Tahoe Environmental Literacy Summit & Tahoe Watershed Tours

Tours | Summit

Fliers: Please download and share the general summit and tours flier, the north shore watershed tour flier, the south shore watershed tour flier, and/or the summit flier. Detailed agendas will be available soon.

Registration: Registration is open to teachers, school staff, other educators and all interested community members.

• Online: You may register online through the SWEP web store, chosing from single activities, or combined packages of tours and summit. This web store accepts credit card payments.
• Mail: You may also register by mail, by downloading and printing the print registration form, and mailing it with your check, money order or purchase order number. We cannot accept credit cards for mail-in registration.

As more detail about the summit and tours is developed, it will be posted here, so please check back. You may also contact Joy Barney, 530-543-2685, or jbarney -at- fs.fed.us.

Watershed Tours

Download documents: North Tour flier | North Tour agenda | South Tour flier | South Tour agenda

Thursday, August 21, 2008 for south shore, 9:00AM - 4:30PM

Saturday, August 23, 2008 for north shore, 9:00AM - 4:30PM

• curriculum ideas to connect with the environment around your school site
• visit a restoration site to learn about streams, wetlands and forest health
• monitor streams and wetlands for water quality and species
• the critical pedagogy of place using Teach Tahoe curriculum

$30 registration fee for each tour, includes lunch and snack/beverages, and transportation

The tours will showcase partnerships and educational opportunities at field locations throughout the Lake Tahoe watershed, as well as outreach opportunities for classrooms. Though the tours are designed for teachers and administrators seeking to enhance classroom and community curriculum with local resources, they will be of interest to all educators and community members. Teacher recertification credit will be available through Sierra Nevada College.

The north shore tour will include these stops and others (detailed agenda):

• Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences: Begin the day by focusing on Watersheds at the UC Davis
  Thomas J. Long Foundation Education Center, located in the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences. Become a scientist and investigate why Lake Tahoe is so unique.
• UC Davis Tahoe City Field Station: This stop is surrounded by three acres of Wetlands, making
  it the ideal location to focus on this ecosystem. What makes a wetland a wetland? Why are wetlands so important? Participate in hands-on activities to answer these questions and more.
• Tahoe Maritime Museum: Learn how Tahoe's rich maritime history has influenced the region at this stop. Explore uses of the lake from the time of Native Americans' seasonal visits to the classic wooden
  boats that are on display to an exhibit on keeping Tahoe clean.
• Rideout Community Center and Ward Creek: Do you know the criteria used to determine which trees are
  marked for thinning? Learn at this stop, which focuses on Forest Health and Water Quality. Participate in a forest mapping and measuring project and a carbon sequestration project, then step into the creek to test water quality.

The south shore tour will include these stops and others (detailed agenda):

• LamWatah Trail: This trail provides opportunities to teach about watersheds, human history, and forest health. Learn how to engage students with water quality activities, macroinvertebrate studies, math in trees and Washoe and early Tahoe history.
• Explore Tahoe: Visit the City of South Lake Tahoe’s newest visitor center. From here, ride the Heavenly Gondola to view the Lake from another perspective. Learn about the geology of the Lake Tahoe Basin and find out about the Forest Service’s Winter Trek environmental education program.
• Upper Truckee River: This watershed brings the greatest amount of waterborne sediments into Lake Tahoe. Discover what state, city and federal agencies are doing to restore this important watershed and what you can do to help.
• Angora Burn Area: Become a forester, biologist or hydrologist along with your students and study this area as it recovers from the fire.

For both tours, the exact agenda will be adjusted to meet the experience level of the registered participants.

Environmental Literacy Summit

Download documents: Summit flier | Summit agenda (draft)

Saturday, October 11, 2008, 9:00AM - 4:30PM, with social networking mixer to follow

Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, Incline Village NV

$20 registration fee, includes lunch and snack/beverages

The summit will bring together teachers, educators, agency and organization staff, and interest community members to share assets in Applied Science, Service Learning & Environmental Literacy. Teachers will receive integrated curriculum resources, funding information, contacts with agency and organization partners for classroom and schoolyard visits as well as field trips, and service learning project ideas. Concurrent workshop sessions will be offered throughout the day, as well as whole-group presentations and a resource sharing fair.

Dr. Art Sussman, famous science educator, with present his Planet Earth Show as a keynote and also offer a workshop for people particularly interested in science education.

Sponsors

These events are sponsored by USDA Forest Service - Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP), Nevada Natural Resource Education Council (NNREC), UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC), and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), with the support of many other partners.

This page is hosted by Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP).