Land Acknowledement: We acknowledge that the land we are living on was once the land that belonged to the Arapaho, the Cheyenne, and the Ute tribes as well as many others. They hunted, traveled and lived on this land. Their ancestors are still here. It is land that was taken from these tribes who had lived here for thousands of years.
Written by Analia Ecklund and Hayden Thompson
The Wood Brother's Project
Learning about the Wood Brothers project was awesome because it allowed us to use our creative thinking skills to come up with ideas for outdoor learning and helped us think about how to use nature to grow our minds. Then, share them with adults who really wanted to know what we thought! Wow!
We came up with good ideas for some unique learning opportunities. Some examples are a platform for
viewing wildlife, a nature playground and an outdoor classroom.
The learning ideas that we came up with can help educate people on how to
take care of the open space so they can keep the environment clean. We are
really excited about the Wood Brothers project and what we can do to help
educate others about the land.
The site visit really helped us get a good perspective of what the site looked like and how cool the land really is. Open Space and Mountain Parks did a super job teaching us about the land. The following presentations will show what we learned and pass on the information!
Hayden Thompson
4th Grade
Prairie Dogs on Wood Brothers Property
Did you know that prairie dogs have a language and communicate specific details about wha they see?! Con Slobodchikoff discovered this language in 1980.
There is a lot more to prairie dogs than you know so come with me on this journey. My class and I went on a field trip and my topic is prairie dogs.
These are the coolest facts I learned on the field trip, and I want to share them with you:
I learned that prairie dogs are amazing animals and help a lot of other animals.
I learned that prairie dogs make homes for most of the animals in the prairie.
I learned that they are the center of the prairie and the main food source for many predators like the
Golden Eagle who taught the Bald Eagles how to eat prairie dogs!
Prairie dogs are the heart of the ecosystem, the keystone, the animal the ecosystem depends on. As an example, tons of animals live in the holes that the prairie dogs make. Animals such as snakes, ground nesting birds and more.
I learned that the prairie needs the prairie dogs in order to be healthy, so we need to protect the prairie dogs.
Take a hike around Wood Brothers property and just sit and observe this incredible community..... you will find many similarities to humans! Thank you for letting me share these facts with you.
Thank You!
Emry Gates
4th Grader
Connecting with Nature
Go into nature, close your eyes, listen to the birds chirping or the crickets chirping, get to know where they are, then open your eyes and close your ears then just observe and look for different grasses and birds. I have walked on many different paths but never did I stop to observe as much as I did this time on our class site visit to Wood Brother's Property with Open Space and Mountain Parks and Growing Up Boulder.
One of my greatest lessons I learned was that you can learn outside of school AND without using any electronics! All you need are your eyes, ears, and skin.
Visit from an Ethnobotanist!
Our class was visited by an ethnobotanist. Do you know who Jim Tolstrup is? He is a man who studies how people of a particular culture and region make use of indigenous (native) plants. . He talked to my class about plants and their uses by the Lakota nation. One plant he told us about that is on Wood Brother's property, is the Cottonwood Trees (which are actually inhabited by Bald Eagles)! Dr. Tolstrup told us that some Native Americans believe the Cottonwood tree is the center of the universe. In the center of the Cottonwood tree when you cut it there is a star, not just a basic circle like a normal tree. It is important in the Sun Dance ceremony that the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho practice. This is just one connection we learned about nature and Native Americans.
Dr. Tolstrup talked to us about the uses and names of many plants that Native People use. It really helped us understand how connected the People are to nature. They can get everything they need from nature- medicines, soap, food, fibers for weaving, shelter and much more. It was really interesting to learn what a strong connection nature and people can have if we listen, observe, and learn.
Levi Arveson
4th Grader
Lichen and Its Importance
By Simon Fower
I am a 4th grade student and I am here to talk about Lichen. So did you know lichen has been around for millions of years and has 3,600 species? Lichens provide a means to convert carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through photosynthesis into oxygen which we all need to survive. They also grow on rocks, walls, stone, and plants such as trees.
Lichen can come in all different colors such as, green, gold, yellow, or orange. The first time I learned about lichen I was on the school site visit to Wood Brother's property with Open Space and Mountain Parks and Growing Up Boulder. I learned that when Boulder used to be underwater the blue algae in the water embedded in the White Rocks. Millions of years later the environment became right for it to grow. We need to protect the lichen by not stepping on it, touching it, and not breaking it off.
Lichen is one of the species that we need to take care of because it takes care of the environment and us. It is food for snails and air for us that we need to live, and also it is a type of algae and fish snails and other creatures need it. Lichen can grow in different climates like warm weather and some species can grow in cold weather. So as you can see Lichen has lots of importance in this world and see why it helps the environment. So next time you are in your backyard or a hike or a bike take a moment to look at a tree or a rock and see if you can find some although it is very delicate so be careful with it.