February 2012

PLC Director Conservation Educator of the Year
PLC Director Ray Tschillard received the State Award for Conservation Educator of the Year and went on to win the National Award. The nomination letter from the West Greeley Conservation District cites three main areas in Ray’s teaching approach connected with the PLC: service learning, integrated curriculum, and community partnerships.

The letter described his years of work to accomplish an outdoor science center. Especially noteworthy were his continued and vigorous attempts to get all the interest groups, governmental agencies, schools and philanthropists to work toward the same goal. “He stuck to his guns over a period of 26 years,” the letter stated. “That accomplishment is the one that is the most remarkable.”  

It was also noted that “his staff has worked tirelessly beside him over the years” and Tschillard was quick to say it was an award to the PLC and everyone who has worked to bring it into being and continue to grow.

Tschillard has previously received The Enos Mills Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education.

Archaeology at the PLC
New experiences in local archaeology are slated for the PLC. Andrew Creekmore, Asst. Professor of Anthropology at the Univ. of Northern Colorado, and the PLC received a grant from the Littler Fund of the Community Foundation of Greeley and Weld County to support “mock” excavation trenches containing features dating to different time periods on the northern plains.

UNC students will build these for the use of K-12 students at the site as they ‘discover’ what time has left. Through this activity, Creekmore says, “students will experience local heritage firsthand and develop a deeper sense of the place in which they learn, play and live.”

A second grant received by Creekmore with PLC support from UNC’s New Project Program will aid in building an archaeo-geophysics area on PLC grounds. Geophysics methods include magnetometry, resistivity, ground penetrating radar, and conductivity. Test sites are developed by recreating and burying archeological features (hearths, trash pits, ditches, etc.) in a large area free from modern disturbances where UNC students can practice with various machines.

October A Record Month

Last October, the PLC recorded its busiest October on record. There were four teacher workshops, four community events, three Caring For Our Watershed events, and one astronomy night. The PLC hosted 25 school groups with a  total of 1,927 students who participated in science and nature activities including plant diversity, soil properties, relationships with water quality and macro-invertebrates, and quantitative analysis of stream characteristics.

Winograd Students in National Competition
Mary Jensen-Hedrick, a teacher at Winograd K-8 School, is working with her students on a Young Naturalist National Contest supported by the Alcoa Foundation and the American Museum of Natural History. The project, based at the PLC, will identify the limits of a local perched aquifer, an aquifer separated from other water-bearing strata by an impermeable layer.

This explains what has been a point of speculation for students: four trees in a direct line south-east of our amphitheatre in an otherwise tree-less area. When a prairie-dog mound was found to contain gravel, the perched aquifer theory gained support.

Jensen-Hedrick will help students from the 6th and 7th grades study soils, plants, and hydrology to determine the aquifer’s area. She said she enjoys challenging her students and wanted to enter a competition on the national level. PLC Director Ray Tschillard provided information, she said, “and we jumped in.”

She believes the project will enrich the students’ background knowledge about groundwater and the value of keeping water clean. “I love teaching science,” Jensen-Hedrick says, “and any project which will encourage students to use higher level thought processes and apply that to protecting and preserving the environment is my passion and purpose for being on the planet.”

Bischoff Library Dedication
On January 11, the PLC and the Centennial Rotary dedicated the Bischoff Library, in honor of Robert and Dede Bischoff.  Funds from Robert Bischoff estates for shelving, the library will be a permanent part of the PLC’s resources, holding books concerning the Poudre River watershed-scientifically, culturally, and historically—and appropriate curriculum and science-oriented volumes.

A community dedication and open-house showing off the completed library and honoring Dede Bischoff will be held March 10, 2012 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.

Robert Bischoff was an important friend of the PLC until his passing in August of 2008. His work through the Greeley Rotary Club for PLC was invaluable. He was also President of the Greeley Chamber of Commerce and served on the boards of the UNC Foundation, the North Colorado Medical Center, Union Colony Civic Center, and the Colorado State Banking Board.

Goals Set, Team Built
The PLC Board met in December and reviewed results of an Organization Goal Setting and Team Building Workshop for the PLC conducted by Morrel and Associates from Greeley. The four goals are to align PLC curriculum with districts and the state using new and existing materials at grades 4, 7, and Advanced Placement, to enhance communication, to secure funding, and to continue to develop land area expansion, reclamation and maintenance.

Four committees were suggested: Curricular, Communication, Funding, and Land Reclamation and Maintenance. Several of the goals overlap the committee structure so more than one committee will be dealing with several topics under the goals. Such a structure will allow more individual and committee work, and reduce the need for monthly Board meetings.

Wading in the Water
The Women’s Fund of Weld County continues to support El Espejo, a research program for students 10 to 13 years old at the PLC, directed by Yeni Garcia. This time the Women’s Fund helped provide waders, a necessary piece of equipment for studying in the river, and we’re very thankful.

Taxidermy Time
The PLC has a specimen of a pelican on ice, waiting to be stuffed. If you know a local taxidermist who would be willing to donate the work, let us know. The pelican would join our large Nebraska turkey on long-term loan as well as mounted specimens of a Blue-winged Teal, Widgeon, Golden Eye, Pintail, Wood Duck and several others along the shelves at the PLC. Some of these have been used by elementary students as models for the Duck Stamp Contest.

Monitoring Wells Planned
UNC student Kyle Bobst has, with the help of the West Greeley and Central Greeley Conservation Districts, been involved in digging monitoring wells at the PLC. One has already been dug and sealed east of Learning Lake by the Poudre and will monitor subsurface flow in comparison to river flow. Two others will be located by the perched aquifer west of the main buildingand will help study the conductivity between their two locations. The PLC is grateful for the help and support provided by the Conservation Districts.

Correction to Fall 2011 Edititon of the Poudre River Current

Premier Confluence Institute

In July, 2011 the second Annual Confluence Institute was hosted by the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District,  the West Greeley Conservation District, and the PLC. The 4-day workshop on water education involved 21 teachers this summer. Activities included those from the Project WET K-12 and Water Wise Colorado curricula. The planned canoe trip down the St. Vrain was cancelled due to high water and the canoes were used on Bittersweet Lake in Greeley. The group also toured a number of farms as well as the USDA Water Management Research Unit. A visit to the Von Trotha-Firestien farm, recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places, was also accomplished with a final ‘graduation’ BBQ provided.