Many of you have been hearing about the incredible opportunity we have to serve students in the lower Rio Grande valley. Students ranging from 4th-12th grade in Santa Rosa ISD have been learning about their local watershed, wetland habitats, and coastal waterbirds! We first visited these schools on their campus in early March with the "Sinks to Seas" program taught by Mitchel Lake Audubon Center educator Jacob Stush. This overview lesson gave them the big picture of how connected they are to the coast. These students have also had interactive videos of waterbird ID and TERN training (adapted for students).
Now we are gearing up to head back to the valley and reinforce all that education in the great outdoors! Texas Master Naturalist from the Rio Grande Chapter and members of the Rio Grande Audubon Society are helping with the field trip portion of this program. For 2 days, students will paddle the Arroyo Colorado with our coastal warden Larry Shriver, conduct TERN bird monitoring with Coastal TERN Coordinator Kari Howard, and learn about the edible flora and local fauna with Trinity River Audubon Center Education Manager Gilbert Martinez.
The nature journals include a bird guide, TERN datasheets, grid and blank paper, watercolor paper, and a baggie to hold any special artifacts found along the way.
We are honored to work with Santa Rosa ISD and serve these students with outdoor education in one of the most ecologically significant areas of the Texas coast!
We will be sharing more of our lower valley adventures real soon!
Kari Howard
khoward@audubon.org
