A field course provides the opportunity to combine academic pursuits with hands-on experiences within natural settings. The course allows us to discover and develop appreciation for the diversity, complexity and dynamics of natural systems by immersing ourselves in them and getting personally acquainted with many different creatures whose world we share. Principles of natural science are demonstrated not by models and diagrams, but by the natural flows of energies and cycles of nutrients within the matrix of universal and molecular forces that govern all life. Models, diagrams, theories and concepts are poorly tested maps that help us organize our experiences and reference our positions within the scheme of life.

This watershed field course links students with local communities involved in watershed monitoring and management. Through experience, students learn standard sampling methodologies, taxonomic and curation procedures and rapid bioassessment protocols transferable to watersheds everywhere. Student participation projects are designed under advisement of Government of Belize agencies to best collect that data most needed in order to establish and activate a community-based environmental network.

The Sibun River Watershed Rapid Environmental Assessment Project is employed to provide baseline information on the watershed for members of the Sibun Watershed Association and to help develop a standard methodology applicable to watersheds throughout Belize. Finally, the watershed field course is an avenue whereby ecotourist dollars become dispersed and shared at the community level; not as trickle down economics, but bioregional economics.