Each year, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the USDA Forest Service (FS) co-sponsor two environmental education field trips for central Nevada elementary school children. The first trip, in early spring, takes the kids to Peavine Campground, which is located in the Toiyabe Mountains, 40 miles north of the town Tonopah, Nevada. That event focuses on a wide variety of topics and issues that are better taught outdoors than in the classroom, including wild horse and burro management, entomology, outdoor sanitation methods, plant identification, and archaeology.

The second trip of 2000, held in the fall, focused on the prehistory of central Nevada. On October 19, 2000, fifty sixth-grade students, accompanied by several parents, from the communities of Tonopah and Austin participated in an environmental education field trip to Toquima Cave.

Located within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, the cave itself is a place that early Native American peoples used as temporary shelter while gathering food or passing through the area. While it was never used for long-term habitation, and previous excavations have recovered few artifacts, the native peoples who used the cave left behind a large number of pictographs (rock paintings) on the north and south walls of the shelter. These paintings offer a view of the world from the perspective of a group of people living in central Nevada between 3,000 and 1,500 years ago.

Upon arriving at Toquima Campground, the students were introduced to BLM and FS staff members and divided into five groups, each of which was directed to one of five stations. After 20 minutes, the student groups were rotated on to the next station until all groups had visited all stations.

At Station 1, students learned about the foods gathered, processed, and eaten by prehistoric peoples. Forest Service staffers Linda Kraus and Elisabeth Lani described each plant and animal, and discussed the various uses of each item. After the discussion, several students were given an opportunity to process seeds using a mano and metate, prehistoric grinding tools.

At Station 2, students were taken on a tour of Toquima Cave. At the cave, Christi Shaw of the FS offered a short discussion of the cultural history of the cave, and gave students an opportunity to view pictographs and ask questions. Christi also explained that pictographs were extremely fragile, and that touching them or applying foreign materials to their surfaces would destroy them.

At Station 3, BLM archaeologist Dave Saunders provided students with a brief overview of existing historic preservation laws. Dave discussed the need to preserve our history and prehistory and the reasoning behind passage of each of the laws.

At Station 4, BLM archaeologist Mike Baskerville discussed the evolution of prehistoric weapons used in the region. Students were then given a safety briefing, and an opportunity to use an atlatl (a dart thrower used as a weapon). Students initiated informal atlatl accuracy competitions, attempting to kill an imaginary prehistoric prey animal, "the Beast of Central Nevada." In general, the girls did better than the boys, proving that throwing the dart as hard as you can does not always add up to accuracy, nor does it necessarily bring home the bacon.

This year, for the first time, geology was also discussed as part of the Toquima Cave trip. At Station 5, FS geologist Jim Rigby briefly described the different types of rocks found in the area. Jim also explained to the students that prehistoric peoples used different rocks to make different types of tools. For example, fine-grained, hard materials, such as chert and obsidian, were used to make arrowheads because they could hold a sharper edge. In contrast, coarse-grained materials, such as basalt, were used for processing fibrous materials because these rocks are less brittle.

Environmental education days, such as the 2000 student trip to Toquima Cave, are enjoyable for everyone involved. The kids get an opportunity to learn something new and play outside all day; Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management staff get an opportunity to teach (and play outside all day, too!). Teachers get a break, and parents get to spend extra time with their children.

For further information on BLM/FS environmental education field trips or recreational opportunities on public lands in central Nevada, please contact the BLM Tonopah Field Station at (775) 482-7800 or the USDA Forest Service Tonopah Ranger District at (775) 482-6286. You may also e-mail Mike Baskerville at Mike_Baskerville@blm.gov or visit the following websites:
BLM- Battle Mountain Field Office: http://www.nv.blm.gov/bmountain
USDA Forest Service, Tonopah Ranger District: http://www.fs.fed.us/htnf/tonopah.htm

For additional information on rock art and archaeology, please visit the following website:
Society for American Archaeology - Teaching Archaeology:
http://www.saa.org/PubEdu/sampler/toc.html

This page was created by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Environmental Education & Volunteers Group, 1849 C Street, Room 406-LS, Washington, DC 20240. Send comments or questions relating to accessibilty of documents to Kevin_Flynn@blm.gov Number of visitors since July 15, 2003:[an error occurred while processing this directive]

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