If there was one thing Solano Resource Conservation District officials seemed to tell a Friday meeting of local elected leaders and partner organizations, it was something like a quote attributed to legendary business magnate John D. Rockefeller: “Don’t think of giving as a duty, but as a duty. a privilege.”
Facing a funding crunch in the coming year, RCD officials hosted an informational meeting and luncheon about the organization’s programs, including the Suisun Marsh program for Solano County third and sixth graders, at Rush Ranch Open Space, near Grizzly Island Road, south of Suisun. City.
Using a computer-aided slide presentation, Marianne Butler, director of environmental education at the Dixon-based RCD, told the group, sitting in the ranch’s education center, that the district’s main funder, the Solano County Water Agency, will likely limit its contribution. for educational programs in the new year.
Solano County Supervisor Mitch Mashburn and Vacaville City Councilwoman Jeanette Wylie help Green Valley Middle School students look for plants in the Suisun Marsh during a field trip to Rush Ranch Open Space on Friday. (Chris Riley/The Reporter)
Other funding sources — including the Solano County Office of Education, the Vacaville Public Education Foundation, the county’s seven cities and the Solano County Department of Resource Management — are expected to maintain their contributions to the education programs, Butler told reporters after ending to The Reporter. the morning meeting. They include not only the watershed programs, but also tours of the Science Camp and water treatment plants for Solano County fifth graders and the biomonitoring program for high school students.
During the meeting, RCD Executive Director Chris Rose said the district’s budget is $4.5 million, with 5 percent coming from taxes. The remaining $4.25 million will come from “local partnerships and (state and federal) grants,” he added. And of that, about $1.3 million will be set aside for the RCD education programs, which are facing budget cuts and a lower contribution from the Water Agency, Butler said later.
As an aside, while walking along a ranch trail with the sixth-graders from Green Valley Middle School, she noticed the somewhat surprising cost of a field trip to the historic ranch, with bus transportation and liability insurance paid for by the RCD, not a school. district: $5,000.
“It’s growing fast,” a reference to the ranch’s more than 100 annual field trips, said Supervisor Mitch Mashburn of Vacaville, who walked with the sixth-graders as they approached the swamp.
In addition to Mashburn, who serves on the Water Agency’s board of directors, Supervisor Monica Brown, also an agency board member, was present. Others included Supervisor-elect Cassandra James, Vacaville City Council members Jeanette Wiley and Sarah Chapman, Suisun Mayor Alma Hernandez, Cary Keaten, general manager of the Solano Irrigation District, and Paul Adler, community relations director of the Valero Benicia- refinery.
In a series of opening remarks, Steve Chappel, executive director of the Suisun RCD, said the district’s education program is “making a difference” in preserving the marsh for future generations.
Rose said the marsh, 116,000 acres of wetland and the largest brackish water marsh on the West Coast, “is unique” and is protected “in perpetuity” under state law.
The RCD education programs “make the world a better place” for Solano students “and their children,” he added.
Butler’s slideshow indicated that the conservation districts help restore the county’s watersheds and natural resources to health; protect natural resources through partnerships and education programs; educate children and adults about watershed science and environmental management; and improving watersheds and their habitats.
“If we don’t connect our future leaders to the outdoors, what kind of home will Solano County be?” one of the comments on the slide was read.
Butler noted that for the current school year, an estimated 10,000 students from more than 315 classes and more than 115 field trips will be held at Rush Ranch.
“Positive, direct experiences in nature during childhood and role modeling of care for nature by someone close to the child are the two factors that contribute most to individuals choosing to take action as adults in favor of the environment,” said another slide commentary. And yet another reads that outdoor lessons show that “children are more engaged in learning (88 percent), can concentrate better (68 percent) and behave better (65 percent).”
At one point, Butler said that while the world in 2024 is very different from what those present grew up in, RCD programs are “more essential than ever” as a way to “connect our future leaders with the outdoors.”
Mashburn said, as he walked the students to the swamp, that project-based and hands-on learning are among the most effective ways for children to learn.
Shea Kinser, environmental education program manager for the Solano Resource Conservation District, talks to Green Valley Middle School students about the Suisun Marsh during a field trip to Rush Ranch on Friday. (Chris Riley/The Reporter)
While exploring the swamp with education program manager Shea Kinser, Green Valley Middle School students learned about the swamp itself, its history, the animals that inhabit it, the watershed and the difference between wetlands and grasslands.
They also learned about the swamp’s water, its temperature on Friday, its turbidity, its chemical composition and the plants that grow nearby. In short, the students became budding scientists and biologists during the two-hour visit to the swamp – and so did local elected officials and the district’s partners.
Originally published: November 15, 2024 at 5:26 PM PST