Bitterroot Star
Volume XXI, Number 47
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Camp Eureka! Explores Bitterroot River
Article and photos by Michael Howell
Lead quote: A process of aimless discovery and wonder must precede the more disciplined, more directed acquisition of scientific knowledge. - from Listening to a Tidepool by Dr. Geerat Vermeij
Large Color Photo: Dan Burke, camper, and river guide wading through shallow section of river Caption: Dan Burke, President of the Montana Association for the Blind (right), was on hand with several other mentors to guide the youngsters participating in Camp Eureka!, and educate them in techniques and skills that could help them to lead fun, interesting, productive and independent lives.
Last Wednesday about a dozen children, who are either blind or visually impaired, enjoyed an exploratory journey down the Bitterroot River from Bell Crossing to the Stevensville bridge. Along with all the scents, sounds and rhythms of a float trip down the river, the children also got a healthy dose of learning about river ecology, river dynamics, and the life of some very small river loving creatures, called invertebrates. On hand to help with the instruction were Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Chris Clancy and a very special guest scientist, Dr. Geerat Vermeij, a professor of marine ecology and paleoecology at the University of California, Davis.
One thing that makes Dr. Vermeij special, besides having been awarded the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship award in 1992, the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal by the National Academy of Sciences, and being named 2004 Faculty Research lecturer by his colleagues at UC Davis, is the fact that he is blind, and has been blind since the age of three. Despite the handicap, in the span of his career Dr Vermeij has written over 160 publications including papers in leading journals such as Paleobiology, Science, American Naturalist, and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. His latest of five published books, "Nature and Economic History", compares the principles of economics and the principles of evolution, and relates both to major trends in the history of life and the history of humanity.
As a scientist who has been blind since youth, and who has a passion for learning and teaching about the natural world, he provided inspiration as well as instruction to the children, and everyone else for that matter, who took the float trip that day.
Quote: We must make exploration a habit, a good habit, a pleasant and rewarding habit. We must educate parents, teachers, and the blind themselves how to observe with the mind engaged. How can anything be more important? - from Listening to a Tidepool by Dr. Geerat Vermeij
The float trip was only one day in a weeklong experience for the children as part of Camp Eureka, 2006. It is a Summer Natural History Camp for children aged 8 to 13 who are blind or have severe visual impairments. For a week they are invited to explore western Montana's wetlands and forests under the guidance of mentors who are blind, and with expert educators and naturalists specially trained to work with children who have visual impairments.
Camp Eureka!, in its second year of operation, is sponsored by the Montana Conservation Science Institute (MOCSI), in partnership with the National Federation of the Blind and the Montana Association for the Blind.
Beth Underwood, MOCSI environmental education specialist and Program Director for Camp Eureka!, said, "We have two goals in the program. The first is to acquaint children who are blind, or have low vision, with their natural environment by encouraging mud-and-boots adventure and exploration. The second is to empower the children with a greater sense of independence and a realization of unlimited personal potential."
Besides water wars, peaceful wading along the shore, and lessons in ecology and biology along the Bitterroot River, the children also got to take field trips at the lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge near Stevensville and the Teller Wildlife Refuge near Corvallis. They learned more about plants and insects, soils and water from the Botany Museum curator at the University of Montana, Peter Lesica. The learned a lot about birds and their habitat from Dr. Erick Greene, from the University of Montana, including how to identify some by their calls. The learned abut the use of a Global Positioning System in tracking Bighorn Sheep from Dr. Jack Hogg, research biologist and Director of MOCSI.
Throughout the week art and music were woven into the program by such notables as local folk musician, storyteller and educator Chip Jasmin; Blackfeet Indian and singer, songwriter and storyteller, Jack Gladstone; VSA director, Alayne Dolson; artist Bobby Tilton, UM Art Education Department; Sandy Gates, Teller Wildlife Refuge master gardener; and audio/video producer, Robert Meyers.
Color Photo: Camper with white cane explores by touch the oars and other parts of a raft
Caption: One young man gets a feel for what he is about to get into as he prepares to join ten other blind or visually impaired children on a float trip down the Bitterroot River. The trip was part of a weeklong program called Camp Eureka!, a natural history program sponsored by the Montana Conservation Science Institute and designed to provide environmental education to blind and visually impaired children from 8 to 13 years of age.
Black and white photo: A group of campers, mentors, and instructors are engaged in exploring a shallow section of the river
Caption: Some of the blind and visually impaired youngsters, with curiosity aroused, search for invertebrates under stones along the riverbank.