Death Valley National Park

Site Overview

Death Valley National Park is an excellent outdoor education site. Located in the Mojave Desert, the Park, while on the surface seeming harsh and inhospitable, is teeming with life. Deer, coyote, bobcat, desert big horn and a distinctive and diverse avian fauna inhabit the Park and the adjacent desert. The rich and varied human history of native Americans and European settlers add an interesting component to environmental education at Death Valley National Park. It is a remarkable place for examining the natural history of arid land.

This biosphere reserve is situated in south-east California and comprises four management units: the Death Valley National Monument, Joshua Tree National Monument, the Santa Rosa Mountains Wildlife Management Area and Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Hemmed in by nine mountain ranges, Death Valley is cut off from rejuvenating rainfall and cooling Pacific winds, making it one of the driest and hottest places in the world. A record high temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded there in 1913, The park's size is no less extreme. It sprawls across 3.4 million acres, making Death Valley the largest national park in the contiguous United States, almost five times larger than its neighbor, Yosemite

Due to it’s great size the best way to get a feel for the park is to retain your bus. This gives us the opportunity introduce you to more of this immense landscape Students will discover the unique natural and human history of the area. All programs are designed to give the students a "sense of place". This is ac­com­plished by intro­ducing them to the unique natural and human history of the Park while they explore the trails, study the various habi­tats, and live in the area.

Educational Overview

Natural History themes include the desert community, adapta­tions of plants and animals for surviving this land of little rain, regional geology of the Park, and the environmen­tal influ­ences on plant size and diversity during an examination of the Park­'s various environ­ments.

We will also emphasize leave no trace wilderness travel appropriate in temperature by providing all the students with the skills required for such an undertaking. We emphasize the impor­tance of safe travel in a region with little water and extremes

The program will highlight each student's responsibility to the environment, the unique natural and human history of the Death Valley National Park and its associated plants and animals, and the impor­tance of national parks to all people.

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