LYMAN — The annual Lyman Intermediate School 5th Grade Bridger Lake Field Trip on Sept. 30, proved to be a good day to spend outdoors.

At the request of the teachers, Uinta County Conservation District (UCCD) organizes this outdoor field trip each year as an opportunity for students to get hands on learning experiences in Mother Nature’s classroom.

Students were more than excited to engage in learning as they rotated through four educational stations around the Bridger Lake Campground in the Uinta Mountains, south of Mountain View. U.S. Forest Service employees Ben McDaniel and Sarah Smith took the students on an educational bike ride and taught them about coniferous forests, tree anatomy and tie hacking. UCCD Natural Resource Specialist and Biologist, Grant Redden, taught the students the importance of adaptations in fish species as the students ‘Fashioned a Fish’ of their own with adaptations to fit a specific habitat.

The students learned about predator/prey interactions between Wyoming wildlife species as they played a game of ‘Quick Frozen Critters’ and examined fur specimens of Wyoming mammals with UCCD Education Coordinator, Katie Lott. LIS teacher Lance Perkins discussed the importance of benthic species as an indicator of water-quality as the students collected visible and microscopic macro-invertebrate specimens among the rocks and moss on the edge of Bridger Lake.