|
Calendar 2009 - 2010
June 7
- July 15, 2010
Summer Leadership Program
|
July 15, 2010 |
13 |
AYRW students canoed from the
Zilker Park Boat Rentals
up to Cold Springs. We viewed numerous birds, waterfowl,
turtles and discussed the natural and cultural history of Lady
Bird Lake. |
|
July 12, 2010 |
17 students from the East Austin
Boys and Girls Club |
Volunteers from the
Boys and Girls
Club helped AYRW staff cleaning and organizing the
back porch, living room, and garage of the EcoHouse. Big
Thanks for all their help!! |
|
July 9-10, 2010 |
7 |
Students attended a young women's
Sleepover at the AYRW EcoHouse. While there, students
played games, prepared dinner, and watched movies.
Students also visited Lady Bird Lake and the
Congress Avenue Bridge to view and learn about Mexican
Free-tailed Bats. While there, the students saw over 70
turtles in one spot, a river otter, and a single bat. The
finished with a night swim at Barton Springs Pool. |
|
July 7, 2010 |
9 |
AYRW Students visited Barton
Creek Habitat Preserve and tested water at Barton Creek and
listened to a talk from Brandon, the preserve manager, about the
sensitive ecology, specific to the area and operations, to maintain the
land. |
|
June 30, 2010 |
9 |
Students toured the ponds,
fields, and greenhouse at
Hornsby Bend. While visiting, the student viewed
different types of birds and waterfowl; American Coot, Purple
Martin, and Little Blue Heron. Students also viewed
numerous tree frogs, garden spiders, leopard frogs and learned
about their integral role in the local ecology. |
|
June 25-26, 2010 |
7 |
Students attended a Young Men's
Sleepover at the AYRW EcoHouse. While there, students
participated in a basketball tournament, played games, prepared
dinner, and watched a movie. Students also visited Barton
Springs Pool to night swim and toured
Urban Roots in Austin to learn about organic farming and the
teen program. |
|
June 24, 2010 |
6 |
AYRW Students toured
Cave Without A Name
near Boerne to learn about cave formations and natural
history of the area. Students then visited nearby Guadalupe
River to eat lunch, swim, and view wildlife and learn about
riparian ecology. |
|
June 17, 2010 |
4 |
AYRW Students visited the
Bob Bullock Texas
State History Museum Imax Theatre and viewed
Texas: The Big
Picture.
Students then ate lunch at Zilker Park along Barton Creek, where
they observed several types of turtles and fish.
|
|
June 14, 2010 |
6 |
AYRW Students visited Barton
Creek Habitat Preserve and tested water at Barton Creek and
listened to a talk from Brandon, the preserve manager, about the
ecology specific to the area and operations to maintain the
land. |
|
June 11, 2010 |
6 |
AYRW Students toured
Inner Space Cavern
near Georgetown to learn about cave formations and natural
history of the area. Students also toured the Historic District
in Georgetown and ate lunch at San Gabriel Park. |
|
June 7-10, 2010 |
26 |
AYRW Students began the first
week of Summer Leadership Program. Students were given an
informative safety talk and tested water at several monitoring
sites. Students also played board games and basketball at
the Riverwatch House. |
|
May 10-14, 2010 |
51 |
AYRW Students were treated for
the end of the semester. Several students finished surveys
and while all students reviewed semester goals. |
|
May 3-7, 2010 |
53 |
AYRW Students completed end of
year survey about Austin Youth River Watch. |
|
April 26 - 30, 2010 |
57 |
AYRW Students contributed to the
Flying Fish Review Student Newsletter. |
|
April 25, 2010 |
11 |
AYRW graduating seniors
celebrated their accomplishments with the senior dinner at the
Olive Garden restaurant. We talked about future plans and
what they enjoyed about River Watch. |
|
April 24, 2010 |
8 Public Event |
AYRW Students tested water at 2.5
mile marker along the hike-n-bike trail at Lady Bird Lake for
Earth Day. Students showed the public aquatic insects and
answered questions about water testing. |
|
April 23, 2010 |
6 |
AYRW Students learned about the
birds they saw at the ponds of the
Hornsby Bend Biosolids
Management Plant and about the frogs in the greenhouse. |
|
April 22, 2010 |
Austin Water Utility Staff and
citizens |
AYRW staff talked with employees
of the Austin Water
Utility and citizens about water quality in Austin's creeks
and the river and about the afterschool programming we do with
the students of Austin Youth River Watch. |
|
April 21, 2010 |
10 |
AYRW Students learned about
sustainable food options at the Earth Day festival in Triangle
Park hosted by Austin
Green Art. |
|
April 20, 2010 |
32 students from the Liberal Arts
and Science Academy AP Environmental Science class |
Students rotated through four
stations where they worked with professional scientists to gain
hands on experience with various forms of Environmental
Monitoring including chemical and meter based water quality
testing, analysis of surface water vs. ground water and how the
two relate to each other, examining earth worms and other soil
fauna as a means of understanding environmental trace
contaminants and soil food webs, and biological based water
quality analysis looking at organisms such as benthic
macroinvertebrates (water bugs), freshwater mussels, fish, etc.
After the field portion of the day, the students ate lunch and
listened to and asked questions of the scientists they had
worked with. The discussion focused on how the scientists
got from high school to where they are now in their careers. |
|
April 19, 2010 |
10 |
AYRW Students learned about the
birds they saw at the ponds of the Hornsby Bend Biosolids
Management Plant, the frogs in the greenhouse at the plant and
the flowers along the pathways and roads there. |
|
April 10 - 11, 2010 |
8 |
AYRW Young Women's Retreat -
Students went to
Buescher State Park where the interpretive
ranger taught us all about Geocaching. Once the students
learned the skills, they made discoveries of a couple of smaller
geocaches and then lead us into the woods where they lead us to
a treasure. Everyone signed the log book, got a treasure
and left one too. After geocaching, we headed back to the
AYRW EcoHouse for a sleepover where we played games, watched
movies and ate pizza. We also took a walk down through the
forest to see our local patch of bluebonnets. |
|
April 9, 2010 |
7 |
AYRW Students tested water at
"Big" Webberville Park and talked with a few folks who just
finished a raft and canoe trip with the
Austin to Bastrop River
Corridor Partnership |
|
March 25, 2010 |
5 |
1st day of volunteering for three
students from St. Edwards University. |
|
March 22-26, 2010 |
44 |
AYRW Students reviewed their
progress toward their semester goals for School, Home and AYRW. |
|
March 18, 2010 |
5 |
AYRW Spring Break EcoLearning
Adventure - Students travelled home to Austin from the forest
through the prairies and lakes region. Back at the AYRW
EcoHouse, everyone circled up and talked about what they enjoyed
most from the Adventure. |
|
March 17, 2010 |
5 |
AYRW Spring Break EcoLearning
Adventure - Students travelled west to
Mission Tejas State Park.
On the way, we drove through Nacogdoches, where Mr. Adam had
attended Stephen F. Austin State University. We also
passed
Caddo Mounds
State Historic site and talked about the Native American
people who lived in Texas before the first Anglo settlers
arrived. At Mission Tejas, students toured the mission,
had a campfire and camped for the final night of our EcoLearning
Adventure. |
|
March 16, 2010 |
5 |
AYRW Spring Break EcoLearning
Adventure - Students played basketball with Mr. Adam, took a
nature hike, went fishing and canoed on Caddo Lake. In the
evening, students played games and had another campfire.
Students camped at
Caddo Lake State Park for the night.
|
|
March 15, 2010 |
5 |
AYRW Spring Break EcoLearning
Adventure - Students travelled through the Piney Woods north to
Caddo Lake State Park - home of the only naturally formed lake
in Texas. Students rode on a
pontoon boat for a tour of
Caddo Lake. They listened to the boat driver talk about
choosing to live a good quality life there at Caddo Lake and
about all of the wildlife she encounters there. Students
had a camp fire and camped at Caddo Lake State Park for the
night. |
|
March 14, 2010 |
5 |
AYRW Spring Break EcoLearning
Adventure - students got to see an adult alligator at
Brazos
Bend State Park. Then we travelled to Galveston where the
students saw an IMAX film about coral reefs. It discussed
the unique habitat of coral reefs, the life these habitats
support and some of the current threats to them. Then
students toured the
Moody Gardens Aquarium. This was a
very special experience. Student walked down a corridor
that was entirely aquarium on all sides except the floor.
Sharks and sea turtles swam over their heads.
After Moody Gardens, the students
went to the beach. Many of the students had never been to
the beach before. They looked at sea shells and got their
feet wet. Then we rode the ferry across to the Bolivar
Peninsula. On the ferry, we saw porpoises, pelicans and
sea gulls. From the beach we drove through the coastal
plain up into the Big Thicket, the dense forest of East Texas
where we camped out at
Martin Dies Jr. State Park. |
|
March 13, 2010 |
5 |
AYRW Spring Break EcoLearning
Adventure - Students travelled from the prairies of East Austin
to the
Lost Pines in Bastrop and on through the coastal plain to
Brazos Bend State Park where they attended a Star Party at the
George Observatory and camped out. At the Star Party the
students got to look through the telescopes of many volunteers
and see things like the Orion Nebula and Saturn. Through
the night, the students were serenaded by the calling of several
individuals of two different species of owls. |
|
March 6, 2010 |
92 people- current and former
students, their families and other friends of AYRW |
AYRW Open House and Baby Shower
for Program Director, Elisabeth Welsh. Current students,
AYRW graduates from all of the 11 years of Elisabeth's tenure
and their families came for a Celebration at the AYRW Ecohouse. |
|
February 24, 2010 |
5 |
AYRW Students talked about
scholarships, where to find them, how to apply and strategies
for making the application process easier. |
|
February 22, 2010 |
11 |
AYRW Students talked about things
that they can do now that will make their lives easier or harder
in the future. |
|
February 12-13, 2010 |
7 |
AYRW Young Women's Retreat -
Students played games, watched movies, made friends with
students from other schools, took a night hike calling for owls
and listening for night creatures. One student saw a Barn
Owl up close. Students also saw glow worms in the soil and
heard coyotes. In the morning, students walked the same
path so they could see where they had walked in the evening. |
|
February 8, 2010 |
12 |
AYRW Students learned about flood
plains and riparian zones. |
|
February 5, 2010 |
9 |
AYRW Students marked storm drains
with markers saying "No Dumping, Drains to Creek" |
|
February 4, 2010 |
2 |
AYRW Students learned about the
birds they saw at the ponds of the Hornsby Bend Biosolids
Management Plant and about the processes at work at the plant. |
|
February 3, 2010 |
11 |
AYRW Students learned about the
birds they saw at the ponds of the Hornsby Bend Biosolids
Management Plant. |
|
February 1, 2010 |
8 |
AYRW Students learned about the
birds they saw at the ponds of the Hornsby Bend Biosolids
Management Plant. |
|
January 29, 2010 |
2 |
AYRW Students on a rainy day,
learned about the birds they saw at the ponds of the Hornsby
Bend Biosolids Management Plant. |
|
January 28, 2010 |
4 |
AYRW Students dropped off
recycling at the Ecology Action Recycling Center at 9th St. and
IH35. |
|
January 25 - 29, 2010 |
40 |
AYRW Students thought about what
their adult lives would be like and learned about finding jobs
and housing and about budgeting. |
|
January 14, 2010 |
5 |
AYRW Students attended a showing
of an Environmental Film at the LCRA with the
Colorado River
Foundation. |
|
January 11 - 15, 2010 |
40 |
AYRW Set semester goals for home,
school and River Watch. |
|
December 7 - 11, 2009 |
46 |
AYRW Students evaluated
themselves on their semester goals for home, school and River
Watch. |
|
December 8, 2009 |
19 |
AYRW students volunteered with
Blue Santa - wrapping presents, picking out the presents to
wrap, boxing wrapped presents and having fun. |
|
December 7 -11, 2009 |
46 |
AYRW students evaluated
themselves on how they did on their goals for the semester. |
|
December 5-6, 2009 |
7 |
Young Men's Retreat - Students
hiked through the forest at Hornsby Bend down to the river and
up to the Big Tree. Back at the EcoHouse, the students
played basketball and other games and late in the evening went
for a night hike. Students practiced barred owl calls and
coyote howls and used them to try to attract the creatures of
the night. They successfully summoned an owl. The
students saw the silhouette of the owl as it passed through the
forest and heard coyotes closer to the EcoHouse. |
|
December 3, 2009 |
14 |
AYRW students volunteered with
Blue Santa - wrapping presents, picking out the presents to
wrap, boxing wrapped presents and having fun. |
|
December 2, 2009 |
6 |
AYRW students volunteered with
Blue Santa - wrapping presents, picking out the presents to
wrap, boxing wrapped presents and having fun. |
|
November 21-22, 2009 |
7 |
Young Women's Retreat - the
students camped out at
Buescher State Park. Students
attended a Night Creatures talk and hike, roasted marshmallows,
and in the morning went fishing and hiking. |
|
November 20, 2009 |
2 |
AYRW students toured the Harry
Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin. |
|
November 16-20 |
44 |
AYRW students refocused on their
semester goals. |
|
November 14, 2009 |
15 |
AYRW students demonstrated water
quality testing and learned about various environmental programs
of the City of Austin and local no-profits at the
Green City
Festival. |
|
October 29, 2009 |
7 |
AYRW students took the recycling
from the AYRW EcoHouse to the
Ecology Action Recycling Center
downtown and sorted all of it into the appropriate bins. |
|
October 28, 2009 |
22 |
Students from Crockett High
School's AP
Environmental Science class with Mr. Herring came to the AYRW
EcoHouse and out to the river crossing here at Hornsby Bend
where AYRW Program Coordinators, Ms. Elisabeth and Mr. Adam,
helped the students to conduct and understand the
Dissolved Oxygen test. After that, the students did a benthic
macroinvertebrate sampling in which they found and identified
many water bugs that breathe dissolved Oxygen.
|
|
October 27, 2009 |
14 |
AYRW students toured the
Hornsby
Cemetery. |
|
October 27, 2009 |
6 |
AYRW students visited a 700 year
old oak tree near their school. |
|
October 26, 2009 |
13 |
AYRW students looked for birds on
the ponds at Hornsby Bend and for frogs in the Green House.
|
|
October 24, 2009 |
13 |
For our annual monitoring as part
of World Water Monitoring Day, we set up to show support for
Tree Wheelin - an event of our Hornsby Bend neighbors -
TreeFolks. Cyclists at three different levels of biking
ability toured some of the most impressive trees around Austin.
AYRW students tested water near the big Cypress tree on the
South shores of Lady Bird Lake. Students from 6 different
AYRW schools participated. |
|
October 21, 2009 |
8 |
AYRW students looked at birds on
the ponds at Hornsby Bend. Then they went to the
greenhouse where they looked at and heard frogs. Finally,
the students observed the photography installation at the
Hornsby Bend Center for Environmental Research. |
|
October 15, 2009 |
8 |
AYRW students, 2 university
volunteers and the program coordinators toured the
Blanton
Museum of Art. The students observed a variety of
classical to modern sculptures, paintings and other contemporary
art installations. |
|
October 13, 2009 |
6 |
AYRW students took the recycling
from the AYRW EcoHouse to the
Ecology Action Recycling Center
downtown and sorted all of it into the appropriate bins.
Then the students went to see an art exhibit at the Mexican
American Cultural Center. |
|
October 9 - 10, 2009 |
5 |
The Young Women of AYRW had a
Retreat and learned about Birds and Birding at
Hornsby Bend.
On the Evening of October 9th, we met up with the people
attending the Owl Workshop led by Dr. Rob Fergus. We
walked into the forest with the other 25 to 30 people as Rob
called to the barred owls and the owls called back. When
one of the owls flew over us to a perch, we
saw its silhouette and then Rob pointed a bright light so that
all of the students got a good look at the barred owl. The
other bird watchers were very generous and allowed the students
to look at the owl through their binoculars and spotting scopes.
On the morning of October 10th,
we went to the
Center for Environmental Research (CER) at
Hornsby Bend to take part in the
Celebration of the 50th
Anniversary of Birding at Hornsby Bend. We met up with
about 20 - 25 other birding enthusiasts and went out to the
ponds where we saw lots of shovelers, coots and other ducks of
the season as well as black necked stilts, lots of swallows and
hundreds of hawks and vultures in large kettles circling
overhead on their migration route. One student remained
for the afternoon festivities including the slideshow
presentation of the photography of
John Ingram and
Greg Lasley.
|
|
October 2, 2009 |
1 |
1st Day for St. Edwards
University student volunteer- Hamadri- majoring in Environmental
Studies. |
|
September 28, 2009 |
16 |
AYRW Students planted cauliflower
and cabbage in the other garden plot in the backyard of the AYRW
EcoHouse. |
|
September 25 - 26, 2009 |
4 |
The Young Men of AYRW had a
Retreat and Day of Service. On the evening of the 25th,
the young men gathered at the AYRW EcoHouse where they ate BBQ,
played basketball and then had an Owl Prowl and Coyote Howl.
In the morning, the AYRW students helped plant tall native
grasses along a waterway at the
Travis Audubon Society's Blair
Woods Preserve. They planted plugs of
Eastern Gama Grass
as well as plants of
Bushy Bluestem. These grasses are
very tall above ground and extend equally far beneath the
surface. When storm water flows into the waterways, these
grasses will help to slow the floodwaters, reduce erosion and
their leaves will act as filters to clean the water before it
reaches the creek. |
|
September 22, 2009 |
11 |
AYRW students planted one of the
garden plots in the backyard of the AYRW EcoHouse with
cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce and peas. 1st Day for St. Edwards
University student volunteer- Andrew - majoring in Environmental
Studies. |
|
September 8, 2009 |
14 |
1st Day for
St. Edwards
University student volunteer- Austin - majoring in Environmental
Studies. |
|
September 1 - 18, 2009 |
52 |
Students learned a new water
quality test - E.coli. E.coli is bacteria that can
cause harm to humans when found at rates above 394 colony
forming units / 100mL. |
|
August 31 - September, 2009 |
55 |
Students set 3 semester goals
each for themselves: school, personal and River Watch. |
AYRW Home
Calendar 2008 - 2009
|
July 16, 2009 |
7 |
AYRW students canoed from the
Zilker Park Boat Rentals up to Cold Springs. We discussed
relationships between surface water and groundwater. Thanks to Zilker Park Boat Rentals for this opportunity. |
|
July 13-15, 2009 |
35 |
AYRW students evaluated how they
did on the goals for the summer, produced final version of the
Flying Fish Review and finished up the Summer Leadership Program
with a visit to Double Daves Pizza near the UT campus. |
|
July 14, 2009 |
7 |
AYRW students visited and climbed
Mt. Bonnell overlooking Lake Austin. There they learned
about the source of the drinking water |
|
July 10-11, 2009 |
8 |
Young Men of the AYRW had a
retreat and sleepover. We met in the evening and had BBQ
in Zilker Park and went swimming at Barton Springs. That
evening back at the AYRW EcoHouse at
Hornsby Bend, the AYRW
students played games and watched movies. In the late
evening the students went out in search of night creatures.
We called for owls and howled for coyotes and heard some of each
call back to us. |
|
July 9, 2009 |
16 |
AYRW students canoed from the
Zilker Park Boat Rentals up to Cold Springs. Thanks to Zilker Park Boat Rentals for this opportunity. |
|
July 7, 2009 |
13
|
AYRW students found high
conductivity in the water at Waller Creek at Waller Creek Center
and low Dissolved Oxygen in the water in Waller Creek at the
mouth of the Creek at Lady Bird Lake. We called the
City of Austin Watershed Protection
Environmental Hotline
at 512-974-2550 to let them know about these readings. |
|
July 6, 2009 |
6 |
AYRW students tested water and
learned about the habitat requirements of two species of
endangered birds, the black capped vireo and the golden cheeked
warbler at the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve. |
|
July 2, 2009 |
15 |
AYRW students canoed from the
Zilker Park Boat Rentals up to Cold Springs. Thanks to Zilker Park Boat Rentals for this opportunity. |
|
July 1, 2009 |
13 |
AYRW students toured
Cave without
a Name near Boerne, Texas where they learned about caves and
karst features and saw the power of water. |
|
June 30, 2009 |
8 |
AYRW students toured the
Texas
Natural Science Center at the Texas Memorial Museum, the Natural History museum on the campus of the
University of Texas at Austin. Afterwards the students
toured the LBJ
Presidential Library and Museum. |
|
June 29, 2009 |
17 |
AYRW students collected benthic
macroinvertebrates and then analyzed their findings. |
|
June 26 - 27, 2009 |
12 students + 3 volunteers |
The Young Women of AYRW had a
retreat. We had BBQ in
Zilker Park,
toured the SPLASH
exhibit about the Barton
Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer and swam at
Barton Springs. Then we went back to the AYRW EcoHouse for the
night where 4 students participated in an owl prowl. We
heard owls but did not see any. |
|
June 25, 2009 |
7 |
AYRW students climbed at the the
South Austin Rock Gym where they learned the outdoor skill of
belaying and helped each other to climb. |
|
June 23, 2009 |
6 AYRW Students including 3
from the Summer Leadership Program |
AYRW Students met up with other
students participating in the PODER Summer Program and helped
plant native plants and pick up trash at Oak Springs. |
|
June 23, 2009 |
10 |
Students took the recycling from
the AYRW EcoHouse to the Ecology Action Recycling Center
downtown near the monitoring location at 9th St. and IH-35 |
|
June 18, 2009 |
7 |
Students toured
InnerSpace
Caverns in Georgetown where they learned about the Edwards
Aquifer, cave formation and water. |
|
June 18, 2009 |
4 |
AYRW students climbed at the the
North Austin Rock Gym where they learned the outdoor skill of
belaying and helped each other to climb. |
|
June 16, 2009 |
13 |
AYRW students tested the water
and toured the
Nature Conservancy of Texas Barton Creek Habitat
Preserve where they learned about two species of endangered
birds that depend on the habitat at the preserve for survival -
the black capped vireo and the golden cheek warbler.
Students also observed many species of fish and other wildlife
at the preserve. |
|
June 11, 2009 |
13 |
AYRW students climbed at the the
South Austin Rock Gym where they learned the outdoor skill of
belaying and helped each other to climb. |
|
June 10, 2009 |
13 |
AYRW Students tested water at and
toured
McKinney Falls State Park where they saw two water
snakes, many birds and other wildlife. |
|
June 8 - 10, 2009 |
41 |
Summer Leadership Program began
with group talk about how to stay safe at AYRW this summer and
students discussed their goals. |
|
June, 2009 |
18 |
AYRW Student Graduations |
|
May 4 - 15, 2009 |
48 |
AYRW students completed end of
year surveys and discussed how they had done on their goals for
the semester. |
|
May 6, 2009 |
7 |
AYRW Students harvested onions,
cabbage and broccoli from their backyard garden at the AYRW
EcoHouse. |
|
May 5, 2009 |
8 |
AYRW students took the recycling
from the AYRW EcoHouse to the
Ecology Action Recycling Center
downtown. Cinco de mayo |
|
April 28, 2009 |
9 |
Student TAKS day - toured the
greenhouse at Hornsby Bend and saw green tree frogs, bullfrogs,
cricket frogs and leopard frogs. |
|
April 26, 2009 |
16 |
AYRW 2008 - 2009 Graduates
attended the Senior Dinner. |
|
April 21, 2009 |
Approx 40 students, including 1
AYRW Mentor |
AYRW hosted an Earth Day water
quality monitoring event for students in the AP Environmental
Science classes at the LBJ Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA)
and one other school. Students learned about chemical and meter
based tests, about what freshwater mussels and benthic
Macroinvertebrate communities can indicate about longer-term
water quality and also about riparian and upland environments.
Professional Field Scientists from the City of Austin, the
teachers, staff of AYRW, Austin Chronicle Reporter, Katherine
Greggor, and others talked with the students about career and
life pathways. |
|
April 18, 2009 |
7 AYRW students + large community
event |
Students participated in the
Earth Day festivities downtown. All of the students
visited other booths to learn about the interesting
environmental projects happening in and around Austin, about
Eco-friendly products and also talked with people about Austin Youth River Watch when people stopped at our booth.
Students demonstrated the water quality monitoring and talked
with community members of all ages, races and physical abilities
about water quality and the tests that we do. |
|
March 23 - 27, 2009 |
41 |
Students used local job finder
guides, apartment and home buyers guides, the internet and local
newspapers to find jobs that pay for the type of lifestyle they
want to lead, created a budget, found living accommodations and
found out what level of education and experience are necessary
for the jobs. |
|
March 19, 2009 |
7 |
AYRW Students had a Nature Hike at
Stephen F. Austin State Park and then traveled home. |
|
March 18, 2009 |
7 |
Park Ranger at Martin Dies Jr.
State Park met us near the Head Quarters and opened up the
Interpretive Center for us and gave the students a tour and
presentation. She showed the students her baby alligator, her
snakes, a bee hive made of tree bark, lots of skulls and pelts
and talked about her career and life pathway. From there
we drove from the Forest to the Prairie / Savannah to
Stephen F.
Austin State Park where we had our last night of the trip.
On our way, we stopped at
Washington on the Brazos where the
students learned about Texas History and ate lunch. |
|
March 17, 2009 |
7 |
Students relaxed in the morning
and then went for a hike on one of the nature trails at Martin
Dies Jr. State Park. We looked for alligators but did not see
any. We saw two different species of tree frogs, lots of
birds, and noticed that the tree canopy had hurricane damage.
Later a ranger told us that about 40% of the canopy had been
severely damaged by the hurricanes. When we got back to
camp we decided to go canoeing in the local lake. The
vegetation in the water was thick and hard to paddle through.
Out on the water we saw many birds close up and we also saw what
our campsite looked like from a different perspective. The
sunset was incredibly beautiful and the evening campfire very
fun. |
|
March 16, 2009 |
7 |
We visited
Village Creek State
Park and enjoyed our drive through the Big Thicket. We
stopped and saw the Pitcher Plants in bloom in the
Big Thicket
National Preserve and then traveled on to
Martin Dies Jr. State
Park where we stayed for the next two nights. |
|
March 15, 2009 |
7 |
Seven AYRW students, the two
Coordinators and outstanding volunteer and AYRW graduate, Steff
Herencia loaded up and headed out on the 2009 Young Women's
Spring Break EcoLearning Adventure to East Texas. We drove
to Galveston where we toured the Aquarium and learned about
Sharks in an IMAX film at Moody Gardens and then went on to
visit the beach. That afternoon we pressed eastward and
rode the ferry across to the mainland. We stayed in Beaumont for
the night. |
|
March 14, 2009 |
10 |
AYRW students gathered at the
AYRW EcoHouse to get ready for the Spring Break EcoLearning
Adventure. |
|
March 7, 2009 |
4 |
AYRW students helped with the
work day at Blunn Creek Preserve as part of the
Austin Parks
Foundation It's My Park event. |
|
February 28, 2009 |
5 AYRW students + approx. 20
other community members |
Bob's Bench workday along the
Furtado segment of Bull Creek where Bob Furtado, deceased River
Watch teacher and AYRW Board Member, is to be honored with a
Bench and plaque. At this site he imbued his passion for
water quality monitoring and for benthic macroinvertebrate
sampling on his students. |
|
February 21, 2009 |
3 |
Young Women's Sleepover at the
AYRW EcoHouse - owl prowl and movie night. |
|
February 12, 2009 |
small community event |
AYRW Coordinator visited with
local supporters of the Earth Island Institute. |
|
February 5, 2009 |
community event |
AYRW Coordinator visited with
Reagan High School community members at a school function. |
|
January 21, 2009 |
8 |
AYRW students planted the Spring
Garden with flowers, broccoli, cabbage and onions |
|
January 12 - 16, 2009 |
37 |
AYRW students started the Spring
Semester by discussing home, school and River Watch Goals for
the semester. |
|
December 8 - 12, 2008 |
42 |
AYRW students evaluated themselves on how
they did with their AYRW, school and personal goals for the
semester. |
|
December 6, 2008 |
12 + 2 volunteers and
coordinators |
The Young Women of Austin Youth
River Watch had a sleepover retreat at the EcoHouse. We
had an Owl Prowl: Walking to the end of the driveway the
students practiced their Barred Owl calls. One student's
call was so exact we got her to keep calling as we moved closer
to the forest and to the river. Once we got about half way
between the house and the river the student called to the owls: Hooo Hooo Hoo Hooo. We didn't hear anything and didn't see
any promising silhouettes so we thought to head back. But
we decided to have a moment more of silence just to try one last
time. A call - the barred owl : Hooo Hooo Hoo...
Then the high pitched whine of the coyote cut off the call of
the owl. Both creatures must have been within about 30
yards of us. Our instinct was to run. It was so
exciting - with our hearts racing and the knowledge that we had
experienced even more than we had hoped for, we walked quickly
back to the house where we enjoyed hot cocoa, movies, popcorn
and of course, stories. |
|
October 22, 2008 |
approx 10 |
Students from Mr. Herring's AP
Environmental Science class came to Hornsby and did a benthic
macroinvertebrate sampling with AYRW Program Coordinator.
The students learned about water quality and about monitoring
techniques. |
|
October 18, 2008 |
5 |
Young Women of AYRW tested water
in the highland lakes region of the Colorado River at
Black Rock
Park. These young women participated in the
World Water
Monitoring Day event that literally involves hundreds of sites
all over the planet being monitored by thousands of people.
Writer / Artist and AYRW volunteer Margie Crisp visited with the
students. And semester volunteer Devi Savam camped with
us. |
|
September, 2008 |
50 |
Students set 3 semester goals
each for themselves: school, personal and River Watch. Semester
volunteers began. |
AYRW Home
Calendar 2007 - 2008
|
July 17, 2008 |
6 |
AYRW students canoed on Lady Bird
Lake Thanks to the
Zilker Park Boat
Rentals
for providing Canoeing Experiences for AYRW Students this summer! |
|
July 14 - 16, 2008 |
29 |
AYRW students had final day pizza
parties at Double Daves by UT and evaluated themselves on their
summer goals. |
|
July 15, 2008 |
11 |
AYRW students took recycling from
the AYRW EcoHouse to the Ecology Action Recycling Center
downtown. |
|
July 11 - 12, 2008 |
13 |
The Young Women of the AYRW had a
retreat at the AYRW EcoHouse where they got to know each other
better, listened to frogs, played games like Apples to Apples
and Pit and watched movies. |
|
July 10, 2008 |
11 |
AYRW students canoed on Lady Bird
Lake Thanks to the
Zilker Park Boat
Rentals
for providing Canoeing Experiences for AYRW Students this summer! |
|
July 8, 2008 |
10 |
AYRW students visited the Barton
Creek Habitat Preserve where they met Habitat Steward, Brandon
Crawford, of the Nature Conservancy of Texas Barton Creek
Habitat Preserve. Students asked him about his job and his
education background and other career-related questions and then
tested water and swam in the creek. |
|
July 3, 2008 |
7 |
AYRW students canoed on Lady Bird
Lake Thanks to the
Zilker Park Boat
Rentals
for providing Canoeing Experiences for AYRW Students this summer! |
|
June 30, 2008 |
7 |
AYRW students visited the Barton
Creek Habitat Preserve where they met Habitat Steward, Brandon
Crawford, of the Nature Conservancy of Texas Barton Creek
Habitat Preserve. Students asked him about his job and his
education background and other career-related questions and then
tested water and swam in the creek. |
|
June 26, 2008 |
7 |
AYRW students challenged
themselves and helped each other climb at the South Austin Rock
Gym. |
|
June 19, 2008 |
7 |
AYRW students challenged
themselves and helped each other climb at the South Austin Rock
Gym. Students also celebrated Juneteenth and talked about
the Emancipation Proclamation. |
|
June 18, 2008 |
8 |
AYRW students did a benthic
macroinvertebrate workshop with the Program Coordinator.
They did a "bug stomp" or collection, identified the
invertebrates they caught, sorted them by the quality of water
each requires and released the bugs back into the water.
They then used a rubric to help them assess the longer term
water quality at the site indicated by the population of water
bugs found there. |
|
June 12, 2008 |
7 |
AYRW students challenged
themselves and helped each other climb at the South Austin Rock
Gym. |
|
June 10, 2008 |
4 |
AYRW Students went caving in
Whirlpool Cave in South Austin in conjunction with an activity
with the City of Austin. |
|
June 9 - 11, 2008 |
27 |
New Program Coordinator, Suzette
Ermler, began the official expansion of AYRW by working with
students from North Austin schools including Reagan and Lanier. AYRW students
began participation in the Summer Leadership Program by talking
about ways to stay safe in the AYRW this summer and also set
personal and River watch goals for the summer. |
|
June, 2008 |
|
Graduations |
|
May 19 - 23, 2008 |
28 |
AYRW Students evaluated
themselves on their semester goals for home, school and River
Watch. |
|
May 13,14 & 16, 2008 |
16 |
AYRW students looked for frogs
and did frog counts by species at the Hornsby Bend Biosolids
Management Plant's Aquatic Greenhouse. Students found Green
Treefrogs, Bullfrogs, Cricket frogs and Leopard frogs. We
also heard the calls of most of these species. |
|
May 5 - 9 |
26 |
Students completed end of School
Year Evaluation Surveys. |
|
May 2, 2008 |
8 |
AYRW students flew kites and
relaxed after a day of taking the TAKS tests. |
|
April 30, 2008 |
5 |
AYRW students flew kites and
relaxed after a day of taking TAKS tests. |
|
April 26 - 27, 2008 |
4 |
The Young Women of AYRW had a
retreat at the AYRW EcoHouse. |
|
April 19, 2008 |
7 + 3 volunteers large
community event |
Earth Day 2008 - AYRW
Students joined hundreds of other Austin citizens in a
celebration of Earth Day. They demonstrated water quality
monitoring techniques and helped some community members to learn
about some of the tests we do. They also met much of the
Austin Water Utility staff that supports this program and helped
them to pass out materials to community members. |
|
April 14 - 18, 2008 |
27 |
Students wrote articles, drew
pictures and came up with games like crossword puzzles and word
finds for the AYRW newsletter, The Flying Fish Review. |
|
March 25 - 31 |
31 |
Career Exploration and Life
Skills Activity: Students used local job finder
guides, apartment and home buyers guides, the internet and local
newspapers to find jobs that pay for the type of lifestyle they
want to lead, created a budget, found living accommodations and
found out what level of education and experience are necessary
for the jobs. |
|
March 19, 2008 |
6 |
AYRW Students planted the Spring
Garden in the backyard at the AYRW EcoHouse. |
|
March 13, 2008 |
5 |
AYRW Students swam in the second
largest Spring Fed pool in Texas at Balmorhea State Park -
another desert oasis on the last day of the trip before
returning home to our native ecotone region in central Texas. |
|
March 12, 2008 |
5 |
Today AYRW students had ice cream
in the village at Castolon and then hiked and played in Santa
Elena Canyon. The Rio Grande has continuously down cut
through the rock as the cliff face has risen here creating an
incredible canyon. Students enjoyed skipping stones in the
river, looking for macroinvertebrates, waving hello to river
goers and playing softball at the base of the canyon, in the
shadow of its great walls. From here we drove through the
desert to our final oasis of the 2008 Spring Break EcoLearning
Adventure - the San Solomon Springs at Balmorhea State Park.
|
|
March 11, 2008 |
5 |
AYRW students continued our Big
Bend Adventure by hiking in Boquillas Canyon where aeolian sand
deposits and the Rio Grande provided hours of engagement with
the landscape. On our way back toward the Basin, we
stopped at the Hot Springs where students enjoyed the warm
waters of the springs and then dipped into the cool waters of
the Rio Grande. The students saw pictographs and
petroglyphs on the canyon walls here left behind by the native
people who once lived near the hot springs. Students also
experienced the coolness of the shade amongst large clumps of
tall grasses and palm trees. |
|
March 10, 2008 |
5 |
AYRW students ventured into Big
Bend National Park. We went to the Basin and set up our
camp where we would be for two nights. After we set up camp, we
hiked the Window Trail to a large V- Shaped outlook on the
Mountain that showed like a window overlooking the desert. |
|
March 9, 2008 |
5 |
AYRW students, coordinator and
one River Watch Mom volunteer, Dr. Darlene Reesor loaded up in
the van and drove West from the prairies of East Austin across
the hill country into the desert and mountain country in South
West Texas. We stayed the night at Post Park in Brewster County.
It was such a treasure of a place with a deep oasis surrounded
by grass, tall trees and high cliffs that attracted dozens of
soaring vultures, riding the thermals created by the uplift at
Sunset. |
|
March 7, 2008 |
8 |
AYRW students helped prepare for
Spring Break by checking the tents, testing equipment and making
sure all supplies were ready to load into the van. |
|
February 25, 2008 |
3 |
AYRW EcoHouse Volunteer Day: AYRW students
painted parts of the Colorado River watershed onto the floor in
the Mural Room at the AYRW EcoHouse. |
|
February 23, 2008 |
2 |
AYRW Students helped present for
30 Capitol Area Master Naturalists. |
|
February 2, 2008 |
3 |
AYRW students joined hundreds of
volunteers from all over the city to plant 2008 trees provided
by TreeFolks for their annual planting event, this year called
Tree 2008. Students worked in a group of about 50 people
to first plant trees in Patterson Park and then at the
intersection of MLK and Airport Blvd. |
|
January 25, 2008 |
8 |
AYRW students helped take and
sort the recycling from the AYRW EcoHouse to the Ecology Action
Recycling Center downtown at 9th St. and IH-35. |
|
January 14 - 18, 2008 |
31 |
AYRW students set three goals
each for the semester: a River Watch Goal, a School Goal and a
Home or Personal Goal. |
|
December 10 - 14, 2007 |
33 |
AYRW students evaluated
themselves on their three goals for the semester. |
|
November 19, 2007 |
8 |
AYRW students attended the the
Save Barton Creek Association Annual Meeting where they were
treated to stories of local environmental heroism and a tasty
turkey dinner. The students met many local elected
officials and other active community members including two of
the founders of Austin Youth River Watch and a River Watch
graduate. |
|
November 16, 2007 |
8 |
Program Coordinator hosted 8
science teachers and other community members as part of the
Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching. The
science teachers came from all over the state of Texas. The
program coordinator lead the teachers through a benthic
macroinvertebrate training where the participants learned and
practiced the skills of collecting water bugs, sorting and
identifying them and then using a rubric to analyze the meaning
of their findings. |
|
November 15, 2007 |
2 |
AYRW students helped the Program
Coordinator prepare all of the field lab materials for the CAST
field trip for the next day. |
|
November 3, 2007 |
6 |
The young women of AYRW had a
campout at the Texas Nature Conservancy's Barton Creek Habitat
Preserve. The students tested water, identified fish,
birds and native plants and discussed the habitats of the two
species of endangered birds that use the habitat preserve for
their survival. |
|
October 20 - 21, 2007 |
6 |
AYRW Young Women's Retreat at the
AYRW EcoHouse: students listened for night sounds and watched
movies while they got to know students from other AYRW groups. |
|
October 18, 2007 |
4 |
Students tested water at Hornsby
Bend for World Water Monitoring Day. |
|
October 13, 2007 |
4 |
AYRW students volunteered for the
Green City Festival where they taught citizens about water
quality and demonstrated some of the tests. The students
also learned about many of the interesting environmentally
oriented work going on in Austin. Program Coordinator
spoke with a forum of other environmental youth programming
folks. |
|
October 6, 2007 |
6+ 20 |
AYRW students met with about 20
other students from different schools up and downstream from
Austin at the LCRA Colorado River watch Network Student
Symposium. The AYRW students talked about our part of the
river and learned from other students about the river in the
areas where they came from. |
|
September 11, 2007 |
4 |
AYRW student did a frog count in
the greenhouse at the Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant
and looked at ducks on the ponds there. |
|
September 7, 2007 |
6 |
AYRW students helped paint the
mural on the wall of the student mural room at the AYRW
EcoHouse. |
|
August 27 - 31 |
27 |
Students set AYRW, personal and
academic goals for the semester. |
|
August 21, 2007
|
5 AYRW Students and a few hundred
other community members |
AYRW students served cake and ice cream at the
Birth Day Party for John Henry Faulk, for whom Austin's Main Library is
named, and watched a film at the Zilker Hillside Theater about his life
and about his defense of the first amendment of the US Constitution. |
AYRW Home Calendar 2006 - 2007
|
July 30, 2007 |
4 |
Students had hoped that this date
would be a canoeing day but the water in Town Lake was still too
stirred up from the flooding so instead, the students went rock
climbing at the Austin Rock Gym – South. |
|
July 23, 2007 |
3 |
Students had hoped that this date
would be a canoeing day but the water in Town Lake was still too
stirred up from the flooding so the students visited the Barton
Creek Habitat Preserve where they met Habitat Steward, Brandon
Crawford, of the Nature Conservancy of Texas Barton Creek
Habitat Preserve. Students asked him about his job and his
education background and other career-related questions and then
visited the creek. |
|
July 10-12, 2007 |
12 |
AYRW students had final day pizza
parties at Double Daves by UT and evaluated themselves on their
summer goals. |
|
July 5-12, 2007 |
15 |
AYRW students did photo
monitoring points at four sites to document the high level of
the water at their sites. |
|
June 28 – July 3, 2007 |
14 |
AYRW students went to Mansfield
Dam to see the awesome power of the water exploding through the
enormous floodgates from Lake Travis into Lake Austin. |
|
June 27 – 28, 2007 |
Rain Bomb |
20 inches of Rain fell in 24
hours including 11 inches in a three hour period upstream of
Austin in the community of Marble Falls. This extreme weather
event, called a “rain bomb” was produced when three major storm
systems converged over the Texas Hill Country along the Colorado
River. AYRW students learned about the weather event, about
flood safety and witnessed first hand the power of the water.
21 flood gates were opened including at least one flood gate at
every dam on the highland lakes system as well as Longhorn Dam.
And AYRW students traveled upstream to see Mansfield Dam, Tom
Miller Dam and Longhorn Dam. |
|
June 27, 2007 |
3 |
Students looked a floodwaters
coming through Longhorn Dam and then attended a BBQ for VIPs
with the Austin to Bastrop River Corridor Partnership in Big
Webberville Park. The students were introduced and spoke with
the public officials and involved citizens at the BBQ. |
|
June 26, 2007 |
7 |
AYRW students counted green tree
frogs in the Greenhouse at Hornsby Bend |
|
June 25, 2007 |
5 |
AYRW Students attempted to go
canoeing but got rained out after a very short time on the
water. Canoes were generously provided by Zilker Park Boat
Rentals. |
|
June 23, 2007 |
4 |
AYRW students went climbing at
the South Austin Rock Gym. |
|
June 21, 2007 |
5 |
Students climbed Mt. Bonnell,
visited two of Austin’s dams to see the power of the water,
learned about riparian areas and 100 year flood plains and also
watched segments of the film, An Inconvenient Truth, back at the
AYRW EcoHouse. |
|
June 20, 2007 |
2 |
Stormy weather prevented the
usual group from assembling but the students who came got to
visit two of Austin’s dams to see the power of the water, learn
about riparian areas and 100 year flood plains and also to watch
segments of the film, An Inconvenient Truth, back at the AYRW
EcoHouse. |
|
June 14, 2007 |
5 |
Students visited the Tabor tract
of the Water Quality Protection Lands in far south Austin and
conducted a sampling event for benthic macroinvertebrates –
water bugs. |
|
June 12, 2007 |
8 |
Students climbed Mt. Bonnell. |
|
June 9, 2007 |
2 |
Volunteer Day at AYRW EcoHouse –
Students and their families came and volunteered at the EcoHouse
– painting and learning about the inexpensive and earth friendly
materials used at the house. |
|
June 7, 2007 |
4 |
AYRW students learned to enter
the AYRW data online through the web portal on the LCRA CRWN
website, so that the public can have the fastest access to our
data. |
|
June 5, 2007 |
5 |
AYRW students toured the LCRA’s
Colorado River Watch Network lab and met all the staff, interns
and volunteers there. |
|
June4,11,15 & 18, 2007 |
13 |
AYRW Summer Leadership students
toured Inner Space Caverns and discussed karst aquifers and how
they form. Students also explored the life in the cave and
found cave crickets as well as the albino cave dwelling
phenotype of the native cliff chirping frog. |
|
June 4-7, 2007 |
18 |
Summer Leadership program Begins
- Students in Summer Leadership Program set goals for the summer
and discuss safety strategies. This would prove to be the
wettest, coolest summer on record for Austin, Texas. |
|
May 31, 2007 |
|
Program Coordinator spoke with
the Ecologistas at the Mesas de trabajo, the Environmentalists
at the work sessions as part of the Sister City visit from
citizens of Coahuila, Mexico. Environmental Leaders and
teachers from Coahuila discussed the importance of youth
involvement in environmental stewardship. |
|
May, 2007 |
10 |
AYRW Student Graduations |
|
5/10/, 2007 |
4 |
Students helped sort the
recycling into the collection bins at Ecology Action. |
|
May 6, 2007 |
3 |
Seniors were treated to dinner at
Huts Hamburgers in downtown Austin in celebration of their
coming graduations. |
|
April 24, 2007 |
2 AYRW students +24 LBJ High
School students |
Teamed with LCRA and City of
Austin staff biologists to lead a water quality monitoring event
for the AP Environmental Science class of Tim Fennell of LBJ
High School. Two AYRW students who were in the class also
helped lead activities in chemical and meter based tests as well
as biomonitoring. |
|
April 23- May 9, 2007 |
37 approx |
AYRW students filled out end of
year evaluations of AYRW and also evaluated themselves on how
they did with their AYRW, school and personal goals for the
semester. |
|
April 21, 2007 |
Public Event |
Students demonstrated Water
Quality monitoring on Town Lake at the 2.5 mile marker along the
Hike and Bike Trail in celebration of Earth Day. |
|
April 27 , 2007 |
8 |
Students also looked at the
migratory birds on the ponds at Hornsby Bend. |
|
April 17, 2007 |
10 |
AYRW students stopped for free
Ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s free Ice Cream day near their
school. |
|
April 16-20, 2007 |
37 |
Students wrote articles, drew
pictures and came up with games like crossword puzzles and word
finds for the AYRW newsletter, The Flying Fish Review. |
|
April 14-15, 2007 |
3 |
AYRW Young Men’s campout at
Barton Creek Habitat Preserve. Students tested water and swam
in Barton Creek, made s’mores and camped out at the site. In
the morning the boys found their way on a compass course set up
and lead by AYRW Board President, Charles Freeman. |
|
April 3, 2007 |
7 |
AYRW students met up with UT
Masters students, Peg Wallace. She talked with the students
about the ecology of Redbud Isle, one of the AYRW water
monitoring locations and introduced the AYRW students to her
team of undergraduate students from UT. |
|
March26 - 30, 2007 |
30 |
Rain the whole week – so students
were introduced to several educational games at the AYRW
EcoHouse including Apples to Apples and Scrabble. |
|
March 14, 2007 |
7 |
Students came home to Austin to
enjoy the rest of their Spring Break. |
|
March 13, 2007 |
7 |
Plans changed. One student got
the flu and her parents came to San Antonio to pick her up.
Also, AYRW was to take students to see the Alamo and then
continue on the theme of Oceans and coastal ecosystems by taking
students through the coastal plain to camp on the beach at the
new LCRA nature center at the mouth of the Colorado River. But
a 70% chance of showers and thunderstorms made us revise our
plans. So the students toured the historic district of downtown
San Antonio instead. AYRW students visited the Alamo, the Tower
of the Americas, and walked along the River Walk. |
|
March 12, 2007 |
8 |
Students enjoyed the various
rides and animal habitats at Sea World and then stayed the night
at one of the local churches, Los Angeles Heights UMC. |
|
March 11, 2007 |
8 |
AYRW Young Women’s Spring Break
EcoLearning Adventure students traveled from Austin to San
Antonio. At Sea World the students toured the site, visited and
learned about all of the animals who are kept there and stayed
the night in the viewing room of the Shark Aquarium. |
|
February 28, 2007 |
6 |
AYRW students and Interns visited
Oak Springs, “Barton Springs of the East Side” and discussed the
issues facing the site and the hydrogeology at the site. |
|
February 27 – March6, 2007 |
34 |
Students discussed healthy living
topics such as healthy weights, diets and exercises. |
|
February 27, 2007 |
7 |
Students viewed dinosaur tracks
at a different location at Wild Basin Preserve with staff
Geologist, Joe Beach. |
|
February 24, 2007 |
5 |
AYRW Young Women’s Campout at
Bastrop State Park – students camped and took a nature hike
through the pine tree forest and noticed ferns growing in the
trees and on the ground. |
|
February 8-14, 2007 |
32 |
Students used local job finder
guides, apartment and home buyers guides, the internet and local
newspapers to find jobs that pay for the type of lifestyle they
want to lead, created a budget, found living accommodations and
found out what level of education and experience are necessary
for the jobs. |
|
February 7, 2007 |
2 |
1st
Day for UT Geography Intern Katie Peché |
|
February 3, 2007 |
8 |
Several Members of the work group
of Board Member, Stephanie Thompson, from Watershed Concepts,
volunteered at the AYRW EcoHouse – helping to lay out the map of
Austin’s Creeks and the River on the room scale map on the floor
in the student office and using Ecologically friendly paint and
cleaning materials. |
|
January 29 and 31, 2007 |
Community meeting and television
audience |
AYRW Program Coordinator
presented for the Board of the Save Barton Creek Association and
for Austin News Reel on Public Access television. The
presentations discussed AYRW, the living organisms in and along
Austin’s creeks and river and the impacts AYRW has on Austin’s
community. |
|
January 25, 2007 |
5 |
1st
Day for UT Geography major volunteer intern Rohini Lynn
Shoenmann |
|
January 18-24, 2007 |
32 |
Students set AYRW, personal and
academic goals for the semester. |
|
December 13, 2006 |
60 elementary |
Program Coordinator and an AYRW
Board Member judged science fair at local elementary school by
the AYRW EcoHouse |
|
December 11-15, 2006 |
29 |
Students evaluated themselves on
their semester goals. |
|
November 30, 2006 |
8 |
On a rainy afternoon, students
came back to the EcoHouse early and watched the film, An
Inconvenient Truth. |
|
November 20, 2006 |
6 |
Students attended the Annual
Meeting and Celebration of the Save Barton Creek Association
where AYRW Coordinator, Elisabeth Welsh, was presented with a
Leadership Award for outstanding service to her community and
everyone was treated to a turkey dinner. |
|
November 18, 2006 |
6 |
Young Women’s Retreat – Sleepover
at the AYRW EcoHouse |
|
November 14, 2006 |
8 |
Students tested water at Wild
Basin and looked at dinosaur tracks with Wild Basin Staff
Geologist, Joe Beach. |
|
November 7, 2006 |
8 |
River Watch Graduate, Erving
Lopez, visited with students and spoke about his career and
education decisions. |
|
October 27, 2006 |
7 |
Students took recycling materials
from the AYRW EcoHouse to the Ecology Action Recycling Center
across the street from the AYRW monitoring location on Waller
Creek. |
|
October 23-27, 2006 |
28 |
Students signed up for
scholarship information and researched scholarships on
FastWeb.com and did the mi-semester review of their goals. |
|
October 19, 2006 |
4 |
Students worked with volunteer
intern to install the Fall Garden. |
|
October 16,18, & 20, 2006 |
14 |
AYRW students went back to check
on the situation on Little Walnut Creek. On the 16th,
the problem had not yet been cleaned up. But by the 18th
it was starting to look better. By the 20th
it was cleaned up. |
|
October 14, 2006 |
5 |
Young men of the AYRW had a
retreat at the AYRW EcoHouse. |
|
October 13, 2006 |
7 |
AYRW students identified a water
problem on Little Walnut Creek just upstream of Peyton Gin Rd.
and called it in to the City of Austin Watershed Protection
Department Environmental Hotline. |
|
Septemeber 7, 2006 |
7 AYRW student + 3 volunteer
interns and about 30 other students and teachers |
Colorado River Watch Network
Student Symposium – AYRW students met with other student groups
who test water upstream and downstream. The Symposium was held
at McKinney Roughs. Program Coordinator, Elisabeth Welsh, gave
the motivational speech and education seminar about the wildlife
in and around the water. Afterwards the students took an
interpretive nature hike and had fun in rafts in Lake Bastrop. |
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September 27, 2006 |
1 |
AYRW student got to do the
volcano experiment, mixing acid into a basic solution. |
|
September 26, 2006 |
6 |
Students started seeds for the
cool season garden. |
|
September 19, 2006 |
5 |
Students met with Joe Beach,
staff geologist at Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve. Joe showed
the students several native grasses and talked with them about
the importance of these grasses for water quality – erosion
prevention and runoff filtration. |
|
September 5, 2006 |
6 |
First Day of Volunteer Diego
Dietche – student of Reed University attending classes at Austin
Community College for the semester |
|
September 5-11, 2006 |
24 |
As students came back to AYRW for
the 2006 – 2007 School Year they learned a new water quality
monitoring test - the Turbidity Tube. Students also set River
Watch, Academic and Personal Goals for the Semester. |
AYRW Home Calendar 2005 - 2006
June 12 & 13 - July
19 & 20, 2006
Summer Leadership Program
Thanks to the
Zilker Park Boat
Rentals
for providing Canoeing Experiences for AYRW Students this summer! May 2006
Graduation Ceremonies
May 12, 2006
End of the AYRWP Spring Semester
April, 2006
Earth Day
April, 2006
Young Men's Campout or Lock-in at the River
Watch House March
11-15, 2006
Spring Break Ecological Learning Adventure
February, 2006
Tree2006 - a planting of 2006 trees on Public
lands around Austin with TreeFolks
February or first
weekend of March, 2006
Young Women's Campout or Lock-in at the River
Watch House January,
2006
Volunteer Day at the River Watch
house on Platt Lane
January, 2006
Return from Winter Break - Spring Semester
Monitoring Begins
December, 2005
Last Day of Fall River Watch
October / November, 2005
24-Hour Water Quality Study
October
15, 2005
LCRA Student Symposium
August 19, 2005
Beginning of Fall Water Monitoring and Tutoring Program
AYRW Home Calendar 2004 - 2005
June 6&7 - July
13&14, 2005
Summer Leadership Program
Thanks to the
Zilker Park Boat
Rentals
for providing Canoeing Experiences for AYRW Students this summer! May 2005
Graduation Ceremonies
May 16, 2005
Senior Dinner
May, 2005
Guys Campout and Diel Study
May 13, 2005
End of the AYRWP Spring Semester
April, 2005
LCRA Spring Symposium
April, 2005
Earth Day
March 13 - 17, 2005
Spring Break Ecological Learning Adventure
February, 2005
Tree2005 - a planting of 2004 trees on Public
lands around Austin with TreeFolks
February or first
weekend of March, 2005
Young Women's Campout - A lock-in at the River
Watch House - painting a mural
January 17,
2005
Volunteer Day at the River Watch
Eco-House on Platt Lane - Creating more gardens and painting
January 12, 2005
Return from Winter Break - Spring Semester
Monitoring Begins
December 12, 2004
Last Day of Fall River Watch
December 4, 2004
Volunteer Day at the River Watch
house on Platt Lane
November 6, 2004
Young Men's Campout
October 23, 2004
24-Hour Water Quality Study
October 16, 2004
Festival de las Plantas
October 9, 2004
Native Plants with First Unitarian Universalist
Church volunteers
August 20, 2004
Beginning of Fall Water Monitoring Program
AYRW Home Calendar 2003 - 2004
June, 2004
Summer Leadership Program
-
Thanks to the
Zilker Park Boat Rentals
for providing Canoeing Experiences for 25
AYRW Students this summer! May 30, 2004
7:00 pm - Erwin Center - Austin High School
Graduation
May 29, 2004
8:30 pm - Erwin Center - LBJ High School
Graduation
May 29, 2004
6:00 pm - Delco Center - Travis High School
Graduation
May 29, 2004
12:00 noon - Erwin Center - Akins High
School Graduation
May 29, 2004
9:30 am - Delco Center - Johnston High School
Graduation
May 10, 2004
End of the AYRWP Spring Semester
May, 2004
LCRA Spring Symposium
April, 2004
Earth Day
April, 2004
Guys Campout and Diel Study
March 13 - 17, 2004
Spring Break Ecological Learning Adventure
February , 2004
Tree2004 - a planting of 2004 trees on Public
lands around Austin with TreeFolks
February or first
weekend of March, 2004
Young Women's Campout - A lock-in at the River
Watch House - painting a mural
January 10 and 19,
2004
Volunteer Days at the River Watch
house on Platt Lane - Creating more gardens and painting
January 12, 2004
Return from Winter Break - Spring Semester
Monitoring Begins
December 12, 2003
Last Day of Fall River Watch
Late October, 2003
24-Hour Water Quality Study
October 18, 2003
- Click
here for info about our Event Sponsors
or visit www.texaswatch.geo.swt.edu
10th Anniversary Celebration
August 19, 2003
Beginning of Fall Water Monitoring Program
AYRW Home Calendar 2002 - 2003
June 9 and 10, 2003
Summer Leadership Program
-Thanks to the
Zilker Park Boat
Rentals
for providing Canoeing Experiences for 25 AYRW Students this summer! June 2, 2003
8:00 pm - Erwin Center - Crockett High School
Graduation
June 1, 2003
7:00 pm - Erwin Center - Austin High School
Graduation
May 31, 2003
8:30 pm - Erwin Center - Akins High School
Graduation
May 30, 2003
8:30 pm - Delco Center - Johnston High School
Graduation
May, 2003
10th Anniversary of the AYRW Celebration -
Bringing together current and former Austin Youth River Watchers, their
Families and AYRW Volunteers and Supporters
May 12, 2003
Last day of the AYRWP Spring Semester
May 3, 2003
LCRA Spring Symposium at McKinney Roughs
April 27, 2003
Earth Day Expo on Auditorium Shores
April 25 - 26, 2003
Guys only Beach Clean-Up at Matagorda (the
mouth of the Colorado River Watershed)
April 12, 2003
BioBlitz - A Comprehensive Biological Inventory at
Hornsby Bend
March 10 - 14, 2003
Environmental Education field trip
March 7 - 8, 2003
Texas Watch Meeting of the Monitors in Denton,
Texas
February 1, 2003
Tree2003 - a planting of 2003 trees on Public
lands around Austin with TreeFolks
February or first
weekend of March, 2003
Young Women's Campout and 24-Hour Water Quality
Study - Leopold Education Project
Activity
January 10, 2003
First Day back from Winter Break - Spring Semester
Monitoring Begins
December 9, 2002
Last Day of Fall River Watch
October, 2002
24-Hour Water Quality Study
September
2002
Beach Cleanup at Matagorda (the mouth of the
Colorado River Watershed)
August 19, 2002
Beginning of Fall Water Monitoring Program
AYRW Home Calendar 2001 - 2002
June 3 and 4, 2002
Summer Leadership Program
- Thanks to the
Zilker Park Boat
Rentals
for providing Canoeing Experiences for 25 AYRW Students this summer! May 13, 2002
Last day of the AYRWP Spring Semester
March 9 - 14, 2002
Environmental Education field trip
February, 2002
24-Hour Water Quality Study
January 8, 2002
First Day back from Winter Break - Spring Semester
Monitoring Begins
December 15, 2001
Last Day of Fall River Watch 2001
November 17 - 29,
2001
Long Thanksgiving Holiday for River Watch.
Start back on Saturday, December 1
October 27 - 28,
2001
24-Hour Water Quality Study
September 14 - 15,
2001
Beach Cleanup at Matagorda (the mouth of the
Colorado River Watershed)
August 20, 2001
Beginning of Fall Water Monitoring Program
AYRW Home Calendar 2000 - 2001
June 4 - July 19,
2001*
Summer Leadership Program
- Thanks to the
Zilker Park Boat
Rentals
for providing Canoeing Experiences for 25 AYRW Students this summer! May 14, 2001
Last day of the AYRWP Spring Semester
March 12 - 16, 2001
EPA sponsored environmental field trip # 2
February 9 - 10,
2001
EPA sponsored environmental field trip # 1
January 8, 2001
First Day back from Winter Break - Spring Semester
Monitoring Begins
November 17 - 19,
2000
EPA sponsored environmental field trip # 1
Exploring our Watershed Downstream - The Colorado River From Austin to
Matagorda Bay (Trip moved to summer / bad weather)
September 30 -
October 1, 2000
AYRWP student diurnal at Bear Creek
August 21, 2000
Beginning of Fall Water Monitoring Program
June 05 - July 20,
2000
Austin Youth Summer Leadership Program
December 5 - 11,
2000
Last Monitoring Days for the Fall Semester
AYRW Home Calendar from 1997 - 1998
June 15 - July 31,
1997
Austin Youth Summer Leadership Program
August 13, 1997
Beginning of Fall Water Monitoring Program
October 11-12, 1997
AYRWP student diurnal at McKinney Falls State Park
October 25-30, 1997
Alaskan Students visit Austin
October 25, 1997
Creek Watch Training (Chemical water monitoring)
at Austin Nature Center
April 17-18, 1998
LCRA Student Symposium, Inks Lake State Park
April 17-18 1998
Earth Day- Waterloo Park
CWRF Booth with AYRWP information
April 17-22, 1998
Alaskan and Texas students go to Washington
May 14, 1998
Last day of the AYRWP for 1998
June 15 - July 31
Summer Leadership Program 1998
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