Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

06 May, 03 AM - 08 May, 09 AM

Ecopsychology is the study of life, as if all life matters, addressing the interconnected web of life. The focus of the course Environmental Studies 42A "Ecopsychology and Personal Sustainability: Where the Wild Things Are" is human interaction, based on the disassociation of humans from other life, such as and nature, in our society. An important aspect of the course is the wilderness experience, in which students can develop relationships with the land and ecosystems, including themselves as apart of the system. UC Big Creek Reserve is an ideal place for this class to take a field trip and "wilderness experience" because of the proximity to UC Santa Cruz, where the course is taught, and because the Reserve is comprised of various ecotones that are all connected to the Big Creek. Friday morning after arrival, we will hike up to Highlands Camp. At Highlands Camp we will do a freewrite, a journaling activity, which brings awareness to the senses. This activity fosters awareness of place, and will help the students to be present to their individual experiences of Big Creek Reserve. Following, there will be a few presentations on required readings, from the past week which introduce and discuss the ?wilderness experience?. The students will have time afterwards to set up camp and explore the immediate vicinity before we meet for sunset at Whale Point. At sunset, we will have check-ins (a regular format of interacting throughout the course) and discuss the schedule for the following days at Big Creek Reserve. Saturday after breakfast, we would like to meet with Reserve Manger Kurt Merg for an introduction to the Reserve. Following, the class will take a natural history day hike to Boronda Camp; the walk will include botany, enthnobotany, birding (hopefully we'll see some), geology and land formations, as well as a bit of history of the indigenous people who lived along Big Creek. At Boronda Camp, students will participate in an activity designed to orient them to their individual boundaries, as well as to those of others. Students will approach a relatively stationary being, such as a tree. They will pause when they feel its boundary, ask permission to step beyond the boundary, and either get closer, or remain where they are. After a debriefing of the first part of the activity, the students will in pairs perform the same activity; followed by a final debrief and conclusion of the activity. The next activity is the ?Blindfold Walk?. Students will pair up, one blindfolded and the other leading. The escort will bring the blindfolded partner, with minimal verbal communication, to various natural objects such as a leaf, rock, tree, or stream. The blindfolded partner will be able to explore the object without sight and cultivate a different relationship, by initially smelling the object, for example. We will return to Highlands Camp for sunset and have separate women?s and men?s circles that evening. This style of check-ins fosters unity of the community within the smaller and larger circles. Sunday morning, we will observe the sunrise, an optional but strongly encouraged activity. The day?s next activity will be a 3 hour solo with another non-human creature that lives at, or around on the Reserve. Students will keep record of their observations and thoughts throughout the 3 hours. The activity will conclude with a discussion on what students observed about how the creature they observed relates to life around it, as well as their individual experiences. We will hike out from Highlands Camp and leave Big Creek Reserve in the afternoon. All activities are designed to foster inter and intra-personal relationships -relationships with the self, other humans, and the other residents of the Earth.

Visit #6843 @Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 5135 | Class

Ecopsychology and Personal Sustainability: Where the Wild Things Are

undergraduate_student - University of California, Santa Cruz

Reservation Members(s)

Joie Mazor May 6 - 8, 2005 (3 days)
Group of 20 Undergraduate Student May 6 - 8, 2005 (3 days)

Reserve Resources(s) | Create Invoice

Boronda Camp 21 May 6 - 8, 2005
Highlands Camp 21 May 6 - 8, 2005