U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORBUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
 
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News.bytesNews.bytes Extra, issue 421

Hiking Adventures: Girl Scouts Explore a Desert Palm Oasis

On Sat. Feb. 20, thirty young Daisy, Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts met with BLM staff at the Palm Springs Visitor Center to learn Leave No Trace skills, map and compass orientation and hiking, before heading to the The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians' Palm Canyon.  Troops 707 and 1126, from Corona and Riverside, joined Tracy Albrecht, Interpretive Specialist with the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument and JoAnn Schiffer Burdett of BLM's California Desert District Office, to explore the worlds largest palm oasis.  Girls participated in a palm learning lab and recorded plant and animal species including wedge tailed ravens, blotch sided lizards, and fuzzy cholla; tasted honey mequite bean powder; identifed phototropic palms; and learned how fire affects the palm community.    A comment by scouts captured the feeling for the day.   A friend asks her buddy  "Are we hiking yet?"  "Yes, we are hiking an adventure of life!"

A woman and girls stand among structures made of small logs
BLM interpretive specialist Tracy Albrecht shows the scouts around a Cahuilla village's drying racks and a kish (home).

Daisy Scouts mark a barrel cactus on a list of plants they have identified
Daisy Scouts mark "barrel cactus" on a list of plants they have identified on their hike

A woman speaks to a group of girls about to hike down a dirt trail into a palm oasis
Tracy Albrecht speaks to the girls as they get ready to hike down into the palm oasis

 A woman stands with girls amid the sparse desert vegetation
The girls begin their search for desert plants on their list.

JoAnn Schiffer-Burdett, BLM California Desert District Office, 2/23/10


BLM-California News.bytes, issue 421

 
Last updated: 02-24-2010