Paramount Ranch- EcoHelpers (Audrey Benson)

Reviewed by: Audrey Benson, biology teacher at Moorpark High School.

Location: Paramount Ranch: Cornell Rd, Agoura, CA 91301

Description:

The EcoHelpers program is curriculum-based and focuses on science principles learned through hands-on restoration activities. There are two versions of the program.

Planting Program: Offered November - March. This program focuses on removing non-native invasive plants and restoring native plants.

Crayfish Removal Program: Offered April - mid-May. This program focuses on removing non-native invasive crayfish from our local streams.

Both programs will improve the habitat for wildlife in the Santa Monica Mountains. Students will understand that invasive plants and animals can damage the natural communities that produce food and shelter to sustain native wildlife. Students will recognize that improving natural communities can improve native habitats, food chains, and the local food web.

Audience:

  • A biology teacher or environmental science teacher would benefit by a visit to Paramount Ranch because it provides local examples of ecologic interactions like keystone species invasive species. Students also get hands-on experience collecting data about invasive species.

Science Concepts Addressed:

  • Invasive species: Invasive grasses and crayfish in the Santa Monica Mountains.

  • Keystone species: The endangered kangaroo rat is an endangered species in the chaparral.

  • Food web: Relationships between organisms in the chaparral.

  • Human impacts: Humans can both help and hurt an environment based on their actions.

  • Biomes and Ecosystems: One travels through chaparral and riparian zones when traveling through the Santa Monica Mountains at Paramount Ranch.

Study Guide: Print out the pages and staple to create a field journal. Additional blank pages may be added.

Field Trip Journal

  • iNaturalist: Download the iNaturalist app to use on the field trip!

Photographs: Include a minimum of five good, unique photographs that highlight science concepts listed above. Make certain to explain each photograph and the science concepts illustrated.

Photo Album

Students are given various pictures of organisms in the Santa Monica Mountains to arrange in a food web.

Students plot and analyze data.

Students trace the point where invasive crayfish may have been introduced into the environment.

Students explore the Santa Monica Mountains with the help of a guide.

Students collect data about invasive crayfish.