Telluride Institute

Printed From: http://www.www.tellurideinstitute.org/page_53

Telluride Institute

Bridal Veil Living Classroom

Now Open to Adults as well as Students

The Bridal Veil Living Classroom is one of Telluride Institute's most intensive, individualized and scientific WEP courses. The program is a summer science intensive for high school students and college Collection method instruction

intern field assistants, located in a fragile sub-alpine basin approximately 5 miles southeast of, and 2000 feet above, the town of Telluride.

Students earn high school and college credit for spending eight to ten days in the field collecting biodiversity data for an ongoing Long Term Biodiversity Monitoring Project*, Monitoring Methods conducting individual field-based research projects, and following through with regularly scheduled fall study sessions. Mentor oversight during summer field work and subsequent fall research and work sessions provides students with necessary supervision and guidance for successful completion of real scientific projects, papers and presentations.

The program provides an in-depth hands-on scientific learning experience, in which data collection and species identification skills are acquired, along with a broad understanding of important ecological concepts and environmental stewardship.

Topics covered in the field by intriguing regional experts include: biodiversity, botany, forest ecology, aquatic insects, water quality, ornithology (birding), threats of climate change in the alpine ecosystem and art in nature. Individual research projects are structured according to students' realized interest in those subjects, and are carried out with meticulous mentor oversight in a low student-to-mentor ratio.

Past students of Bridal Veil Living Classroom have often been inspired enough to seek out educational and career paths in the environmental sciences and conservation, and Bridal Veil Living Classroom has helped to open doors to their future.

Not only is BVLC an eye-opening experience to inspiring environmental stewardship and an appreciation of science, it is also fun! Overnights take place in Bridal Veil Basin and a true sense of camaraderie develops between participants.

Lake and Group BVLC

Bridal Veil Living Classroom 2009 Students in the High Alpine Zone

The Student Public Presentation's announcement

Poster for Student Presentations 09

Telluride Institute anticipates expansion of the Bridal Veil Living Classroom to include several options for continuing education students to become involved. The setting and structure of the program provide an excellent basis for undergraduate and graduate level studies in natural sciences, historical land use, environmental education and beyond.

Bridal Veil Living Classroom (BVLC) Application for the Public
(please print this file and either;
mail it to POB 1770 Telluride CO 81435
or fax to 970-728-4919)

*In 2002 Pinhead Institute and Smithsonian Conservation Research Center established a school-based Long Term Biodiversity Monitoring Project throughout the San Miguel River Watershed, with 25 20-meter square biodiversity monitoring plots scattered at 1000' elevation intervals down the watershed. Bridal Veil Living Classroom utilizes the highest plots as the basis for its program.</style="font-family:>