The group ,Southwest Expedition – The Shadow People Field Trip By Andrew Harris

Tuesday March 6^th 2012

The group ,Southwest Expedition – The Shadow People, Went to the Balsam Mountain Preserve for a field trip and lessons in ecology the group studied ecco systems of nonmoving waters and moving waters they were responsible for inventory and cataloging of different types of aquatic bugs and amphibians. The kids started out a little cautious but quickly warmed up to playing with bugs in the mud and it soon turned into a competition of who could find the biggest and who could find the most aquatic specimens. It was slow going at first around a still water pound but as soon as specimens started being collected the youth really started getting into the project proclaiming “Dude you gotta check this guy out!”. After taking the waters temperature at both the edge and in the middle all of the specimens were examined catalogued and released back in to the pond. From that point it was only a short hike down past a water fall to the creek being fed below, as the boys were having the parameters explained several were making quiet side comments about the beauty of the creek and really liked being outdoors. The boys learned the differences in moving water and still water eco systems and some of the differences between them. Admittedly the boys did tend to get to get bored towards the end and engaged themselves with flat out creek explorations. After examining the specimens collected here and cataloguing those, the group moved on to a day hike to explore some local waterfalls and beauty. All in all it was a fun wet adventure that was enjoyed by all