SESI Virtual Field Trip: Rio Bosque Wetlands Park

Rio Bosque Wetlands Park

This virtual field trip is designed to immerse students into an extraordinary landscape found in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert. Rio Bosque Wetlands Parks allows people to take a glimpse into the past when wetlands and riverside forests once graced the banks of the Rio Grande in the Paso del Norte region. This virtual field trip highlights this unique outdoor space and details the restoration work that has occurred over the last 24 years.

*Links work best when signed into a Google Account. Student worksheets are forced copied so students can work directly on the respective Google Documents

Test your knowledge!

Click the button to take the pre-quiz

*Students from Cathedral, Del Valle or Horizon HS use the correct link for your school*

Rio Bosque Virtual Field Trip

To access the virtual field trip, download the Pocketsights App to your phone https://pocketsights.com/tour-guide-app or visit their website https://pocketsights.com

You may visit Rio Bosque Wetlands Park in person and follow along the tour, or enjoy the tour virtually from your device.

Virtual Tour: https://pocketsights.com/tours/tour/El-Paso-Rio-Bosque-Wetlands-Park-Tour-5743


Rio Bosque Wetlands Park Field Trip Activity

Students should watch the videos included in Pocketsights tour to better understand the environmental and ecological changes and challenges that the park as faced. Students will then complete the student activity which gives restoration scenarios that the students will have to provide meaningful solutions for. Students can work in groups and are encouraged to present their results with their classmates.

Post Field Trip Activity

Now that you have a better understanding of the ever-changing environment at the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, you will now be challenged to think about how your neighborhood or the area surrounding your school has changed through time.

Working in groups or individually draw what you think this area (ecosystem) looked like 100 years ago. Be sure to include flora and fauna that is native to this region and interactions between plants, animals and other environmental variables (water, temperature, energy flow etc.). Then, draw what the area looks like today. Lastly, draw what you think the area will look like in 50 years.

*Students can complete this assignment by hand (paper/poster) or can use digital tools like Google Draw/Jamboard, Adobe Photo Sketch, Doodle Buddy Paint Draw App, etc.)

Group Discussion:

  • What Environmental Issues have risen since the landscape has changed?

  • What Environmental Issues will be evident or most impactful in 50 years?

  • Are these changes good or bad for the environment?

  • Are these changes good or bad for humans?

  • What would you do to change the course of where this landscape will be in 50 years?

Retest your knowledge!

Click the button to take the post-quiz

*Students from Cathedral, Del Valle or Horizon HS use the correct link for your school*

This virtual field trip was produced thanks to funding provided by EPA grant #NE-01F54901-0.

Thanks to the El Paso Trans-Pecos Audubon Society, John Sproul (Park Manager), the Friends of the Rio Bosque and UTEP Interns Ruben Cardoso and Esteban Salazar for their contribution to the development of this workshop.