Save the Bay Reflection

Our class went on a field trip to the wetlands of the San Francisco Bay last tuesday. Save the Bay is an organization which specializes in restoration of the San Francisco Bay using both specialists and volunteers (i.e. citizen science). Since the early 1900s, the wetlands have been reduced 90%. This has greatly affected the wildlife, endangering many native species.

The Wetlands of the San Francisco Bay, courtesy of R. Girard

Here is what I learned:

1. Pickleweed evolved to be able to live in salt water. This directly relates to evolution and adaptation, which we learned about in Unit 1. Genetically, most species of wildlife has mutated somewhere along the line in order to adapt to the environment.

This is a picture of Pickleweed, courtesy of R. Girard

2. The California drought has been one of the worst droughts in the history of California, and has greatly affected the wildlife and the statistics of information that Save the Bay collects.

3. The San Francisco Bay is the second biggest estuary in the country, after the Chesapeake Bay. As an estuary, the San Francisco Bay harvests both freshwater and saltwater plants, thus increasing specie diversity.

Courtesy of R. Girard

Citizen Science is a branch of science where data and information is taken and recorded by citizens of the general public. Citizen science, while maybe not all as accurate as science performed by a professional, is important because there is a lack of scientists but a surplus of discoveries to be made. Generally, the more information collected the better for scientific purposes and projects, and citizen science encourages this. By taking this data, not only did collect data for the Save the Bay organization which can potentially go to new project and statistics, but I also gained respect for the San Francisco Bay and Save the Bay.

This is our class getting ready to partake in citizen science (photo courtesy of R. Girard)

In my small group, I was the data collector. I highly enjoyed this position; being the scribe and organizing data is my specialty. We tested soil salinity, moisture, pH, conductivity, and biodiversity.

Here is a picture of my group and me collecting data (courtesy of R. Girard)

Overall, I had a ton of fun on this field trip. I always look for an excuse to get out of the standard classroom and this trip enabled my classmates and me to do so. Assisting on this Save the Bay project made me feel like we were doing a lab, except this time I was really able to connect a lab-like experience with real life experiences. I will always remember Ms. Cerels getting stung by a wasp, which I think is safe to say was a traumatizing moment for everyone involved. If I could change one thing about the field trip, I would have it on a day where the weather is a little bit better, because the fresh rain arose the wasps and made them a little bit angry. I really liked my leader, Mugwart (aka Brian), and for some reason the fact that this was his first time working on this specific project too calmed me down and made the experience more enjoyable. I definitely think this field trip was worthwhile and would love to go again.

Save the Bay: Pre-Trip

On Wednesday, November 17th, our class is going on a field trip  to work with the organization Save the Bay to help do some research and learn about the environment and what we can do to preserve it. I personally am a huge fan of field trips – they are just as fun during 12th grade as they were during kindergarten. I believe that getting out of the classroom and having more of a hands-on approach to learning makes the material more memorable. Also, I think just changing up the environment and the normal schedule of a student makes the experience special and thus leaves more of a positive connotation. Field trips are similar to labs in the sense that they both demonstrate real life applications of whatever material is being studied to the real world.

I personally am really excited to observe the animals in the wetlands and learn about preventive measures to save the environment. As an animal lover I am primarily concerned with the negative effects pollution has on wildlife. I would like to learn more about how severely human activity is hurting the environment and what the future looks like for our planet if we do not make drastic changes to the way we treat it. Obviously, I would like to positively affect the environment. I don’t think anyone has the intention of having a negative impact on the environment (or at least I hope not), but I know the third option, apathy, may unfortunately be the dominant choice. Humans are naturally selfish beings, and many people simply do not care enough about what happens to the planet to make any efforts to improve its condition. I hope on this field trip to learn some basic ways that even one person can make a difference in order to try and solve this problem.

Visit http://blog.savesfbay.org to learn more about Save the Bay!