Mira Loma High School Arcade Creek Project

Mira Loma High School's Arcade Creek Project is in its fifth year, and it has grown from encompassing seven components to eleven - eight studies, a restoration group, an outreach group and a data analysis group.

Over the past five years, the Arcade Creek Project at Mira Loma High School has been monitoring the health of Arcade Creek and recording changes. The award-winning project is run entirely by students in the International Baccalaureate Program. In this highly accelerated program, students are required to take IB Biology, IB Physics or IB Environmental Science. Furthermore, they are required to complete a school-wide, coordinated field project within the local community that integrates the different science courses taught at the school. Students track the health of the Arcade Creek Watershed by participating in one of eleven programs:

• Vertebrate census ("Vertebrate")
• Biological assessment of the benthic fauna ("Bio assessment")
• Botanical survey ("Botany")
• Biological assay using the introduced Corbicula clams and the crustacea, Ceriodaphnia ("Bio assay")
• Mapping components both in the stream and along the riparian corridor ("Long mapping")
• Habitat assessment ("Habitat")
• Sediment analysis ("Sediment")
• Water chemistry analysis ("Chem")
• Data analysis ("Data")
• Outreach
• Restoration

Visit the Arcade Creek Project Website here.

Read this article in California Educator to learn more about Mira Loma High School's award winning work in the Arcade Creek Watershed.