March 1, 2006
by Wes Woods II/The Press-Enterprise

Tracy Albrecht had the full attention of 31 elementary students as she held a dropper containing hydrochloric acid over a rock.

“If it’s limestone it will foam,” Albrecht said, preparing to drip the acid on the rock. “If it’s quartz crystal, it won’t.”

“Oooooooh it’s limestone,” cried a crowd of young voices watching the rising plume of white smoke.

On a recent morning, Albrecht was instructing fourth-graders from James Earl Carter Elementary School in Palm Desert at the Indian Canyons in Palm Springs.

“I think all of this stuff is amazing,” said Kristen Cordova, 9, from Palm Desert. “I think it’s cool to learn about wildlife.”

The program encourages fourth-graders in the Coachella Valley to practice good nutrition and fitness.

The Desert Healthcare District, the Anderson Children’s Foundation, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the Friends of the Desert Mountains and the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa National Monument all contributed to the program, Albrecht said.

The district gave $40,000, the foundation gave $14,000 and the tribe gave $5,000 and free admission to the Indian Canyons in Palm Springs, Albrecht said.

Friends of the Desert Mountains and the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa National Monument gave in-kind donations, Albrecht said. A donated bus took the students from school to the Indian Canyons

Students walking along the Palm Canyon Trail searched the dust-lined grounds for metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous rocks, and they studied geology, plants and animals in the canyons area.

Aurelio Chavez, 9, discovered a spider crawling on him, but he shrugged it off despite some shrieks from onlookers.

He was more interested in the different sizes and shapes of the rocks.“I have about 50 rocks,” he said.

About 10 parents, including Mernell Wong, leader of Girl Scouts Troop 298 in Palm Desert, also took part.
Wong said her daughter, Kaitlyn, and fellow troop members would take the information they learned up to Lake Tahoe, where they go to see different rocks.

“This is snow melted from Mount San Jacinto,” said Albrecht, an interpretive specialist for the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, as the children looked at the stream running through the canyon.

She explained three types of erosion to the children -- wind, water and gravity.
“Look around. You see the effects of erosion,” she said as she pointed to the Indian Canyons landscape.
Species information about birds, plants, reptiles, insects and mammals was provided on work sheets, and the students could take notes about what they saw.

Before eating their picnic lunch, the students drew a desert fan palm complete with a fruit stalk, crown, dates, trunk, roots and skirt.

You can reach Press Enterprise writer, Wes Woods II at (760) 837-4405 or wwoods@PE.com