Our learn by doing approach addresses the needs of all learners regardless of individual learning styles. Our small group format encourages investigation, providing opportunities for critical thinking and collaboration. Group discussions join local issues to Chesapeake Bay goals, with a focus on understanding the links between land and water.

Merrimac Farm Wildlife Management Area provides the real-life examples we need to relate information from our classroom maps and textbooks to our day to day lives. By the end of the day, everyone has tales to tell and understands more about why the quality of our local watersheds is important for people and wildlife.

This program directly supports Virginia's commitment as a signatory partner of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement to provide every student with an outdoor field experience in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

In addition, our program complements and supports the Virginia Science Standards of Learning for Grades Four, Six and Seven. More than 16,000 students, teachers and parents have benefited from this program since 1998.

Field Study Stations

The program begins around 9:30 a.m., when students clamber out of big yellow school buses at the Refuge, one of Prince William’s remaining “wild” areas.”

Maybe it’s the sudden exposure to wide open spaces, but only a few students can define a watershed when they arrive. As they walk to their starting station, youth learn that they are at the confluence of the Occoquan River and Potomac River, where waters that drain from from everywhere in Prince William begin their journey to the Chesapeake Bay.

All stations use the Refuge as a guide to help youth understand the term watershed describes an area of land that drains downslope to the lowest point, where surface and ground water move through a network of tributaries. In Prince William, all waters flow to the Potomac River and then on to the Chesapeake Bay.

During the Field Study, youth, teachers and parent chaperones have the opportunity to go birding with binoculars, catch aquatic critters with dip nets and use field microscopes to view specimens. Most youth have never had the opportunity to hold a frog or see an osprey through binoculars. Some begin with misgivings, others dive right in. Before the end of the day even cautious beginners are engaged and often turn out to be excellent frog catchers.

The Chesapeake Bay Field Study Program provides youth with the real-life examples they need to relate information from classroom maps and textbooks to their own backyard. By the end of the day, everyone has made some exciting discoveries and understands more about why the quality of our local watersheds is important for people and wildlife.