By Julia Kim
Staff Writer

A dense mass of trees. Birdhouses. Insects.

It’s Coppell Nature Park.

On Tues., Sept. 21, the AP and IB Environmental Science students took a trip to the Coppell Nature Park in order to get a first-hand account of the research they have completed in the class about one specific receding ecoregion of the park: the Blackland Prairie.

AP/IB Environmental Science teacher Holly Anderson prepared several activities for students in attempt to expose them to the character and features of the Blackland Prairie. The students participated in an observation walk, completed a photo-scavenger hunt, made notice of plants and animals specific to the area and also listened to a speaker who talked about invasive species and gardening.

With the knowledge the students attained from the trip and additional research, students in Environmental Science are expected to finish grant proposals (which have suggestions and essentially, a method on the techniques used to preserve the Blackland Prairie region of the forest.