Welcome to our Palau Ridges-to-Reefs blog, which will follow our Oregon State University group in Palau for the next two weeks! This class is designed to explore natural resources on small islands and how both communities and ecosystems can be resilient with appropriate management approaches. In addition to the students from OSU, we have a number of Palauan students joining us, including five students from Palau Community College. This mixing of students provides great opportunities for peer-to-peer student learning, and the incorporation of the PCC students -who have a great wealth of cultural and ecological knowledge about the nation that they can share- will contribute greatly to the richness of the class. This is hopefully a first step in creating a joint OSU-PCC class in the future!
Each day two students will post a narrative of our adventures, talk about what they’ve learned, and share some videos and photos to round it all out. For our day one blog, Bryan Endress, who organized the course, and Scott Heppell, who is a co-instructor, are taking on the task. We are also joined by Chris Kitalong, a Palauan scientist at the Pacific Academic Institute for Research at PCC. And what a great first day it has been!
Our goals for today were to get students thinking about Palau, its natural resources, and its culture. First of all, who doesn’t love a syllabus review to start the day? You can’t start a class without covering expectations for the class, after all.
Following that rousing activity, we visited the Belau National Museum, where we learned about the several thousand year history of the islands, some of the important cultural features of Palauan society, and a bit about Palau’s recent efforts in conservation. Having the Palauan students along was a fantastic way for the OSU kids to learn more about the various topics than what could be read on the placards
After a quick break for lunch we were headed off for our afternoon activity -a boat ride out to east side of Airai,
Where we got in the water for some snorkeling,
followed by a brief stop on a sandbar exposed at low tide,
and then a short hike up the Yap Money Trail to see a bit of the forest and some really large coins -not the type you’d plan on carrying around in your pocket. Many thanks to Clarence Kitalong for the use of his boat and for serving as captain for the day!
We ended the formal events for the day back at the museum, where we were served traditional Palauan fare including grilled fish, taro, tapioca, dragon fruit, mangrove clams, and other delicacies.
It was a busy day, and it’s just the start of what will hopefully be an amazing two weeks.
We’re sure the students are in their rooms right now, diligently working on their daily journal entries and packing for our trip tomorrow. We’ll be spending the next several days on the north end of Babeldaob in the village of Ollei, where we’ll be hosted by the Ebiil Society. We’re very much looking forward to it! Stay tuned for more adventures (and learning!) to come.
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