Teams of high school science teachers and their students will begin a three-week project to map the types of vegetation found in the Jarbidge Mountains in northeast Nevada-including the state's first Wilderness Area-beginning July 31. The project is part of the Desert Research Institute's Nevada Science Teachers Enhancement Project (NSTEP) which gives educators an alternative to textbook-based explanations of the world of science.
Under the direction of Dr. David Charlet, a biology and environmental science instructor at the Community College of Southern Nevada, teachers and students from three southern Nevada high schools and one in Glendale, California will work from base camps to describe vegetation resources available to wildlife in the region.
The large and isolated mountain range forms a drainage divide between the Columbia River that flows to the Pacific Ocean and the Humboldt River whose waters terminate in the Great Basin. Rising from a base elevation of approximately 6000 ft. to peaks nearly 11,000 ft tall, the Jarbidge Mountains include rich and highly complex types of vegetation, including sagebrush shrublands, mountain-mahogany woodlands, montane meadows, subalpine forests, and alpine meadows and lakes.
The students and teachers have completed an extensive seminar series to learn the scientific procedures they are employing in the field. They are living in camp conditions throughout the completion of the fieldwork, while project staff manage logistics and supervise the general activities.
DRI Research Professor Paul Buck, who is director of the N-STEP project, said this is the third of three such field experiences this summer. Earlier this summer a teacher-student team studied archeological records of the Anasazi people in southwest Utah. Another group examined the loss of water by evaporation from plants, soil and streams-Evapotranspiration-in the Lake Tahoe Basin, a significant factor in the diminishing clarity of the lake.
The teams from all three projects will analyze the results of their research this fall, preparing reports on their findings. Special project web sites will be established enabling students to communicate their results and conclusions among participating high schools and all interested parties.