Iona Beach Park Environmental Field Trip
Tomorrow my students and I will be discussing science field trips for elementary school students. I have been thinking of a field trip I would like to share with my students that would be something they might have not thought of. I think I found it – a Field Trip to Iona Island in Richmond. I loved the area and the sun set, but only when I came back home and did a quick Google search did I realize that it the 4-km long jetty we were walking along, is nothing else but a big sewage pipe and the plant we saw on the way is a big sewage plan. Wouldn’t it be an interesting place to visit with the students – while discussing ecosystems, our ecological foot print and sustainability? Amazingly, the park is open and the visit to the plant is free and from what I read, it is a very interesting facility. You and your students would be surprised how hygienic the sewage treatment is… To read more about Iona Beach and the facility click here.
Sunset in Ioana Beach Regional Park
If you didn’t know what a “jetty” is, read here (thanks to Wikipedia):
A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works which are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the sea-coast for ports in tideless seas. The forms and construction of these jetties are as varied as their uses (directing currents or accommodating vessels), for they are formed sometimes of high open timber-work, sometimes of low solid projections, and occasionally only differ from breakwaters in their object. The term derived from the French word jetée, “thrown”, and signifies something thrown out. Jetties at the coast that have been raised and extended, help prevent long shore drift, so therefore slowing down beach erosion[citation needed].