to our students. In the past 6 1/2 years 13,317 students have participated in programs at the RVOEP. In addition, 9000 students have taken part in RVOEP classroom programs during the winter months. So what do these numbers actually mean? How have students benefited from their experiences at the RVOEP? Let’s take a look at what our educational program has accomplished in the past 6 1/2 years.
In the past six years, 1,515 Kindergarten and first grade students have discovered the incredible world of nature as they participated in a special Earth Walk. What fun these youngsters have had building tiny leprechaun nature trails, looking for rainbow colors hidden in the forest, listening to a symphony of spring bird songs, and taking pictures of the wildflowers with invisible cameras!
3,360 students have uncovered the intricacies of how good topsoil is formed. Their adventures in the “Soil Kitchen” have helped them discover the important role that plants and animals play in the soil making process.
2,813 students have participated in a first-hand investigation of food chains in the wild. In the process, they learned that green plants are a vital component of all food chains and key to the survival of each link in the chain.
500 students have been transformed into Naturalists for a day as they carefully mapped a meadow habitat, drew artist sketches in the forest, and wrote poetry by the river.
2,000 students have conducted a census of a forest ecosystem, carefully recording the name, address, and job of the plants and animals that inhabit this community. As these students discovered the important niches of a wide array of producers, consumers, and decomposers they have been surprised to find no unemployment and an intricate web of interdependence!
1,670 students have gathered data about the quality of water, aquatic life, and riparian plants in and along the Russian River to see if it is a good habitat for salmon and steelhead. After studying the value of native plants in our ecosystems, 110 students planted trees and sedge to help improve habitat for fish and wildlife.
873 students have participated in the RVOEP Flight School program and learned about the essential roles that birds play in our ecosystems. Flight School students have had the opportunity to work with scientists and Audubon volunteers to conduct surveys to determine which habitat at the RVOEP supports the greatest diversity of bird species.
395 students of all ages have explored nature after dark at the RVOEP. They’ve called Great Horned Owls, looked through telescopes, listened to myths and legends about the night sky, and learned about the special adaptations of nocturnal animals. All this while bats stealthily hunted overhead!
These RVOEP hands-on educational experiences have given students the chance to develop essential understandings about their planet and its life-support systems. Students have had the opportunity to gain a love of nature, a sense of adventure, and the knowledge and skills that will help them make intelligent decisions about the future of their planet.
RVOEP Birds: An Annual CycleBy Chuck Vaughn
The open meadows and mixed conifer and hardwood woodland of the RVOEP, with its layered canopy and dense understory, provide varied habitats for a great diversity of birds. A number of these are year-around residents. Walk through the woods at any time of year and you are greeted by the chatter of the Oak Titmouse, or the constant, soft “location” calls of Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Bushtits as they forage through the trees in loose flocks. Several woodpeckers are resident in these woods, including the raucous and very social Acorn, the quieter and more solitary Nuttall’s and Downy, and our largest woodpecker, the Pileated. White-breasted Nuthatches and Brown Creepers are endlessly gleaning bark surfaces for insects. Along the forest edges you might see Spotted Towhees scratching in the litter, and Steller’s and Western Scrub-Jays going noisily about their business. In the more open areas you can see California Quail and California Towhees scratching through the grass looking for seeds and insects, and Western Bluebirds hawking from open perches.
During the fall and winter many other species of birds, which have migrated away from the harsh weather to the north, move into the woods and meadows at the RVOEP to join the residents. Large numbers of American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, and Purple Finches are attracted by the abundant berry crops of madrone, toyon, and even poison oak. Hermit and Varied Thrushes join in the berry feast, and also scratch for insects in the woodland floor. Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers feed on insects in the leaves of the evergreen trees in the woods. Winter Wrens move secretively through the tangled, dark understory looking for insects. The more open meadows are visited by Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos which have come south to feed on the abundance of small seeds which grew in these grasslands during the summer.
As days lengthen and the weather warms, the winter visitors fly back north and a new suite of birds migrating from the south visits the RVOEP woodlands. These are the so-called neotropical migrants, which spend their winters from Mexico to South America, returning north to breed in the spring and summer. The woods are full of color and song as an array of bird species claim nesting and feeding territories. It is during this time that the RVOEP hosts the greatest diversity of birds. Cassin’s and Warbling Vireos, Pacific-slope Flycatchers, Tree and Violet-green Swallows, Orange-crowned Warblers, Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeaks and Bullock’s Orioles are among the more vocal and abundant. These birds are almost all insect eaters, and their return north is timed to coincide with the emergence of new leaves from the trees in the woodlands. The fresh vegetation is food for a myriad of insects and their larvae, and these provide nutritious capsules of fat and protein for the breeding birds and their young. All summer the birds feed and the young mature. When fall approaches, they begin to fly back south and the northern winter visitors gradually reappear at RVOEP.
The annual movement of these birds is not random. It is a wonderful part of their timeless and harmonic cycle of life; a pattern that has evolved over eons to increase reproductive success by more efficiently using food resources and minimizing the effects of unfavorable climates. Local children given the opportunity to visit, and experience the bird programs at the RVOEP, are introduced to these concepts by becoming migrating birds. They learn first-hand the fascinating and unique behaviors that have made birds so successful in adapting to the environment.
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Spring 2004 || Fall 2004 || Spring 2005 || Fall 2005 || Spring 2006 || Fall 2006
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