SCVN President, Phil Bentley Teaching a Kindergarten Class In Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne
As Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists (SCVN), we are not currently offering nature education programs to school children and the public because of the coronavirus. However, individually we are in the canyon, encouraging everyone to spend time outdoors.
This morning naturalist Nancy Wilkenson, who teaches in our kindergarten program, did this short virtual nature walk encouraging people to come out to the canyon. Nature is always open!
Sabino Canyon Recreation Area is a great place for children to be, but in this age of
coronavirus schools are closed meaning no field trips. Children and adult programs
offered by Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists are now canceled untiled next October.
Like all communities around the globe, we are dealing with a new normal.
Since 2011, I have been a volunteer naturalist at the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area
northeast of Tucson. The Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists (SCVN) have
partnered with the Santa Catalina Ranger District of Coronado National Forest to
offer educational programs for children and adults for more than 35 years.
Sabino Canyon North of the Hohokam Ruins
SCVN focuses on conservation, field trip programs for children k-6, nature walks,
guided hikes, and demonstrations designed to help the public learn about nature.
One of the most popular Elementary School field trip programs teaches children about the Hohokam people who lived in the Tucson basin hundreds of
years ago. (“Back To The Past”)
The Clay Remains Of A Hohokam Adobe Structure
The Hohokam organized villages constructing pithouses, sunken earthen, and
adobe structures with pounded floors and thatch roofs. To provide children at least
a basic understanding of the Hohokam, our naturalist training includes
presentations from anthropologists such as Drs. Paul and Suzanne Fish, who have
written on the “Hohokam Millennium.”
Larry Conyers Hiking Down To The Sabino Canyon Hohokam Ruins
As a member of SCVN, I have been provided just enough information “to be
dangerous.” So, one day when I was having a conversation with my neighbor and
anthropologist Larry Conyers, he asked me if I knew of the Hohokam ruins south of
Sabino Canyon Recreation Area near the old Fenster Boarding School. Maybe I had
been told about ruins, but when asked, I had no recollection.
The Fenster Boarding School In The Distance On The Right
We agreed on a day and time we would go to Sabino Canyon Recreation Area,
walk the Bear Canyon Trail before crossing the fenceline of the southern Canyon boundary.
Pieces of Pottery Placed On Nearby Stones
Larry and I spent a little over two hours in the ruins site, so this posting is only
meant to be a “snapshot” of what we experienced. The body of the posting content
contains links to additional anthropological information on the Sabino Canyon Ruins.
Students Panning For Garnets In Sabino Creek — Infrared Image by kenne
One of the programs taught by Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists to elementary school children is geology called “Strike It Rich.” They learn how the Santa Catalina Mountains were formed and the minerals contained in the “gneiss” rock.
The primary activity is panning for garnets (sand rubies) in Sabino Creek.
The students uncovered the link between the towering granite cliffs
above the Tucson Basin and all that lies below.
Mallard Duck At Hutch’s Pool In The Santa Catalina Mountains — Image by kenne
Hutch’s Pool is a small body of water that contains water year-round, located 8 miles for the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center. Most people hiking to Hutch’s Pool will take the tram up to stop 9, thereby reducing the 16-mile roundtrip by 7.5 miles. The Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists (SCVN) usually schedule a group hike twice a year, once in the Fall and once in the Spring. The hike provides very nice views
of upper Sabino Canyon, images of which I have shared many times on this blog. This time I decided to share a photo of this male mallard duck few years back.
2020 is the Year of the Nurse and Midwife by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Health Assembly (WHA) as the year to honor nurses and midwives to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale who is considered the founder of modern nursing. Nurses and midwives are vital to providing health services to our communities. These people are devoting their lives to caring for mothers and children, giving lifesaving immunizations and health advice, looking after older people, and generally meeting everyday essential health needs. And they are often the first and only point of care, yet the world needs 9 million more nurses and midwives if it is to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.
The vital role of the nurse becomes a metaphor for those of us (Sabino Canyon Volunteer Nationalists) involved in teaching elementary school children about the importance and survival of saguaros in Sabino Canyon and the Sonoran Desert.
SCVN member, Debbie Bird, telling third graders about the “Nurse Tree.” (She also got the attention of an elderly couple visiting Sabino Canyon.)
Often, for young saguaros to survive, they are located near another faster-growing tree that shelters the slower-growing plant by providing shade, shelter from the wind and sun, or protection from animals that may feed on the young plant. Such a plant is called a nurse tree. A metaphor easily understood by the children in conveying the important relationship between the tree and the saguaro. They get it!
— kenne
“Even though they’re dead, they are not gone — trees find a way to help each other out postmortem.”
SCVN President, Phil Bentley Teaching a Kindergarten Class In Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne
Overlooking the Sabino Dam — Image by kenne
Sabino Canyon North of the Hohokam Ruins
The Clay Remains Of A Hohokam Adobe Structure
Larry Conyers Hiking Down To The Sabino Canyon Hohokam Ruins
The Fenster Boarding School In The Distance On The Right
Larry Conyers Exploring The Ruins Site
Pieces of Pottery Placed On Nearby Stones
“Learning About Nature” — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Students Panning For Garnets In Sabino Creek — Infrared Image by kenne
Mallard Duck At Hutch’s Pool In The Santa Catalina Mountains — Image by kenne
A “Nurse Tree” In Sabino Canyon — Images by kenne
SCVN member, Debbie Bird, telling third graders about the “Nurse Tree.” 
