Botany of Our Campus
When a bus load of elementary school children parks in our parking lot, and the doors open, a docent will step onto the vehicle, welcome our guests and point out, that as they step to the ground they are entering a classroom. Everything around them is on the lesson plan for that day!
Examples of every type of Mojave Desert flora, now growing on the site, will be preserved. Specimens representing the Sonoran and Coloradan Deserts, which naturally occur at our intersection of these desert types, will be included. On the walk to the classrooms in observatory building, guests will be guided along a marked trail through these plantings.
In the classrooms of observatory building, plant identification and growth will be the subject, adjusted to the grade level of the students. In season, seeds from plants on campus may be harvested and stored. At the correct season, wild seeds may be readied for planting, duplicating the natural requirements and environments of the species. Take-home samples would be available.
The uses of plants, as food, as a source of tools, building material, or fiber will be explored. Dangers of misuse of certain plants would be discussed.
Botany of our campus is just one of the programs we are planning.
Here is a list of more dreams we hope to make come true!
Astronomy:
What we can show you in daylight that is happening in the sky at night.
Amateur astronomers, bring your own scope to our level sites, each supplied with a power outlet, table and bench.
Armchair Astronomy:
Tour the sky with a laser pointer show in our amphitheater.Observational astronomy: let us tell you how to use a sky map then go out under our dark skies and practice.
Rent A Scope:
The over-night visitor would be able to plan ahead and reserve a high-grade telescope and a volunteer guide to our dark skies.
We have the shop space, form a group with us to grind a lens and build your own reflector telescope.
Find a use for that surplus tv dish, form a group to build a radio telescope array, we have the space reserved for you on our campus.
The Zoology of Our Campus:
Birds, Tortoises, Rodents, Lizards
The Geology of Our Campus:
Rocks, gravel, sand
Time keeping with the Sun:
Analemma and Sun Circle.
Can all this be covered in a single day, not likely? Programs would be adjusted to grade level: a student should be able to visit the site one or more times a school year from grade school through high school. A college student, interested in a career in teaching, would be a welcome visitor and perhaps find a position in our volunteer docent club.
When will you be able to do all of this?
You can start right now. Help build it!
Then you may come—to find what will enrich your life!
