27TH Annual 6th Grade Environmental Day a Success
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BATTLE MOUNTAIN, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management, Battle Mountain District, hosted the 27th annual Sixth Grade Environmental Day at Willow Ponds on May 10. This long standing event is always something the District looks forward to putting on and presents the perfect opportunity to engage children about the wonders of public lands in Nevada.
This event has been held at the Mill Creek Campground, south of Battle Mountain, for the past 26 years but this year called for a change. In 2017 a fire consumed the Mill Creek Campground and the area has been temporarily closed to allow for the removal of safety hazards and revegetation efforts.
“We were not going to let a little fire stop us from having the event”, said Dorothy Harvey, who has been organizing this event for over 25 years. “There was some talk about canceling the event but that did not last long. The sixth graders look forward to this end-of-year field trip, its fun, engaging and gets them out of the classroom for a full day.”
For two years in a row the theme for the day has been ‘Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse’. The sixth grade students are challenged to think about what skills they would need to survive while the BLM and event partners are asked to design learning stations to fit the theme. The Nevada Outdoor School, Battle Mountain School Nurse, Newmont Mining and BLM rose to this challenge and featured learning activities like tool making, animal identification, CPR training, tree planting and fire making/safety. Roughly 50 students were split into groups that rotated between the different stations every 30 minutes. Each student was provided an event workbook containing questions relative to the different stations. The students completed the workbook as they day evolved as an out-of-doors, hands-on practicum supplementing their more formal classroom instruction regarding the environment.
“You just can’t beat programs like this. Great partners, great concept and seeing the kids having fun while learning about public lands is just about as good as it gets,” said Battle Mountain District Manager Doug Furtado. “We have seen this event grow into something incredible over the past 27 years and would like to thank our partners and the Battle Mountain Middle School for supporting this amazing program.”
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.