News.bytes Extra, issue 429

Students learn outdoor skills and ethics

Over the April 23-24 weekend Pomona School District high school students beefed up their future resumes with skills suited to public lands.  Students in the California Technical Education Center (CTEC) were certified as Leave No Trace Trainers by LNT Master Educator, JoAnn Schiffer-Burdett, of the BLM's California Desert District. (text continues below)

Digging a "cat hole."

Students interested in conservation careers enrolled in the CTEC's first-ever Wildlands Management class through the county Regional Occupational Program (ROP).  The class is designed to produce students who are marketable to private and public agencies, for work on public lands.

The Leave No Trace trainer course was held at the Caring for the Land Site, which is being developed as a year-round outdoor interactive education site -- in partnership with the FairPlex Education Foundation and Public Agencies Resource Committee, LA County Fire Division of Forestry, BLM California Desert District, and USFS Angeles National Forest.

Chuck Robbins, fire specialist with the BLM's California Desert District., brought a king snake and and a rosy boa snake, so students could learn about snakes by touch and feel.   Larry Anderson, CTEC Instructor, told the class that although snakes and legless skinks look alike, snakes have long scales on their bellies, and they can't blink because they don't have eyelids.

Playing the "10 Essentials Relay Race"

Ready to dig!

Cooking omelettes in a bag.

Leave No Trace graduates

- JoAnn Schiffer-Burdett, BLM California Desert District, 4/27/10

BLM-California News.bytes, issue 429