Springs Preserve

Videos to Explore

The Zoologist's Apprentice

Experts: Chris Sakmar, Preserve Naturalist; Katrina Smith, Zoological Specialist
Intended Audience: Kindergarten - Third Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Friday

Explore the fascinating adaptations of Mojave Desert animals. Learn about the habitat, defense mechanisms, traits and adaptive features of animals that share our desert home. Also, discover how humans apply animal adaptations to everyday life.

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Desert Tortoise

Experts: Thomas O'Toole, Supervising Zoologist 
Intended Audience: First - Third Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Friday

Meet Nevada’s state reptile and learn how this shelled quadruped survives in North America’s driest desert. Explore the unique adaptations that help the desert tortoise not only survive in the Mojave Desert, but also thrive in it. Discover how the Desert Tortoise’s adaptations influence human design.

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From a Spring to a Town:  Early Peoples to the New City of Las Vegas

Experts: Aaron Micallef, Preserve Curation Supervisor; Abby Phillips, Preserve Education Specialist; Emmi Saunders, Preserve Assistant Curator
Intended Audience: Third - Fifth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday, Thursday, Friday

Take a virtual tour of the history of the Las Vegas Valley. From indigenous peoples to European settlers, from dusty watering hole to bustling city, learn about the humble beginnings of Las Vegas in this quick, digital field trip at the Springs Preserve.

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Anatomy of a Barrel Cactus

Experts: Dan Secinaro, Preserve Gardens & Horticulture Specialist; Stephenie Thomas, Preserve Lead Gardens Worker
Intended Audience: Third - Eighth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Wednesday

Discover how this prickly plant thrives in North America’s driest desert. Learn about our regional cacti and their traits, defense mechanisms and specialized plant structures.

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Water and Energy

Experts: Doug Bennett, Conservation Manager; Toby Bickmore, Conservation Services Admin.
Intended Audience: Fourth - Fifth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Thursday

Explore the inextricable relationship between water and energy. Discover how we use water, one of many natural resources, to produce energy and how we use energy and water to produce everything else. Learn about “embedded/virtual” water and how conserving any single thing, conserves many.

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Drought: Our Water Resources and Community Response

Experts: Seth Shanahan, Colorado River Programs Manager; Abby Phillips, Preserve Education Specialist
Intended Audience: Fourth - Twelfth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Friday

Explore drought as a natural hazard, its impacts on humans and the natural environment, and the design solutions needed to reduce those impacts.

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Introduction to the Colorado River

Experts: Amy Best, Project Manager – Colorado River Exhibit; Seth Shanahan, Colorado River Programs Manager
Intended Audience: Sixth - Eighth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Thursday

Meet the West’s “hardest working river” aka Southern Nevada’s main water source. Learn more about the 40 million people who rely on the river and the critical challenges it currently faces.

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Frogs in the Middle of the Mojave: Biodiversity and Our Ecosystem

Experts: Ray Saumure, Environmental Biologist; Katrina Smith, Zoological Specialist
Intended Audience: Sixth - Eighth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Thursday

Learn about the Refugia Ponds located at the Springs Preserve and how we recreated an environment to help populations of two endangered species reproduce.

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The Las Vegas Wash

Experts: Julia Lantow, Environmental Biologist; Tim Ricks, Environmental Biologist
Intended Audience: Sixth - Eighth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Thursday

Learn about the biological importance of the Las Vegas Wash and why it is home to several species.

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Water Doctors

Experts: Eric Wert, Ariel Atkinson, Christina Morrison and Faith Kibuye, River Mountains Water Quality and Treatment Team
Intended Audience: Sixth - Twelfth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Thursday

Take a virtual tour of Southern Nevada’s water treatment facilities. Explore the science, stat-of-the-art technology and complex systems that deliver high-quality drinking water to your tap.

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Chemistry of Composting

Intended Audience: Sixth - Twelfth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Wednesday

Learn about how compost is made, why it is important and how it affects the health and growth of plants.

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Vegas Since the Beginning of Time

Expert: Nathan Harper, Preserve Archaeologist
Intended Audience: Sixth - Twelfth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Monday - Thursday

Nathan will compare and contrast the variety of methods by which geologic time is determined, including radioactive dating. Also, explain the fossil record of ancient life forms by applying the idea of natural selection and its evolutionary consequences.

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Poop Don’t Lie: Looking for COVID-19 in Wastewater

Experts: Dan Gerrity, Principal Research Laboratory Scientist; Katerina Papp, Post Doctoral Researcher
Intended Audience: Ninth - Twelfth Grade
Virtual Visit Availability: Tuesday - Thursday

Learn how COVID-19 can be discovered in wastewater, methods used to get the data needed to help identify where COVID is present and the future of wastewater epidemiology.

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