[portfolio_slideshow]
Last week brought about an important outreach event for our department as we visited the 2015 Potter Valley Inter-Tribal Youth Campout. The fifth-annual event once again took place again at Potter Valley‘s gorgeous Noyo-bida Ranch near the ocean. If you’re not familiar, the Potter Valley Inter-Tribal Youth Campout provides a safe atmosphere for native youth and is intended to be inclusive of the larger tribal community. The weeklong event allows tribal youth from all over the surrounding area to participate in a combination of workshops and presentations including topics on the environment, culture, health and wellness, and education. Fun team-building games and activities are mixed in throughout the week and provide a great opportunity for native youth to make connections and build relationships.
Overall, hundreds of youth and Tribal members attend the educational event, and help to make it special. Our department visited on Wednesday with a special session on invasive species identification. With our invasive species board game being such a hit at Kids In The Creek we wanted to share it with a broader audience. This time around we came armed with eight boards so that as many as 50 youth could participate. And they did.
Even beyond the hourlong session we had youth continuing to play the game. So many caught on to the strategy quickly. As you can see in the slideshow above a few games got pretty intense as the stacks of playing pieces grew. In fact, one player managed to capture all the opposing pieces during his game. You can see him celebrating the victory in the slideshow above.
If you’d like a copy of the game board to print for yourself, contact our Water Quality Specialist Ilena here. You can read a quick rundown of the rules at this link.
Thanks to all of the Potter Valley staff, families, parents etc. for making this incredible event a reality.
