WESTCAVE OUTDOOR DISCOVERY CENTER
24814 Hamilton Pool Road, Round Mountain, TX 78663 www.westcave.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Land Preservation & Education

Westcave Preserve School Education Programs - Our primary educational goal for field trip programs is to enhance elementary school science education by offering an extraordinary nature experience while supporting state-mandated learning requirements. Approximately 10,000 schoolchildren each year are provided an exceptional nature experience which allows them to observe, firsthand, the science concepts taught in the classroom. This firsthand experience has a tremendous impact on their ability to understand and to remember lessons taught in the classroom. Schools select field trip topics including The Westcave Story, Animals and Botanical Marvels, and Water: Lifeblood of the Earth. All school field trips are led by dedicated staff and designed for the specific grade level of the visiting class. The education staff is also able to tailor field trips to coincide with science concepts currently being taught in the classroom. Title 1 schools receive a 50% price reduction in program fees for field trips to Westcave Preserve. Public Tours - Westcave has offered weekend public tours since its founding more than 40 years ago. Our expert-guided tours take visitors from an arid savanna through a limestone crevice into a sheltered canyon of lush plant life. At the head of the canyon stands Westcave, with a stunning 40-foot waterfall replenishing the emerald pool below. Guides also provide information on the flora and fauna at the Preserve as well as the hydrology and geology of the preserve and surrounding Hill Country. Blair Woods - Westcave's Blair Woods afterschool program is a key component of a partnership between Westcave, Texas Audubon Society (TAS), the Center for Place- Based Initiatives (CPBI), at the University of Texas' Dell Medical School and Austin ISD to revitalize Blair Woods, a 10-acre nature sanctuary in East Austin owned by TAS. By reviving Blair Woods, this partnership is increasing accessible green space in the heart of East Austin, offering weekly afterschool programs to nearby Sims and Ortega Elementary Schools (Westcave), and providing a resource for the surrounding community (TAS). Both Westcave's afterschool programs, and TAS's community programs launched in October 2017. Sims and Ortega are Title 1 schools with ~90% of students receiving free or reduced rate lunches. Westcave provides 24 weeks of programming each year which focuses on fun and active opportunities for students to connect to the natural world. The program features a rotating theme to give students new topics to explore each week. Our Roadrunner Bus provides all transportation between Blair Woods and the two elementary schools. El Ranchito - El Ranchito provides an extraordinarily fun camping experience for children to learn and begin a lifelong engagement with the natural world. El Ranchito is a program of the Shield Ranch Foundation offered in collaboration with Westcave Outdoor Discovery and El Buen Samaritano. The Shield Ranch Foundation provides the spectacularly beautiful and ecologically diverse private working ranch where the camp takes place; El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission recruits the campers, and Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center has directed programming efforts for El Ranchito since its launch in 2007. El Ranchito serves approximately 100 children and youth from low-income families each summer through two camp programs: Nature Discovery Camp for rising 4th through 9th graders; and Conservation Corps for rising 10th through 12th graders. Each week-long residential Nature Discovery Camp is filled with fun explorations and educational experiences such as horseback riding, swimming in natural swimming holes, stargazing and environmental education including field trips to Westcave Preserve. The 12-day Conservation Corps is centered on helping campers gain life and work skills through participation in conservation projects for which they are paid a modest stipend as well as nature exploration through recreation, environmental education and adventure trips.

Children in Nature Collaborative of Austin (CiNCA) - More than 60 organizations work together through the CiNCA toward a common goal of igniting and fanning the flames of a regional movement to reconnect kids to the wonder and joy of the natural world and to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards. To achieve this, the CiNCA brings together schools, service providers, state and local government officials and members of the community with a stake in developing children who are happier, healthier and smarter as a result of being connected to nature and concepts of sustainability on a regular basis. The CiNCA provides a venue for these stakeholder groups to come together and share and seek resources collectively, collaborate more effectively and streamline programmatic efforts. The CiNCA has been a core program of Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center since 2012. Girls Outside - Girls Outside (GO) provides 250-300 girls from 10 different Austin ISD schools (5 elementary and 5 secondary) with opportunities to learn and grow in nature through an in-depth exploration of the Pedernales River Corridor, a mentorship partnership between younger and older students, and career development through visits with women in the environmental field. GO includes a kick-off team-building day followed by field trips to Pedernales Falls State Park and Westcave Preserve and a campout/service workday. Roadrunner Outdoor Adventure Bus provides all transportation for GO. Roadrunner Outdoor Adventure Bus - In April 2016, Westcave launched the Roadrunner Outdoor Adventure Bus program to provide a low-cost transportation option for both schools and collaborating nonprofit organizations across Austin. This community-wide transportation program is available for both school field trip programs as well as afterschool and summer programs. To date, more than 7,000 individuals have ridden the Roadrunner Bus, and 71% of riders have been students from Title 1 schools. The Roadrunner has also been instrumental in the launch of two new programs, Blair Woods Afterschool program and Girls Outside, by meeting all transportation needs for both programs.

Prairie Restoration Project - Five acres of Westcave's property is being restored to the historic mixture of native grasses and plants that were present before the land was impacted by humans. Restoring the prairie will attract native butterflies and other pollinators and also provide critical habitat for migrating birds. A prescribed burn, followed by native plant seeding, was conducted in 2016 and will be an ongoing part of this project. Research Initiatives - The preserve is made available for a variety of research projects that support conservation efforts including investigating best methods for controlling invasive species, maintaining surveys of the Preserve's birds, monarch butterflies, frogs and dragonflies, and conducting ongoing water quality monitoring. In addition, the Environmental Science Institute at the University of Texas has conducted research at the cave for a number of years. The cave's small size, above-ground location and many openings to the outside make it a unique resource for studying the changes in temperature through time for Central Texas and may ultimately help scientists make better predictions about future droughts. Trail Building and Maintenance - With more than 3 miles of trails, and another mile of trail planned, the construction and maintenance of trails is an ongoing, daily part of our work. The more complicated decades-old trail into the canyon, and the recently added trails on the Uplands, require constant tending.

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