The Lincoln Hills Cares GLC event was fun. It was my first time going and I learned a lot during my time there. We took a bus ride from Johnson Habitat park up to Lincoln Hills and were welcomed very kindly. Madi talked about the history of Lincoln Hills and how it was a Black-owned town/resort where people could go and rent a room. They had a tavern and sort of dining place where some famous jazz musicians spent the night. We took a hike to the old buildings in Lincoln hills. We played a game where we guessed how long some items took to decompose. This was fun and educational as they taught us that certain materials take longer time to decompose which can impact our environment. After this game we walked to Winks panorama, this was the dining place where some musicians performed. We helped clean up the front of the place by picking up things and moving them to a shed. Once we finished we walked back down and had lunch.
After lunch we did some more activities. We did a nature walk with binoculars where we wrote down things we saw and heard. This was very nice and my favorite part of Lincoln hills. Being able to look around and really observe nature in such a historic place was really amazing. After this nature walk we tried to identify certain trees/ferns. This activity was educational as we were able to identify ferns by their shape and size. Finally we looked at the critters inside their pond. Identifying these critters also helped us identify the quality and health of the water. The way this works is seeing what critters are in the water since some critters can only tolerate good water quality. Overall this experience was super fun and educational. If i was offered another opportunity to go back to Lincoln Hills, I would accept it in a heartbeat.
-River Ranger, High School Junior
Investigation: Native Nature Summer Camp