Education

Tapteal Greenway summarizes its mission as promoting conservation, education and recreation along the lower Yakima River. The lower Yakima River corridor includes the river, riparian, wetland, and shrub-steppe ecosystems. As understanding these ecosystems is essential to appreciating and conserving them Tapteal Greenway reaches out to students and adults with interactive, hands-on explorations of them.

Outreach with pre-K-12 includes STEM events, in-class presentations, and outdoor classroom field explorations, studying and observing wildlife and vegetation in these various ecosystems. Our collections of pelts, skulls, and other display items are excellent tools for environmental education both in the field and in the classroom.

We support the Salmon in the Classroom program sponsored by the Benton Conservation District and participate in their annual Salmon Summit event. The Tapteal Greenway Station has students make their own salmon lifecycle bracelet in which each colored bead represents a different aspect of the salmon lifecycle.

Each spring we host our annual Wildlands Walk at Amon Creek Natural Preserve, which features a variety of educational stations such as geology, reptiles, archeology, wetlands, and bird watching. This 1.5-mile walk is open to all ages. However, portions of the trail are soft and sandy and not ideal for strollers.

Tapteal partners with local environmental organizations to expand our educational outreach and to bring in more specialists. The Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society offers guides for some of our nature walks. We join The REACH Museum for various educational events.

This year, due to Covid-19, we’re taking our education offerings online. Join us for #TaptealTuesday every Tuesday morning at 10am for live nature lessons, crafts, or storytime. If you can’t join us live, all the #TaptealTuesday episodes are available on our YouTube channel to watch at your convenience. They vary in length but are no longer than 30 minutes. Many episodes include downloadable lesson plans so you can dive further into a subject with your students at school or at home.  Our #TaptealTuesday schedule can be found on our calendar or you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter (@taptealgreenway) for upcoming activities.

When we are able to meet in groups again, please contact us for a field trip or classroom presentation.