During this field course, we will be traveling to many different reach sites within the Sibun Watershed and neighboring watersheds. Tents are our homes as we move about in our nomadic quest of watershed experiences. With probes, lenses and hands, we explore the ecology of the Sibun Watershed as we move downstream, following the flow.

Our field efforts will be strenuous at times, but mostly we will move more at the pace of a floating tour rather than a marathon. Throughout the course we will present a series of lectures on the structure, function and dynamics of watersheds and on the rapid ecological assessment procedures developed in conjunction with the USEPA that have become accepted protocol for surveying and monitoring stream and river systems.

Our course starts with an orientation period at Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary where issues of health and safety, cultural sensitivity, and fears and expectations are addressed. Several introductory lectures are presented during the morning and afternoon as we settle in, get acquainted, field test our camping gear beneath the thatch palapas and discover the favorite swimming holes of the Sibun River. Academic classroom lectures introduce the watershed continuum concept and natural history of Belize. Team building exercises compliment classroom lectures in preparation for our field excursion to the Maya Mountains.

Beginning the third day, we pack camp early in the morning and, after a good breakfast, make our way to the headwaters of the Macal River in the Mountain Pine Ridge. Our team establishes base camp and begins a series of forays to select sites where characteristics of headwater creeks and streams are observed and discussed. Evidence of the Ancient Maya is revealed and discussions on the rise and fall of their civilization is facilitated throughout the course.

We leave behind the Mountain Pine Ridge and resume our downstream travel in the Sibun Watershed at the base of the Maya Mountains. From here our canoe journey begins as we float through the mid reach where human impacts intensify. We follow the path as the river slices though successive terrestrial ecosystems, including karst terrain and cave systems, tropical lowland forest, pine savanna, coastal lagoons, estuaries and coastal mangrove forest.

In the lower reach, we enter a salt wedge estuary where freshwater and marine organisms merge and biodiversity peaks. From river mouth, we are carried beyond the mangrove shores across sea grass beds, patch reefs, barrier islands and ultimately to the reef crest of the Belize Barrier Reef.

1. Provide students experiential learning opportunities that contribute meaningfully toward efforts by resident communities to better understand, conserve and manage the natural resources of the Sibun Watershed through the Sibun Watershed Association.

   

2. Allow students to gain experience in the application and utility of environmental assessment and monitoring methodology that is transferable to their home watersheds.

3. Expose students to problem-solving and decision-making processes that involve the identification of impacts and comparison of alternative courses of action and remediation while considering the social, ethical, political and biological implications of each.

4. Encourage students to develop an integrated understanding of environmental issues challenging both developing and developed economies, and to recognize the intricate connections between human consumption practices and global biodiversity loss.

5. Provide students opportunities for personal growth and achievement through participation in goal oriented, community based projects, challenge of personal skills and potentials, interaction and collaboration with people of other cultures and interconnection with the natural world.

6. Introduce concepts of Rapid Biological Assessment protocols as community-based tools promoting local awareness of environmental health and processes of environmental democracy.