New Melones Lake Park Ranger Mike McGraw welcomes students to Nature Bowl
SONORA, Calif. – On Thursday, April 25, Reclamation’s New Melones Lake hosted the annual Nature Bowl, an event where students from Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties competed in environmental themed activities. This year, nearly 200 students and teachers joined Reclamation Park Ranger staff at the New Melones Visitor Center, participating in fun challenges that tested the nature knowledge of 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade student teams. The competition was one of several regional finals that took place in California where top scoring teams were sent to Sacramento for the state finals in May. Participating students gain important ecological knowledge and teamwork skills through the activities.
Nature Bowl is an annual, science-based education program for 3rd through 6th graders offered through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in conjunction with partners such as the Tuolumne Superintendent of Schools, who develops the curriculum and works with partners to host Nature Bowl events.
This year, New Melones Lake celebrated the 54th anniversary of Earth Day with Nature Bowl to inspire participating students and public stakeholders to become active environmental stewards within their communities. Every year, Earth Day celebrations motivate and mobilize over 1 billion people worldwide to participate in action-orientated events such as cleanups, citizen science, advocacy, and education activities.
See this year’s photos: Nature Bowl at New Melones Lake - April 2024 | Flickr
The New Melones Lake Administration Building is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with Visitor Center hours Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information, call 209-536-9094, ext. 0, (TTY 800-877-8339) or visit the New Melones Lake website at https://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/newmelones/index.html or www.recreation.gov.
