In partnership with the Lomakatsi Restoration Project (a nonprofit group devoted to ecological restoration), Ruch School participated in a half-day field trip to Lone Pine Creek in North Medford. This field trip was an extension of our sustainability curriculum to study the importance of aquatic habitat restoration and invasive species abatement. Ruch students made many connections with current themes of sustainability: biodiversity, native salmon populations, climate change, forest ecology, and natural history. In just two hours, twenty-seven 8th grade students worked in small crews to plant eighty tree saplings including ponderosa pine, Oregon ash, Oregon grape, incense cedar and big leaf maple. Students also observed features of a healthy watershed, removed parrot feather weeds from the creek, and met with natural resource professionals to explore job opportunities in ecological restoration. Today was the beginning of a long-term partnership between Ruch School and Lomakatsi to participate in future hands-on, outdoor projects to connect students with nature.
Read more here.
Read more here.
