What is Sonar?

School of Natural Resources!
Environmental Science - Ecology - Ecoliteracy - Fine Arts

PROGRAM GOALS

• Fosters student stewardship of natural resources
• Collaboration among students, teachers, community members and practicing scientists
• Student acquisition of data for natural resource agencies
• Maintenance of reliable and high quality databases
• Provide job shadowing and career awareness in Natural Resource management
• Provide training and equipment for Natural Resource monitoring
• Sharing of data with participating agencies and community groups

Sonar is a school-within-a-school concept which incorporates scientific and artistic inquiry into our local ecosystems: coastal marine, redwood, and riparian. Our philosophical base is the process of gaining knowledge to understand whole systems. This process helps students grasp concepts such as development, interaction and management. Working with natural resource agencies, such as Fish and Game, local watershed awareness groups, and Parks and Recreation, students will be trained to collect and present information in a scientific way about the conditions of local streams and marine habitat. Students learn how ecosystem managemenet can be an ethic for wise stewardship of resources here on the Mendocino coast and elsewhere, and how SONAR can be a pathway for students' future careers in a field related to natural resource mangaement or in higher educational settings.