Postcard from the field: Native plant project

Editor’s note: Partners Education Coordinator Wade Parsons works as a liaison between Kanab High School and the BLM on our Native Plant Restoration project. The project, which is in its second year, aims to re-vegetate parts of the Monument with native plants. (Click here to read more about the project.) Students collect seeds in the fall, tend seedlings in the greenhouse in winter, and plant the natives on the Monument in spring. Here are Wade’s reflections on his first field trip of the year:

I am on a school bus filled with students in Ms. Warner’s Natural Resource Management classes at Kanab High School. Our destinations are the control and experimental plots of the Native Plant Restoration project that were established a year ago on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It’s my first field trip of the 2010-2011 school year.

For me, today’s journey began an hour before sun-up. School field trips usually require last-hour preparations and checklists to ensure everything runs smoothly. By 8.30 am, 30 students, Ms. Warner, BLM employees Allan Bate, Brian Taylor, Web Staley; myself were leaving the school parking lot for a day on the Monument.

Stormy weather is building around us out of the southwest. Occasional shafts of sunlight break free from the clouded sky. Their illuminations on the miles of sage and Vermillion Cliffs are, in a word, inspiring.

With every mile there is a rise in the volume of student voices and the energies they exude become nearly tangible. My thoughts are forced to turn from the realm of nature back to the students surrounding me. What do we hope to accomplish on this outing?

One of the project’s goals is to re-establish useful species of native vegetation into areas of the Monument where they once existed. It’s a worthy goal, but today the presence of these students reminds me that there are objectives to be gained of far greater consequence than establishing a few experimental plots of grasses and forbs.

Today I am traveling with young people who are being taught the scientific method of research through hands-on experiences in the field, the laboratory, the greenhouse and the classroom. Under the guidance of their teacher and land management professionals, an ethic of conservation, restoration and the appreciation of nature is being instilled. Restoring stands of cliffrose, saltbush, ricegrass, etc, is very important, but that cannot be our number one priority. In order to ensure the wise use and or preservation of our natural resources for the future, we must have a science-based body of education that includes a direct connection of students with nature.

The bus has stopped at the control plot and the students are being divided into learning activity groups. At this moment I’m looking at a small portion of the future, and it’s like seeing those rays of sunlight shining through the clouds.

–Wade Parsons, Education Coordinator

Oct 20, 2010