Home • Galapagos • Field Updates

Galápagos: April 2007

"It was the most incredible experience of my life, and I hope I can pass it on and inspire others." −− Nicolle Kindall, Meeker High School

The Galapagos field season is in full swing! We've already worked with two local schools plus two high schools from the United States. We still have 14 weeks to go and four more schools working in this incredible archipelago.

Our new collaboration with the Galapagos National Park has been rewarding. Students are thrilled to work directly with juvenile Galapagos tortoises and proud to know that their work ensures a future for these unique animals.

Assisting with the Park's special monitoring project requires delicate precision, especially when weighing the tortoises. The smallest ones can only be weighed by turning them onto their backs. Many of the little critters do their best to squirm their way upright, often using their necks and heads to turn over! It's a funny sight to see, and keeps students and staff laughing out loud.

In other exciting news, the first local course, students from Colegio Cazares, had the fabulous opportunity to work directly with Conservation International on an important habitat restoration project. The students planted over 400 Scalesia saplings at a site in the highlands of Santa Cruz Islands. Scalesia is a plant endemic to Galapagos, and provides critical habitat for threatened species like the vermillion flycatcher. 

The following day, the students traveled to another area within Galapagos National Park to visit a mature Scalesia forest. They spent the day eradicating invasive plants in an area called Los Gemelos, or the twins. The area is named for two giant sinkholes caused by volcanic activity-- these sinkholes are one of the main sites for restoration efforts in the National Park.

For EPI students, it is truly valuable to not only work directly with the Galapagos animals, but to also help restore their on-the-ground habitat. At the end of each day, and at the end of the course, students feel that they truly are changing the world, one sapling and one tortoise at a time. 

Join us in Galapagos next year so you, too, can make a difference!

Galapagos students measure a tortoise hatchling at the National Park recovery center.

View previous updates by clicking on one of the months below:
February 2007
June 2006