I first met Dr. Jay Vavra seven years ago, while he was a graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Southern California. He told me of his passion for nature, his research in marine biology, and his interest in teaching and promoting environmental awareness. Over the years since that first meeting, Jay and I have talked about the goals of Roots & Shoots and the need to involve more students and teachers in this global youth program which inspires youth of all ages to make a difference in their communities and beyond. Each Roots & Shoots group plans and implements service-learning projects that benefit people, animals, and the environment. Well, Jay took our conversations to heart, and in spring 2004, he and two Roots & Shoots student representatives from High Tech High shared with me this wonderful field guide that you have in your hands. The students have produced a rigorous study of the local fauna that will educate others and inspire an appreciation for wildlife even in urban settings. This field guide is also remarkably integrated, incorporating the perspectives of the biologist, the mathematician and of the humanities under the guidance of Jay and his fellow teachers Tom Fehrenbacher in Humanities and Rod Buenviaje in Math. It includes wonderful photos, sketches, poetry, and nature reflections, as well as impressive scientific content such as tide descriptions with Fourier analysis and a thorough investigation of the birds and marine invertebrates of a part of San Diego Bay that has been greatly disturbed by human activity. The Boat Channel Field Guide will be an influential and important baseline study, allowing future ecologists, scientists and naturalists to reference and compare subsequent developments in the Channel. It should also be a helpful resource for environmental policy makers. Not only does the field guide show the creativity and resilience of student investigators and teachers, it demonstrates the ability of the organisms to survive and thrive in the face of such an onslaught. The spirit that gave rise to this work – a determination to understand how we are impacting our environment so that we may be far better stewards, as well as a conviction that we all can make a difference – should give us all great hope for the future. -- Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE |