The Education Program of Cascabel Hermitage Association hosted the Southwest Field Studies group from Earlham College at the Hot Springs Canyon support center from 2/16/02 through 2/23/02. The group consisted of 11 students and 3 instructors.

Since one of the major emphases of their semester-long program is sustainable architecture, many of their activities here supported that theme. David Omick, Pearl Mast, and Daniel Baker of CHA led several projects: two days (2/18 and 2/19) were spent on an Alternative House Tour, in which students visited 10 homes in the Cascabel area which demonstrate a wide variety of building materials and techniques, including strawbale, rock, adobe, tent under ramada, recycled, soilbag, and more. Two days were also spent on work projects involving construction. On 2/20 students assisted in repairing the cement stucco and re-sealing exterior wood on the strawbale hermitage building. They completed a palo verde-covered ramada for a third hermitage site on 2/21.

Below, Left, the group assembles at the Windmill campground for the hike to the ramada. Middle, backpacking thatch cross-poles to the ramada. Right, applying the palo verde branches.

Below, at Left, assembled before the finished ramada. At Right, relaxing at the Windmill campfire.

Other educational studies throughout their stay centered around the natural history of the Sonoran Desert. Daniel Baker of CHA and The Nature Conservancy instructed the students on the local Sonoran and Apache Highlands ecoregions and the significance of the San Pedro River and Hot Springs Canyon (2/17). Students worked individually on species accounts, and then on 2/22 did a saguaro census as a group, under the direction of Tom Orum and Nancy Ferguson of Saguaro Juniper Corporation. After a 10-acre plot was identified, the students tried to find all the saguaros present, plot their locations on a map, and record their size and other identifying characteristics. The census was completed on about 1/3 of this plot, with plans to continue compiling information by succeeding student groups.

Below: Tom Orum and Nancy Ferguson give an orientation before the group conducted their saguaro census.