BioSITE students look for new teaching ground after Guadalupe Creek floods to three times its normal size.
Photo by Annika Dahlberg
Photo by Annika Dahlberg
Heavy Rains Affect BioSITE
Guadalupe Creek flooding provides a new challenge for students
By: Isabella Osborne
After record drought conditions for the past six years, rains have finally returned to California, which is welcome news to Pioneer’s BioSITE program.
BioSITE, a partnership with the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, revolves mainly around life science, research, and teaching local fourth graders about the environment. According to Weather Underground, San Jose received 1.5 inches of rain in December of 2016 and 5.45 inches in the first 23 days of January. The rain has helped improve drought conditions and revitalize local ecosystems, including the river currently used by BioSITE. The rain has also caused mudslides in the Santa Cruz mountains and flooding in much of the Bay Area.
“I expected (the river) to be double in size, but it’s 10 times its normal size, now,” BioSITE student, Mikayla Bush, 10, said.
The volume of water that has fallen is almost too much of a good thing.
With the increase in rain the fourth graders may not be able to go into the water and experience the ecosystem for themselves and sophomores will miss out on opportunities to teach.
The fourth graders most likely will have to rely on the samples and tests taken from the river in the classroom, rather than experiencing the change for themselves. There have also been other changes to the area.
“There are willow trees that are water dependent that grow right next to the river and their roots are right in the river and they all died,” BioSITE and science teacher Rob Zaccheo said. “They stood there for awhile, but as soon as we had a storm last March all those trees have now fallen down so it's changed the whole ecosystem out there.”
The fluctuation in rain over the past few years has made a massive impact on the environment and should be approached with caution.
“Just because we have all this rain doesn’t mean it’s going to be here forever,” Zaccheo said. “We have to have the attitude of, ‘how can we live most sustainably and healthy - live with a balance in our environment.'”
Guadalupe Creek flooding provides a new challenge for students
By: Isabella Osborne
After record drought conditions for the past six years, rains have finally returned to California, which is welcome news to Pioneer’s BioSITE program.
BioSITE, a partnership with the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, revolves mainly around life science, research, and teaching local fourth graders about the environment. According to Weather Underground, San Jose received 1.5 inches of rain in December of 2016 and 5.45 inches in the first 23 days of January. The rain has helped improve drought conditions and revitalize local ecosystems, including the river currently used by BioSITE. The rain has also caused mudslides in the Santa Cruz mountains and flooding in much of the Bay Area.
“I expected (the river) to be double in size, but it’s 10 times its normal size, now,” BioSITE student, Mikayla Bush, 10, said.
The volume of water that has fallen is almost too much of a good thing.
With the increase in rain the fourth graders may not be able to go into the water and experience the ecosystem for themselves and sophomores will miss out on opportunities to teach.
The fourth graders most likely will have to rely on the samples and tests taken from the river in the classroom, rather than experiencing the change for themselves. There have also been other changes to the area.
“There are willow trees that are water dependent that grow right next to the river and their roots are right in the river and they all died,” BioSITE and science teacher Rob Zaccheo said. “They stood there for awhile, but as soon as we had a storm last March all those trees have now fallen down so it's changed the whole ecosystem out there.”
The fluctuation in rain over the past few years has made a massive impact on the environment and should be approached with caution.
“Just because we have all this rain doesn’t mean it’s going to be here forever,” Zaccheo said. “We have to have the attitude of, ‘how can we live most sustainably and healthy - live with a balance in our environment.'”
