Today we're at Great Sand Dunes National Park at Dollar Lake.
We're just outside of the Sand Dunes themselves.
We've gotten a youth conservation corps
from the local community to come out
and they're collecting dragonfly larvae as a part
of this national mercury bioaccumulation study.
We're trying to identify which areas
in national parks have mercury accumulating in insects,
which would then move up the food chain
into possible human contamination.
So we're here at Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park
with a group of students from Eagle Rock School.
They're citizen scientists
and they're collecting dragonfly larva.
Mercury, while it's a natural element
that can be found spewing out of volcanoes for instance,
is also a man-made pollutant.
So it's really unhealthy if levels are elevated.
Rocky is one of upwards to 50 parks
that is participating in the project.
Working with students or volunteers or teachers
to collect these larvae and get them analyzed.
We're going to see the students get in the water with nets,
looking for and collecting dragonfly larva.
Then we're also going to see the students bringing those larva
back on shore, I.D.-ing them, keying them out to family.
And then we have a procedure that we're following
where we're going to package up these dragonfly larva
and get them ready to be sent off to the lab.
I've been in private schools all my life,
but this is the only one
where it's really been hands-on-outdoor-education.
I get to move around and actually catch bugs
which is always fun no matter what you are doing
so it's just really great.
For me personally it's a good experience
because I've never done this before.
So just coming around and finding mainly snails and fish
but it's pretty fun, I like it.
It's wonderful to have this youth involvement here
at Great Sand Dunes and this science monitoring project
because these kids are future managers
and if you have an understanding of a resource and appreciation
for it, then you'll become a great steward.
When our students are using their hands
and outside being able to touch what they are learning about,
it's a lot more effective being here than in the classroom.
So doing hands-on-things I think you get the better type
of learning because I've done did it before
so I'll remember it later on in life.
I think it's really exciting to see kids get enthused
about the environment.
It's really neat to see our future generation get out there
and be in the national parks and learn about them and learn
about what might be harming them.
Science is everywhere around us
and the best science is done in the dirt.
It's getting your hands dirty it's getting in there.
That's the fun thing is that everyone
out here is a scientist today,
everyone always is a scientist just kind
of evaluating your surroundings.
They say the Earth isn't ours, we borrow it from our children.
So these kids will go on and have an understanding of this
and that knowledge is passed on
and then it'll hopefully be passed
on into the future all the way to infinity.
I love science and I love nature,
put those two things together it's awesome for me.