High School Student Stewardship in Saguaro National Park Wilderness Students from Arizona College Prep Academy taking a break during a hike in the Saguaro National Park Wilderness, April 2016 Prepared by: Final Report to Wilderness Forever October 2016 Don Swann, Saguaro National Park Bob Newtson, Friends of Saguaro National Park Dan Bell, Arizona College Prep Academy Introduction Most of Saguaro National Park is designated Wilderness, but is bordered by Tucson, Arizona, which has nearly one million residents, 45% of whom are Hispanic. The purpose of this Wilderness Forever project in the park was to engage Tucson youth in hands-on service learning in the Saguaro Wilderness and expand our existing relationship with the Arizona College Prep Academy (ACPA) with a focus on wilderness character monitoring. ACPA is an inner-city charter school in Tucson with high minority population, and many students had never previously visited a Wilderness area or were even aware of Saguaro National Park. From the fall semester of 2015 through the summer of 2016, we brought many of the school s students to the park s Wilderness and provided a series of service learning opportunities that included science, outreach, restoration, and education. Based on the enthusiasm of the many students who came to the park and the park staff who worked with them, the project was a great success. Their experiences of working in areas that were beautiful, rugged, and often remote were a first for many of these inner-city students and led to a new appreciation for Wilderness and national parks.
Achievements Elective class visits to Wilderness The school presented an elective class with 15 students during the fall 2015 semester taught by teacher Dan Bell that focused on Wilderness, water, wildlife, and Saguaro National Park. Students learned about the park, hiked in Wilderness on several field trips (see above), developed science activities related to wildlife and water, and presented project ideas in class. Speakers to the class included US Fish and Wildlife Service Marit Alanen and park biologist Don Swann, who spoke about Wilderness history, values and character. The class made 4 visits to the park during the semester. Three trips during November-December were short hikes where they set wildlife cameras and Soundscape equipment to collect data on natural and human sounds. Some of the data from the Soundscape was later used in the park s Natural Resource Character Assessment and is being used in the second round of Wilderness Character Monitoring conducted this year by the park. The wildlife cameras captured an array of species including collared peccary, deer, and other animals. The fourth trip was a longer hike into Wildhorse Canyon where the students observed tinajas, a unique type of water source that supports desert aquatic species such as Sonoran mud turtles and canyon treefrogs. The class also participated in a really unique Centennial event: a film by Ron Bend on Citizen Science in Saguaro National Park (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6nungg1l7c). The film features students setting up soundscape equipment and wildlife cameras, as well as participating in a saguaro survey. Several students from the class were interviewed for this film. ACPA students Jasmine Szilagyi and Eliseo Carillo explaining soundscape monitoring in a film about science in Saguaro National Park. Service learning trips Service learning is an activity where students help accomplish meaningful work, while also learning about the work and sharing their experiences. During this project, students came to the park on 6 trips to work in Wilderness areas. On each trip they helped the park with important jobs while also
learning about our natural resources and sharing their experiences with each other and park staff at the end of the day. In December, 2015, a group of 20 youth assisted with one of our Centennial Saguaro Surveys. This project was to survey saguaros on long-term plots in the plots to see how the park s signature plant is responding to climate change (https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=a0580ba5-155d- 451F-6726AA9A5ABD94E5). The students measured saguaros, used GPS to map them, and collected other data (and were also part of the Ron Bend science film). A second group did a similar survey trip April 2017. (Left) ACPA students measuring saguaros as part of the Centennial Saguaro Survey, April 2016; (right) students participating in clean-up of newly acquired park land, also in April. In April 2015, two groups of 15-17 students helped remove buffelgrass by participating in buffelgrass pulls. Buffelgrass is a highly invasive exotic grass from Africa that is taking over some parts of the park and preventing saguaro establishment. It also carries fires that threaten saguaros. Students pulled and removed a huge amount of this plant. In addition, 13 other students helped clean up of a new property recently donated to the park. Both projects were highly satisfying projects that exposed the students to very interesting wildlife, including a pair of nesting Great Horned Owls, reptiles, and packrats. A final trip that was focused on learning and experience, but with some service in that it served as a model program, was the I Stand with Saguaros art activity put on by local artist Kimi Eisele (https://standingwithsaguaros.org/). In this project, students were instructed to find a saguaro and spent time close to it listening, seeing, and experiencing it in silence. Then, they shared their thoughts and experiences with the group in a discussion and in writing. Wildlife monitoring in Wilderness Four students participated in a year-long Independent Science Research Project wilderness wildlife monitoring project (assisted by Dr. Bell), collecting wildlife data in one of the park s most remote wilderness areas on the north side of the Rincon Mountains. These students were trained to set the cameras by park staff and provided with safety orientation, then hiked a long distance to set and check
the cameras. The students were able to provide the park with many photos of wildlife, including rare species such as coati, in an area where we have little knowledge of wildlife. A fifth student organized several students to do an extra saguaro survey and an outreach project. These projects were presented their results at an evening Seminar Fair at the school in May 2016 (and did a great job!). (Above) The students who set wildlife cameras on the north side of the park took part in a particularly remote Wilderness experience. (Below) Fox photo from one of the cameras Summer Wilderness interns In late April we posted two internship opportunities that students at the school could apply for part of the summer. A large number of students applied, six students were interviewed by park staff, and we selected three students Aisha Irfan, Kei Ann Mandales, and Giovana Almaguer who each worked at the park for approximately six weeks.
Our summer interns from ACPA: Giovana Alamguer, Aisha Irfan, and KeiAnn Mandales. The students participated in a large range of projects during late May through early July and produced a large amount of high quality work. Because of the extreme Sonoran Desert summer heat, they combined field work with indoor projects, with a special emphasis on creation of films and social media content about Wilderness. Field work included leopard frog monitoring and saguaro surveys. The summer interns created social media posts on resources such as ladybugs (left) and the values of Wilderness (right).
Outreach included working with elementary and middle school children in the park s Jr Ranger camp; creating a Monsoon Awareness safety program, and education events outside the park such as at the Reid Park Zoo. The interns also created a wide variety of social media products related to natural history and Wilderness, including more than 8 postings on the park s Facebook page and a Snapchat story. They also participated in a water color workshop with Dennis Caldwell and completed an art project for people to create art to represent their experience in the park. The major work for the interns was on helping plan, brainstorm, design, write scripts, create costumes, and star in 3 minute videos for the visitor center. They met with many experts from local conservation organizations and worked with Ray O Neil, the Wilderness Coordinator for Saguaro National Park. Their videos included one on water conservation in Saguaro National Park, and specifically the value of tinajas spring-fed stream pools at Saguaro. In this video they explained what a tinaja is and were filmed capturing dragonflies in a research project on mercury pollution. The second video is on the importance of Saguaro s Wilderness for Tucson s water, especially on the value of producing clean water from wilderness. For these videos, all that remains is final editing and approval by the park for posting. They also helped to plan and design a Wilderness video for the park that will be filmed this coming February. Finally, the interns created important products that are being used this year at ACPA, including materials for this year s Art in the Park elective and lesson plans to use saguaro studies to teach math to students. They were an important part of the park s staff in the summer, bringing a huge amount of energy and creativity! Summer interns sampling dragonfly larvae at Madrona Pools with park biotech Lauren Nichols as part of long-term mercury monitoring program.
Special events This project occurred during the 100 th Anniversary of the National Park Service, which provided several opportunities for students from the school to participate in some really exciting events at the park. A group of students from the school spoke at the 100 th Anniversary celebration at the park in August, 2016 and showed the results of their partnership with the park. They did a fantastic job speaking to an audience that included our Congressman and other local political figures and leaders from the National Park Service. In addition, Dan Bell and 8 students from the school were invited to the Annual Friends of Saguaro National Park appreciation dinner in October. They met and spoke with many local supporters of the park and Wilderness. Left Left: setting a wildlife camera; right: identifying individual Gila monsters through photographs. Throughout this project we enjoyed incredible support from our partners, which include Saguaro National Park and ACPA. Don Swann, biologist at Saguaro, managed the program for NPS, with Next Gen intern Lauren Nichols and other interns assisting on field trips. The students had an inspirational meeting with Ray O Neil, Saguaro National Park s Wilderness Coordinator. Park staff worked closely with Charlene Mendoza, ACPA Principal, teacher Dan Bell, and other teachers at the school. Funds. Funding for this project was spent as directed in the proposal budget. Funds included a $3,000 stipend for teacher Dan Bell and $1,000 stipends for interns Aisha Irfan, Kei Ann Mandales, and Giovana Almaguer. Statistics: total number of students and total hours Elective class visits to the park (15 students, 4 trips, 93.5 hours) Service-learning trips to the park (102 students, 6 trips, 366 hours) Independent Science Research Project trips to the park (4 students, 4 trips, 128 hours)
Summer interns (3 students, 5 weeks at 30 hours, 450 hours) Special events (8 students, 2 trips, 48 hours) Total number of students visiting park: 177 Total number of hours in park: 1,085.5 We did not track sex and ethnicity of students visiting Wilderness, but the study body at ACPA is a good reflection of these students. The school of 130 students is approximately 50% male-female and 45% minority, including Hispanics, Native Americans, African Americans and Asian Americans. 75% of students qualify for free or reduced cost meals. Enrollment is an open-enrollment, first-come, first-served basis. (Above) ACPA kids at the Centennial Celebration at the Visitor Center, August 12 (with park mascot). (Below) Standing with Saguaros event