Education
Albion Field Station Marine Biology Adventure
Albion Field Station is a multilevel educational facility owned by Pacific Union College. It offers educational experiences for students from Kindergarten through College. Albion staff can discuss the selection of classes, grades, and length of stay. Teachers will be able to choose what activities will work best for their students.
Instructor
Classes are taught by Sheldon Schultz, MS Education, with emphasis on Biology, Wilderness survival, Photography, History, and Earth Science. Schultz taught life science classes in elementary, middle, and high schools. He taught Marine Biology, where his class researched with the Loma Linda University Marine Biology program, finding the first hermaphroditic hermit crabs ever found on the West Coast. They also articulated the skeletons of a California Sea Lion, Risso's Dolphin, and a common Bottle-nosed Dolphin. Their research also discovered the first parasitic disease of Common Bottle-nosed Dolphins in the Pacific Ocean.
Cost
Classes for up to twenty students cost about $200, but it varies due to travel time or materials needed. Small schools can receive an exception to the cost to make the class affordable.
Program Options
Tide Pool Exploration: Students will go tide pooling during a low tide and explore the organisms there. Emphasis will be on ecological zonation of the nearshore habitat. They will explore the effects of sea star wasting disease and the resulting urchin desserts, the long-term history of massive die-offs of keystone species, and the resulting ecosystem changes.
Squid Dissection: Students will work in pairs to dissect and learn about the form and function of a market squid (Loligo opalescens).
Japanese Fish Prints (Gyotaku): Students will use locally caught fish and squid to make fish prints on rice paper. With lower grades (students under 12), an adult must assist each child in making a fish print.
Plankton Tow: Students will examine various microscopic animals under a microscope. They must have prior microscope experience, including coarse and fine adjustment, and knowledge of focusing a microscope and preparing a wet slide.
Pigmy Forest/ Redwood Forest Hike: Students will hike from the Pigmy Forest ecosystem through the Redwood Forest ecosystem, ending at the coastal beach ecosystem. They will discuss ecological changes and how each ecosystem attracts and supports different kinds of plant and animal life.
Point Cabrillo Lighthouse Hike: Hike 1.5 miles from the parking lot to the lighthouse and back. Schools can arrange for a historical tour of the lighthouse. Two weeks in advance, the lighthouse must be informed of large groups planning to visit. There are no fees to visit and hike in the area.
Point Arena Lighthouse: Schools can arrange tours beforehand because this lighthouse is approximately a one-hour drive south. It can be an excellent tour after tide pooling at nearby Point Arena Harbor or Bowling Ball Beach. The lighthouse is still active, and the view from the upper observation deck is one of the best in the area.
Bowling Ball Beach Geology Exploration: Bowling Ball Beach is a unique landform best seen at low tide. A visit could include tide pooling and geology with lessons on concretions, stratification, anticlines, synclines, and faulting.
Fossil and Geology Exploration at Point Arena Harbor: This area has vertical strata in one area, much like Bowling Ball Beach, but 5 miles farther south. The cliffs above the beach have horizontal asphalt layers interspersed with mudstone and sandstone layers. Fossilized whale bones are eroding from the cliffs. The hike to the area with the fossils will take about 1/2 an hour from the parking lot. The hike will involve scrambling over large rocks, so all participants must be able to hike in such conditions.
Mud-flat Exploration: Students will explore the mud flat at the field station, exploring the animal life in a mud flat. They will be in the mud, searching for organisms that live in the ecosystem. After the lab, students must hose off before entering a cabin for a shower. 2-3 hours
Canoe Trip up the Albion River: Students can take canoes or kayaks up the Albion River. This ecosystem is home to harbor seals, river otters, and birds such as osprey, bald eagles, cormorants, and kingfishers. The expected time is 2-5 hours, depending on the distance traveled up the river.
Beginning Canoeing: Students learn how to get in and out of a canoe, different paddle strokes, and canoe safety using canoes in the Albion River near the Field Station.
Wilderness Survival: Students will be taught many survival skills for extreme situations. Classes may include edible wild plants, fire building, shelter building, and orienteering.
Photography: Students must bring their cameras. Classes may include outdoor photography, landscape photography, animal and birdlife photography, composition, exposure, and depth of field. Classes include trips into the field and critiques of photographs during and after the class for the next month. Classes can include black-and-white photography and colored filters to manipulate images, as well as infrared photography and macro photography.
Pathfinder Honors: The following Pathfinder honors are available (a Pathfinder Honor is similar to a Boy Scout Merit Badge): Amphibians, Animal Camouflage, Animal Tracking, Backpacking, Birds, Bogs & Fens, Cacti, Camp Craft, Camping Skills 1-4, Canoeing, Cetaceans, Coral Reefs, Creationism, Dinosaurs, Ecology, Edible Wild Plants, Ferns, Fire Building & Camp Cookery, Fish, Flowers, Fossils, Fungi, Geology, Kayaking, Leathercraft, Leathercraft Advanced; Lichens, Liverworts & Mosses; Lighthouses, Lighthouses Advanced, Marine Algae, Marine Mammals, Marine Invertebrates, Oceans, Photography, Predatory Plants, Reptiles, Sharks, Shells, Wilderness Living. Costs vary by honor, the number of people involved, and the materials needed.