Thursday, here we come!

Good morning on-line learners!  I am excited for another adventure filled day of learning.

Today we are focusing on the value of public lands for human and ecosystem health.  

We will be spending most of the day at Eagle Island State Park!  There are 26 acres of recreational use at the park including a 15 acre man-made lake.  We will meet Chelsea Merriman from BSU to discuss how humans play a large role in shaping the environment.  We will then hike the mile trail around the lake to discuss and explore our relationship with the environment and wildlife.  We will also be joined by local birding expert Gary Worthington on our hike.  Ellie Opdahl from BSU will join us to take about her research about the positive affects of being outdoors for human health.  This will involve a spit test!  More on that to come!  We will then search for monarch butterflies with Dave Draper from CWI and discuss why they might be in decline. We will document any sightings using iNaturalist and Arc GIS Collector. We will end the day by discussing the ecosystem services that raptors provide withCory Coffman from the BLM back at the Boise Watershed.

We will leave some time at the end of the day for in-person learners to start their digital storytelling.  The writing prompt for their projects is, "What ecosystem services are most important to you?"  

We started the week's blog off with this question so it will be interesting to see if anyone has changed their opinion on this matter.  I can't wait to share their final products with you!