JOHN LEARY/COURTESY PHOTO
RBC | While philosophers debate how to learn information more efficiently, students at CNCC live the theories through their college experience. Multiple departments have had opportunities to engage their students through community service. This week, partnerships between Dr. Mario Sullivan’s environmental sciences class, RiversEdge West, and the Rio Blanco 4-H Club are highlighted. Colorado Northwestern Community College science students participated in two ecological projects that benefited their educational experience.
The cooperative effort included two projects aimed at student involvement in environmental efforts vital to the local ecosystems. Planting willows into the river bank on 4M Ranch to help stabilize the banks from erosion and planting seed balls to replace the Russian Olive and tamarisk populations. RiversEdge has previously worked to remove these invasive species along the White River. These invasive species have devastating impacts on water quality and wildlife habitats. RiversEdge’s vision statement states: “RiversEdge West’s work will establish and grow a community of local stewards to advance the resiliency and sustainability of native riparian and wildlife habitats across the Western U.S.” By involving the youth of the 4-H Club and college students, they plant their vision in the hearts and minds of the future. John Leary, the restoration coordinator for RiversEdge, and Dr. Sullivan highlighted benefits for the college students, including the sensory learning experience of the project and the longer-term conceptual experience. Whether the students had a vested interest relating to their chosen career paths or were in the class for the required science credit, they will be able to utilize the knowledge gained. Even if that knowledge is only, “wear better footwear in nature.”
Dr. Sullivan and Leary are hopeful that students will recall their experience through casual associations such as driving by a river or through media, and the abstract lessons will concrete the knowledge in their schemas. Participating in this community service field trip allows the students to form a more concrete understanding of the principles of environmental science. Dr. Sullivan explained that he used the projects to support the curriculum indirectly, finding value in nature immersion and knowing what people who study nature have to do to get there. Dr. Sullivan stated, “Even if they didn’t take away everything that I had hoped, later down the road, something would hopefully click.” Students were not graded or tested on their participation but received extra lab credit for their attendance.
Seed balls are a unique mix of soil, clay, and seeds of native species to be reintroduced. These are easier to introduce to the environment because they don’t involve intensive planting and care. They are naturally fruitful even in harsh conditions because of their design. The clay binds the soil and seeds together, protecting them during wet winter conditions, river flow variations, and herbivorous wildlife. They can be distributed liberally across an area and left to the natural course of growth. The specific seed mix for this project contained 16 different native shrubs, grass, and flower species. Overall goals with seed selection are to establish native plant communities that increase food availability for birds and wildlife and attract pollinators (e.g., bees and butterflies). Some examples from the seed mix include small fruit-producing shrubs like Utah serviceberry and skunkbrush sumac and small flowering plants like prairie clover, Lewis flax, scarlet globemallow, and Rocky Mountain bee plant.
Planting willows involves more hands-on effort and precise planning. Willow branches can be trimmed from an existing plant and replanted in the soil, where new sprouts will take root. Leary and the youth cut existing willows, created bundles, and planted them riverside at the 4M Ranch owned by Diedre Macnab. These willow bundles were planted in the autumn to allow the plant cycle to occur throughout the winter. In the spring, they are expected to sprout, create new willows and strengthen the river banks from erosion.
Both Leary and Dr. Sullivan hope future field trips will result in benefits to the educational community and the environment. Student engagement and funding are the main hurdles the pair will work to overcome in the future. For more information on RiversEdge West and riparian ecosystems throughout the Western U.S., visit https://riversedgewest.org/about-us/our-mission.
By KATIE KING | Special to the Herald Times
