cwa brings garden valley to yolo for marsh madness

Sixty five students from Garden Valley Elementary in Sacramento went crazy as Marsh Madness took place on September 28, 2007 at the Yolo Basin Wildlife Area.  This free experience was hosted by California Waterfowl Association in partnership with Yolo Basin Foundation.  The students spent the day surrounded by hands-on experiences which built their knowledge of California’s wetlands and wildlife.  Many of these students had never been to a wetland before regardless of the fact Sacramento is surrounded by several wetlands.
 
From the moment students arrived until the minute they left, their day was packed with hands-on excitement.  Being out in the field gave each student the opportunity to be a real life biologist and conduct research to help build his/her wildlife knowledge.  Students had completely filled their field journals by the end of the day with all of the interesting information they had discovered, just like a real biologist. 

Activities ranged from a Bus Safari which enabled students to use binoculars, learn bird identification, and observe wildlife first hand, to discovering wetland soils and how everything on the wetland originated from it in one form or another.  Other activities included an up close look at feathers, nests, bird skulls and feet, animal scat and track identification, owl pellet dissection, food webs, metamorphosis, and aquatic insect identification and collection. 
“I never knew so many insects could be in the water!” one student from Garden Valley exclaimed as he caught a toe biter in his net.

After the activities, students enjoyed a wetland feast which included many wetland foods such as duck, deer, catfish, cranberries, black berries, wild rice, and mint to go along with their kid friendly hotdogs.  “I’ve never tasted duck before, but it sure is good!” a Garden Valley student discovered.  Many of the students enjoyed the wetland food so much they went back for a second helping while some even went back for thirds and fourths.

The day wrapped up with a Marsh Makers game that tied together concepts from the activities earlier in the day.  The goal of the game was to create a life sized model of a wetland.  During the activity, students role played as birders, hunters, farmers, anglers, and committee members to discover the challenges of creating a wetland.  By the end of the game all of the students had realized a very important point, “We need to save what we have before it is all gone,” (Garden Valley Student).

Marsh Madness enabled every student to feel triumphant.  Everyone had discovered a ton about wetlands and in the process had a great time.  Seeing the students learn and grow so much in one day left CWA and Yolo staff and volunteers feeling triumphant too.

To find out more information on Marsh Madness click here>>, or contact cwaeducation@calwaterfowl.org or (916) 648-1406.