Summer 2017

​Atwell Island Project - Work Based Learning Program

The Allensworth +Alpaugh Work Based Learning (A+A WBL) Program is a permanent four week summer work-based learning program for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade high school students from the rural communities of Allensworth and Alpaugh in SW Tulare County, California. The SW corner of Tulare County is a unique area within the Tulare Basin whose landmarks and landscapes highlight and exemplify the rich natural, cultural, and agricultural heritage of the region. The A+A WBL Program aims to highlight this rich heritage in order to engage, inform, and invest local youth into the future of the landscape as well as their own.

The Bureau of Land Management began the A+A WBL Program in the summer of 2016. The continuation and growth of this program is enabling Allensworth and Alpaugh high school students to develop leadership skills, career readiness and the technical skills needed to address drought, flood, and other climate adaptation issues. Students who have participated in this program will be able apply these skills to the Allensworth-Alpaugh-Atwell Island Trail (AAAT) project and to the natural resource management careers of the future.

The Summer 2017 A+A WBL Program ran from June 5th - June 30th and included a total of 13 students participating from both communities. The BLM Atwell Island Project served as the location for the summer 2017 program. The students split into three groups, each group chose a focus topic in regional water quality to develop projects on. The groups chose to research the effects of well drilling, water contamination, and groundwater overdraft and drafted research papers accompanied by educational digital posters based on their research. Local/regional focus topic experts laid the foundation for and reinforced each focus topic by mentoring through field trips, classroom presentations, tours, and one on one instruction and introducing the focus topics from several perspectives. On the last day of the program the students formally presented their work to their families, community members, county officials, and partner agency and organization representatives all of whom praised the work of the students.

Please click on the images below to view the Summer 2017 A+A WBL Program student posters. 

Bureau of Land Management AIP sponsored the Summer 2017 A+A WBL Program. The Tulare Basin Wildlife Partners partnered with the Bureau of Land Management, Tulare County Office of Education, TK College + Career Collaborative, Alpaugh High School, Allensworth Elementary School, and Allensworth and Alpaugh community leaders in coordinating the Summer 2017 A+A WBL Program with contributions from Community Water Center, UC Water, UC Merced, CSU Fresno State, Tulare County Audubon Society. 

Press and literature for the A+A WBL Program: 

Visalia TImes-Delta: Students learn about water quality in southwest Tulare County

Planning and fundraising for the 2019 A+A WBL Program is already underway! If you would like more information on the program and would like to contribute in any way please contact Dezaraye Bagalayos, TBWP Program Coordinator, at dezaraye@tularebasinwildlifepartners.org | (209) 986-3887.