REI grant lets schoolkids experience Lake Mead lab

By Stephanie Tavares

Fri, Jan 16, 2009 (2 a.m.)

Outdoor recreation equipment retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. has given a boost to a local science education and research program in the form of a grant.

Recreational Equipment gave $10,000 to the Outside Las Vegas Foundation and the Public Lands Institute on Nov. 18 for transportation for schoolchildren to and from the Forever Earth Floating Environmental Laboratory at Lake Mead.

Clark County School District budget cuts make it difficult to send students on field trips to the boat.

“This grant is very, very important and a tribute to (Recreational Equipment) for understanding this is an important thing for Las Vegas and will expand opportunities for kids to get out there,” said Sharon Allen, a local marketer involved in promoting the project through the Outside Las Vegas Foundation.

The converted houseboat is sponsored by Forever Resorts and is operated in conjunction with the UNLV Public Lands Institute, the Outside Las Vegas Foundation and the National Park Service.

The 6-year-old project provides an unusual research platform for hydrologists, biologists and other scientists on Lake Mead, as well as providing educational outreach for local students.

It is equipped with research and monitoring instruments, a desktop computer and a global positioning station.

More than 8,000 people, including more than 5,000 children, have used the boat since it was launched four years ago.

Getting local children excited about the sciences is a major goal of the project.

“The main purpose was to educate people about this amazing resource we have in the desert,” said Daphne Sewing, project manager of Forever Earth. “It’s not only the source of water for Las Vegas and surrounding communities, but its also this incredible recreation area and it has an incredible diversity of plants and animals in the park that depend on the lake. We wanted to make the lake and its resources more accessible to people who may not normally get a chance to do this.”

Getting children excited about the sciences early makes them more likely to pursue careers in related fields as adults, organizers said. At the same time, interest among American college students in science-related careers continues to fall behind demand.

Organizers hope projects such as the Forever Earth lab will spark long-term interest.

“With education funding being challenged, when you have an experience at a museum it stays with you your whole life,” Allen said. “Having this type of program is wonderful. You’re engaging students and showing them real life and that they can do these things when they grow up.”

For more information on the Forever Earth houseboat, log on to publiclands.unlv.edu/.