The Bear Necessities of Science

By Thomas

There's an old habit in the teaching profession. We sometimes find ourselves reminding students in a variety of metaphors that a grand journey can begin with a single step.

On the third day of our grand journey here at Southwest Station @ Cave Creek Canyon, we found ourselves doing many steps--so many that our devices alerted us constantly. 

But more to the point, we found ourselves embarking on some pretty radical discoveries, and like the metaphors we tell our kids, those started off small--about the size of a caterpillar, in fact.

Our day began with setting a plot at about an elevation of 7000 feet. Hiking up through the lush desert, chased by heavy clouds of moisture, we saw the rising sunlight over the hilltops. Choosing an ocotillo cactus as our focal point, we then applied our previous training with Danielle, PhD grad student extraordinaire, to crisscross our plot ropes, setting essentially a square area in which to work in. Then, we set to work with beatsheets, and beaters of all types and styles. Today felt special, because we had some ownership now of the science and we all took our clipboards, sharpies, and specimen cups like pros, ready to get the science into full gear.  I was tasked with locating any and all caterpillars to be found on the sages, and smaller mimosas dotting the plotted area. Meanwhile, my colleagues Veronica, Gina, Kelsey, Bernette and Laura "beat down" the firm but yielding ocotillo for what we had come to find. 

Within minutes, Gina shouted, "Oruga!" and the challenge was set to find more of the various geometrids and other caterpillars that Dr. Dyer had taught us about the day before. I was pleased almost immediately as my plastic cups began to fill with specimens of several different varieties. Kelsey surprised us all with a caterpillar that instantly stole the show. We marveled at a milllipede and took a moment to share our findings, but we kept on, filling two ice chests worth of specimens to which we plan to work on in the lab tomorrow. Having already been exposed to some lab work, I know that tomorrow  will be incredibly meaningful as we will be caring for, photographing, and documenting a plot which we collected from ourselves. This is one of the many terrific strengths of the Earth Watch teacher program--allowing us to take agency of the science ourselves.

With our plot done, we left Cave Creek Canyon, not without a few last looks at Cathedral Rock and drove off towards Arivaca. But we first drove up and into the Chiricahua mountains where we had a lunch overlooking the green dotted valleyscape below. 

Pizza for dinner and off to our housing where the talk is mostly about the beauty of southern Arizona and what things we might learn about tomorrow in the lab. 

And of course, one more story dominated our time in transit. And that story, unlike our day, doesn't begin with a single step, but rather ended with one. 

And as it so happens, that story is mine! I told the team members about how yesterday I walked down the McCord trail, after a gorgoeus hike in the early evening. I followed the trail back to the lodge where we were staying when there before me at the very end of the trail stood a black bear. We looked at each other, and my heart hammered in my chest, and I believe his may have as well as evidenced by the fact that he leapt away leaving little for me to show anyone except a few footprints, and one more of Thomas' incredible accounts of animal interaction!

It was the perfect end of both the trail and of my day yesterday, just as tonight, writing about it is a perfect end to this day. It's also a great start to what Earth Watch is helping me bring back to my classroom, school and community-far more than the bear necessities of science I had before I got here.