Education & Outreach

This region is host to many university classes, school curriculum, and special study field trips. Find out about programs that will extend your knowledge of desert subjects.

Student Contest
Mojave Max  is a desert tortoise who lives about 20 miles west of Las Vegas, Nevada in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Any student  in grades 1-12 may enter the contest. Students may go on-line and register a guess when Mojave Max will emerge from his burrow for the first time in 2008. Eligibility for prizes is restricted to students enrolled in public private and registered home schools in the following counties in California: Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego. The contest will remain open until Max emerges from his burrow.

For Families
Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association  offers lectures and field trips in Borrego Springs.

Death Valley National Park
The Death Valley National Park produces a series of Junior Ranger booklets filled with educational activities for children (three levels). After completing a booklet, the child returns it to the Junior Ranger program to receive a badge for that level.

Living Desert Wildlife & Botanical Park
The Living Desert Wildlife & Botanical Park  in Palm Desert offers year-round Wildlife and Fun classes for young students. For information, call The Living Desert's Education Department, (760) 346-5694. Reservations required.

Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
The Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History  leads educational field trips to Red Rock Canyon State Park in California. Search for fossils, take nature hikes, explore the region's geology and roast marshmallows around the campfire with museum scientists and staff.

Conservation Organizations: Several organizations have desert chapters and sponsor educational trips to various desert regions.
Audubon California , (916) 649-7600
The Nature Conservancy , (415) 777-0487
The California Native Plant Society , (916) 447-2677(CNPS)
The Sierra Club , (415) 977-5500

Higher Education and Research:

California State University Desert Studies Center , Zyzxx (Soda Springs) in the Mojave Desert. Visitors are either enrolled in college or university courses which involve some aspect of the desert, or are engaged in research related to desert. Selected school groups and organized community groups whose activities are desert-oriented may accommodated. For information: California Desert Studies Consortium c/o Department of Biological Science, California State University, Fullerton P.O. Box 34080, Fullerton, CA 92834-9480.
Phone: (714) 278-2428, Fax: (714) 278-4289.

Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center, located eight km (5 miles) south of the City of Palm Desert. This reserve is part of the University of California Natural Reserve System with facilities for long-term and short-term researchers. For information: Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center , P.O. Box 1738, Palm Desert, CA 92261-1738 (760) 341-3655.

The University of California's Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center (GMDRC), is located in the East Mojave Desert, 128 km (80 miles) east of Barstow. First established in 1978, and later congressionally designated in the 1994 California Desert Protection Act, the mission of the GMDRC is to contribute to the understanding and wise management of the Earth and its arid environments by supporting university-level research, teaching, and public service in California deserts. The 9,000 acre GMDRC currently supports more than 130 active research projects and hosts 35 university-level classes annually. Research use of the GMDRC has been climbing rapidly, particularly from the international scientific community, with an average of 15 new research projects being added per year. Many studies at the GMDRC examine impacts caused by past and current human activities in the desert. Scientists are especially attracted to the region's unparalleled biological and geological diversity in combination with the protected lands at the GMDRC. The protected lands provide a control site for the establishment of long-term studies and the collection of highly sensitive measurements/data that would otherwise not be possible on public lands. For visiting students, the GMDRC provides a significant outdoor experience that inspires discovery and appreciation for the complexity of our natural world. For more information contact: James M. Andre, Director. Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center, HC1 Box 101, Kelso, CA 92351. (760) 733-4222, Fax (760) 733-9931, granites@telis.org, granites.ucnrs.org. 

University of California - Riverside Extension
The University of California - Riverside Extension program offers several dozen desert-related courses each year. Courses can be taken for academic credit or as non-credit classes. The UCR Field Nature Studies Program  also offers certificates in Field Botany, Field Geology, Field Ornithology, and Field Ecology. Field classes take place at numerous locations throughout the California desert.

Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park
Affiliated with the UCR Extension program, the Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park  offers credit and non-credit field courses centered around the natural and cultural history of Joshua Tree National Park. Classes are held at numerous sites within the national park.

University of Nevada - Las Vegas Division of Educational Outreach
The University of Nevada - Las Vegas Division of Educational Outreach  offers a variety of field trips on the natural and cultural history of the California and Nevada deserts. Students explore remote desert sites in jeeps with university faculty and other subject matter experts.