Twain Sullivan students spent last week at Irrigation Lake, absorbing and participating in activities designed to increase their traditional ecological knowledge.

“As a school we spend the day on the land learning about our environment,” explained teacher Tanya Margerm.

“This year we had five different stations for the kids to rotate through that had different community experts. We had an ice fishing station with parents, high school students and staff sharing their passion and expertise around winter fishing.”

Those coming out to share their knowledge included a Houston Search and Rescue team come to teach students about ice safety and cold water recovery, Cindy Verbeek from the Houston Nature Centre to teach about birds, bird song and their winter habitat and Jim, Tracy and Dylan Delamare teach students about tracking animals, animals as a resource and their winter habits.

“The children also spent time snowshoeing and tried their hands at willow weaving,” said Margerm.

Twain Sullivan has a traditional ecological knowledge day each season and the spring event takes place May 18 at Silverthorne Lake.