Educational Outreach Continues at the Las Vegas Wash

The Las Vegas Wash Project Coordination Team (Wash Team) continues educational outreach with valley students.  The latest groups of students to participate in the outreach events were students from J.T. McWilliams Elementary School and Mabel Hoggard Math and Science Magnet School.  Part of the goal of the Las Vegas Wash project is to educate residents of the Valley on protecting water quality in the Las Vegas Wash (Wash).

The group from J.T. McWilliams arrived at Pabco Road Weir, happy to take their classroom outdoors on a clear fall day in November.  Students were welcomed to the site and lessons began right away with Debbie Van Dooremolen, Environmental Biologist sharing information on Las Vegas Valley’s watershed.  From this talk students learned how they and their families contribute to urban runoff, a partial source of water in the Wash and one of the four flow components.

Debbie Van Dooremolen demonstrates how to use binoculars

After being separated into groups and dispersed into different interactive stations, Wash Team staff members covered topics of water quality, wildlife and plant life at the Wash.  Each student received a Las Vegas Wash Field Trip Notebook, which aided in their understanding of the topics and enabled note taking.  Nick Rice, Environmental Biologist, presented a look at the different plant life found at the Wash and how this plant life is studied.  Students learned how biologists use plaster to make molds of animal foot prints.  A short walk through nearby foliage provided the students with hands-on experience.

Xiaoping Zhou demostrates a water probe

Xiaoping Zhou, Hydrologist with the Water Quality Team, discussed the topic of water quality in the Wash.  He explained the methods used to measure sodium content, conductivity, and acidity in the water, and also demonstrated the use of a water probe and how data is transferred to a graph on a laptop computer.  As they listened, students answered a series of corresponding questions in their Field Trip Notebook.

Debbie Van Dooremolen and Tim Ricks hosted the wildlife station.  There, students were supplied with binoculars and demonstrated how biologists use them to monitor wildlife on the Wash.  Students were able to observe American Coots among the reeds and see mosquitofish near the Wash bank.

The next day, another group of students from J.T. McWilliams participated in a similar outreach activity at the Clark County Wetlands Park.  Students walked from a welcoming area featuring new informational kiosks to three educational stations near the Wash.  In addition to binoculars at the wildlife station, a telescope enabled students a detailed look at wildlife.

Many of the students had never experienced the Wash and showed their appreciation with notes of gratitude. 

Educational outreach continues to be a vital part of the Wash project.  As more valley students participate, knowledge of this vital resource grows.  For more information on outreach projects, view students’ essays or learn more about the Wash, continue to explore lvwash.org.