Mountain Lake Partnership

Monitoring Mountain Lake 

Mike Sun: Head Environmental Educator - Presidio Trust, introducing Turtle Monitoring 

A 20-minute walk from campus is the only natural freshwater lake in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and one of the last remaining natural lakes in San Francisco. Our long-established partnership with the Presidio Trust Education Team provides our students the opportunity to work alongside field biologists conducting real-time scientific monitoring. As the lake is being restored, Presidio Hill's seventh-graders visit the ecosystem, participate in wetland restoration service, study the carbon footprint of the lake, and most important of all, do real science. 

7th grade students learning to use telemetry devices to track and study the health of newly introduced native western pond turtles. This year we are joining the California Phenology Project, studying the effects of climate change on local native species. These principles of ecology build a foundation for our students to better understand the systems approach to science, the importance of biodiversity, and the interconnectedness between natural and human communities.