By Wes Faris
The wilds of West Texas will be the newest “living laboratory” for the I-20 Wildlife Preserve as we welcome the first group of students for our new Conservation Job Corps program.
The program allows high school students with an interest in medicine, biology and life sciences an opportunity to obtain hands-on experience in conservation, restoration, education and research before college. It is our hope that the program will encourage them to learn in nature and become lifelong advocates for the lands that surround them.
The I-20 Wildlife Preserve is a learning environment like no other. It is a 100-acre riparian forest campus in Midland. Our urban playa lake is an ephemeral wetland, its shallow, clay-lined basins are a primary source of recharge for the Ogallala Aquifer.
The Preserve serves the people of 19 counties, including Ector, Midland, Pecos, Howard, Crane, Brewster, Presidio, Jeff Davis, Andrews, Ward and Reeves. Since we opened in 2013, thousands of West Texans have participated in education, wellness, citizen science and land management programs here. Our Job Corps program is an extension of this work.
These scientist-students will take a field trip to the Trans-Pecos, where they will learn about wildlife management and native prairie restoration from Borderland Research Institute graduate students. At the Nine Point Ranch, they will learn to band Montezuma quail.
No West Texas exploration would be complete without a trip to the Monahans Sandhills, a unique dune ecosystem that is home to bluestem grass and sand reeds that help stabilize the soil. Perhaps they will see Jerusalem crickets, javelina, mule deer and the sagebrush lizard!
Our students will also explore forest ecosystems and meet the Caprock Task Force at the Reese Air Force Base. Then, they’ll see seedlings being nurtured at the West Texas Nursery in Idalou. Texas A&M University and the Texas Forest Service use the seedlings in their reforestation projects.
Students will then head to the Gulf Coast. In Corpus Christi, they will learn about marine biology at the Harte Research Institute. Then they’ll head to the San Antonio Zoo. There, they’ll meet up with zoo biologists who have been working with Texas Christian University on a grow-and-release program for the horned lizard.
The group will also head north to learn about the work at Greenspace Dallas Conservation Job Corps. There, they will canoe down the Trinity River to pick up trash.
We look forward to growing the program and enrolling even more future scientists and nature enthusiasts from across the Permian Basin. The work of these students will help preserve the ecosystems in the Permian Basin and Texas for generations to come – please help me in welcoming them to the I-20 Wildlife Preserve.
Wes Faris is Executive Director of the I-20 Wildlife Preserve.
