|
![]() |
![]() |
Xpedition Journal |
Welcome Letter |
Make a Difference |

A Seasons & Biomes Project
While our Team of Students, Educators and Scientist are climbing the largest freestanding mountain in the world to gather environmental data within the distinct biomes of Kilimanjaro we invite you to take a look at the biomes of the participating schools below.
Click on the Schools below to view a description of their local biome
School |
Teacher / Grade |
Location
|
Country
|
| Artion School | Tina Garst, 5th grade |
Alabama |
USA |
| Barberton High School | Russ Calvert |
Ohio |
USA |
| Cherry Creek Elementary | Jim Kovach |
Lowell, Michigan |
USA |
| Chinook Middle School | Nancy Little |
Seatac, Washington |
USA |
| Christensen Middle School | Regina Brinker |
Livermore, California |
USA |
| Crow Village Sam School | Linda Casassa, 4th-8th grade class |
Chuathbaluk, Alaska |
USA |
| Elsie Collier Elementary | Laniese Howard, grades 3-5 |
Mobile, Alabama |
USA |
| Era Elementary | Leann Spears, 5th grade |
Era, Texas |
USA |
| Fairbanks Alaska Elementary | Leslie Dolan, 6th grade |
Fairbanks, Alaska |
USA |
| Forest Brook Middle School | Esther Dykes, 7th Grade |
Houston, Texas |
USA |
| Fort Concho Elementary | Debbie Lisoski, 3rd grade |
San Angelo, Texas |
USA |
| Fritz karsen schule | Berlin |
Germany |
|
| Goliad Intermediate School | Mrs. Podschelne's |
Goliad, Tx |
USA |
| Gulfport Central Middle School | Susan Lewis |
Gulfport, Mississippi |
USA |
| Happy Valley Elementary School | Steve Seffinger, 3rd grade |
Santa Cruz, California |
USA |
| Innoko River School | Joyanne Hamilton |
Shageluk, Alaska |
USA |
| I.S. 123 | Tabitha Hargrove, 8th grade |
Bronx, NY |
USA |
| Jones Middle School | Larry O’Flynn |
Upper Arlington, OH |
USA |
| Joy School/ Nordale School | Sandra O'Connor Melanie Hinzman |
Fairbanks, Alaska |
USA |
| Kenai Middle School | Allan Miller, 7th grade science |
Kenai, Alaska |
USA |
| Little Angels High School | Gwalior M.P. |
India |
|
| Mount Vernon, TAG | DeAnn Scearce, grades 3-7 |
Mount Vernon, Iowa |
USA |
| Northern Michigan University | Dr. Greg Coverdale |
Marquette, Michigan |
USA |
| Neskowin Valley School | Jackie Farah, NVS Grades 3-4 |
Neskowin Valley, Oregon |
USA |
| Notre Dame School | Maria Lorraine De Ruiz-Alma |
Santo Domingo |
Dominican Republic |
| Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD | Debbie Flores, 5th grade |
Pecos, Texas |
USA |
| Roswell Kent Middle School | Steven Frantz |
Akron, Ohio |
USA |
| Randy Smith Middle School | Mike Geil, 7th grade |
Fairbanks, Alaska |
USA |
| Sekundarschule Schöntalstrasse | Markus / class 1d Sek Uzwil |
Uzwil |
Switzerland |
| Sonoran Science Academy | Mrs. Barb Cushing, 4th & 5th grade |
Tucson, Arizona |
USA |
| Steeple Run Elementary School | Maureen Nolan |
Naperville, Illinois |
USA |
| Suratthani Rajabhat University | Watcharee Ruairuen |
Suratthani, |
Thailand |
| Szkoła Podstawowa | Jolanta Tworek |
Tarnobrzeg |
Poland |
| Tääksi 8 School | Tiiu Ehrenpreis, 9th grade |
Tääksi 8 |
Estonia |
| Trinity Catholic School | Susan W. Haninger |
Columbus, Ohio |
USA |
| United Elementary School | Kathy Whitcomb |
Armagh, Pennsylvania |
USA |
| University of North Texas | David Wojnowski, Ph.D. |
Denton, Texas |
USA |
Mt. Kilimanjaro Biome
|
![]() |
Click on Orbie to learn about the ecological zones on Kilimanjaro |
Click on the Link Above to View a Short Video on Kilimanjaro |
Sonoran Science Academy Elementary School - Tucson, Arizona
Biome Descriptions from Mrs. Cushing’s 4th grade class
Kelynn: Our desert biome is very hot. We get little rain and we have dry land. We have many desert animals such as the Gila Monster, desert lizard, diamondback rattlesnakes, coyotes, scorpions, etc. We have different plants like the Teddy Bear cactus, Saguaro and Sonoran cactus.
Noah: Our desert biome is very hot and dry, but it gets cool during the winter. There are many types of wildlife such as lizards, mountain lions, scorpions, turtles and javalinas. There are lots of plants too, such as saguaros, Palo Verde trees, prickly pear cactus, and barrel cactus. A few animals I didn’t mention are birds like the woodpecker and the hawk. The desert is a very interesting place that I hope to explore more when I am older.
RJ: Our desert biome is hot and dry. We live in the Sonoran Desert. Our animals are coyotes, javalena, tarantulas, scorpions, and many more. Our plants are Giant Saguaros, barrel cactus, ocotillos, etc. Our water sources are few. Our climate is hot and normally reaches above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer months. It gets hot around 8:00am and starts to cool off around 4:00pm.
Hanna: It is very hot here. The desert biome has very little water. Saguaros are very popular here.
Calyssa: Our desert biome is very hot and dry. There are many cacti and lots of animals.
Payson: Our desert biome is very warm, dry, and it does not get a lot of water. Our biome has cacti, some trees, and animals.
Radu: Our biome is a desert in Arizona with saguaros and tortoises and cacti and tarantulas, and very little water.
Nikhil: Our desert biome is very hot and dry. There are lots of mountains and many desert animals in our biome.
Ruturaj: Our desert biome is very hot in the day and cools off at night. We have air conditioning in our homes.
Seth: In our desert biome it is very dry. It is also very hot during the spring, summer and early fall. There is also lots of wildlife and vegetation designed for life in the desert. When we get rains we sometimes have flash floods.
Colin: Our place is very hot during the day and cool at night. We get very little rain, however, we have two rainy seasons in the summer and winter.
Sonny: Our desert biome is hot and dry with a lot of animals and not much precipitation.
Briana: Our desert biome has a dry rocky surface and has lots of desert animals. The desert we live in is the Sonoran Desert and it is very hot.
Lindsey: We have saguaros and coyotes here. It is very hot and there is very little water. Saguaros are very populous here.
Jada: Our desert biome is dry, hot and has little water.
AJ: Our desert biome is very hot in Tucson, Arizona. There are fascinating animals, like snakes, coyotes, Gila Monsters, scorpions, tarantulas, ants, prairie dogs, gophers, bunnies, toads, frogs, owls, doves, woodpeckers, finches, hummingbirds, horny toads, lizards, bats, and many others.
Victoria: Our desert biome is very dry and has little trees. It doesn’t get a lot of rain so it is almost always hot. Our desert has lots of cactus and desert plants. In fact, our desert, the Sonoran Desert, is the only place in the world that has the Sonoran Cactus. The animals that we have are the coyote, jackrabbits, different kinds of lizards, and scorpions.
Calvin: Our desert is very hot. If a Californian comes here, he’ll think our trees are just big bushes. We get very little water.
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Elsie Collier Elementary
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile, Alabama: United States: North American Continent.
Mobile is located in a biome called the Temperate Coniferous Forest. You can find many forests containing pine tress, fir trees, cedar trees, and some broadleaf plants and trees in Mobile and the surrounding areas. We are considered to be in an area that is humid to semi humid year round. We experience mild winters and hot summers, along with periods of heavy rainfall. We are located along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico which provides us with sea breezes and many pop up afternoon thunderstorms. Mobile is also located in an area where Hurricanes and other tropical systems are a concern. These systems can damage man made structures along with our many habitats, wetlands, and other coastal biomes. Our biome provides a unique home to hundreds of species of plants and animals who prefer the temperate climate along a coastal region.
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Neskowin Valley School, Oregon
The NVS Middles (Grades 3-4)
Hello Xpedition members and fellow followers,
We are writing to you from our school on the west coast of Oregon state in the United States. We are in the Central Pacific coastal forest biome. The description of it at the National Geographic website sounds very much like where we live. You can see a picture here: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0510.html
We live where it is green, rainy and wet most of the time. It is cold a lot with a few days of light snow and a little ice in late December and January. We live where there are conifer trees and where there are many animals that are carnivores, such as fox, bear, cougar, and coyote. We also have deer and elk. There are creeks and rivers near us, and we live very close to the Pacific Ocean. We have lots of fish like trout, salmon, tuna, rockfish, and halibut. We have many types of broadleaf plants like vine maple, willow, and wild berries. We have bald eagles, crows, ravens, stellar joys, and sea gulls. We have lots of kinds of salmon: Chinook, Coho, chum, pink, sockeye, and steelhead. There are other ocean fish: plus a lot of shell fish and crab. Most people here eat fish and shell fish often.
You can see a picture of our rural school at our website: neskowinvalleyschool.com. Tim Gordon, who is with you on the Xpedition, is a good friend of our school. He will be visiting with us in person when he returns from Africa.
Good luck on your trip. Have a good time.
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Goliad Intermediate School, Goliad, Tx
Our school is located in Goliad, Tx. We are located in South Texas between Houston and Corpus Christi about 60 miles inland. We are in a Tropical region/Subtropical region. We do have live oak and post oak trees as well as shrublands. There are grasslands but we think this is due to clearing land by farmers and ranchers. Our temperatures range from in the 100"s during the summer to occasionally around freezing in the winters. We normally have high humidity.
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Crow Village Sam School
Chuathbaluk, Alaska
Chuathbaluk is in the Taiga / Boreal forest Biome, on the Kuskokwim River in Southwest Alaska. We are on the edge of the tundra just upriver from the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta.
We are mostly Yupik Eskimos. We subsistence hunt and fish. We go camping on hunting trips. We hunt for moose, bear, wolves, geese, caribou, beavers, ptarmigan, rabbits, ducks, swans, foxes, and porcupines. We use the furs for hats, mukluks (boots), guspuks (Eskimo jackets), mulihuks (hats), and dance hats and fans. We fish for salmon all summer long, and ice fish during the winter. We love to pick berries for akutaq (Eskimo ice cream).
Winter is coming. We had our first frost on August 27th. Our birch trees are turning yellow now. Most of our other trees are spruce. It usually starts snowing in October.
We usually have snow for Halloween, October 31. It gets down to -40 degrees Celsius in the winter. Our river usually freezes in November, and usually breaks up late April to early May.
Winter is our longest season. We love to play in the snow. We make snow angels, snowmen, igloos, tunnels, dens, and snow forts. Our favorite is having monstrous snowball fights in deep snow with our friends and family. We slide down hills, and drag each other on sleds with Honda ATV’s and snowmachines. The ice on our river gets thick enough for us to travel on with snowmachines, trucks, and dog sleds to other places. The most beautiful thing about Chuathbaluk is that we get to see the colors of the northern lights dancing in the sky above our snow-covered mountains.
The Students of Crow Village Sam School,
Chuathbaluk, Alaska
.........Alisson Phillips.....Cynthia Nesbit........Anya Michael........Crimson Phillips
.........Joseph Phillips.....Tori Simeon...........Tierra Wolf.........Agnes Avakumoff
.........Philip Phillips.......Josephine Phillips
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Chinook Middle School in Seatac, Washington
Our latitude and longitude is 47 degrees north and 122 degrees west. Our major biome is temperate coniferous forest. We have a marine climate with cool summers, mild winters and most of the rain in the winter. Some plants in our biome are Red Alder, Bigleaf Maple, Lodgepole Pine, Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, and Western Hemlock. Some birds in our biome are the Common Loon, Western Grebe, Steller’s Jay, Golden Eagle, Burrowing Owls and the American Crow. Some mammals are White-tailed Deer, Gray Wolf, bobcat, Red Fox, and the Orca.
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Class 1d Sek Uzwil, Northeast Switzerland
Brief description of our biome (Northeast Switzerland)
We live in a zone with temperate deciduous forest. From the lowlands to the alpine regions they change into temperate mixed forests and finally, at even higher altitudes, the deciduous trees disappear.
But of course we have a lot of rural, suburban and urban areas because Switzerland is small and most of our population lives in the lowlands between the Alps and the Jura, so there is a high density of population and little natural environment.
As we live about between the pole and the equator and in the interior of our continent we have four seasons with warm summers and sometimes cold winters. When the clouds are dammed up at the Alps we get a lot of rain or snow.
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Steeple Run Elementary School, Naperville, Illinois
We live in Temperate / grasslands biome. However, our weather is directed affected by our area’s proximity to Lake Michigan.
Our school is on the DuPage River watershed, which is part of the Illinois River Watershed. We think our school was named after a creek that used to flow into the DuPage. As with many school properties, ours was probably built on former wetlands. In fact the creek probably went right under our school, as evidenced by the flooding that happens in our parking lot.
Our area has mostly deciduous trees; the native ones we treasure the most are the oaks. This area was probably an oak savanna because there are still quite a few native oaks in the area. We are located very close to the world famous Morton Arboretum, which has established a goal to recreate some of the oak savannas (by burning underbrush) and have created a beautiful tall grass prairie.
The prairie has all but disappeared from Illinois ( named, the Prairie State!)
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Randy Smith Middle School
Fairbanks, Alaska
In the Fairbanks area there is mostly taiga (Fairbanks is surrounded by the Boreal forest). Dominant tree types include white and black spruce, tamarack, Alaska paper birch, quaking aspen and balsam poplar. Larger shrubs include alder and numerous species of willow. Common low shrubs in the boreal forest include wild rose, Labrador tea, highbush cranberry, and low bush cranberry. In higher elevations there is mostly tundra with lots of ground cover such as: high and low bush cranberries, Labrador tea, dwarf birch, blueberries, crowberries, cloudberries, and multiple types of lichen and moss.
Fairbanks is located at 64 degrees North latitude and 147 degrees West longitude. We have an interior, sub-arctic climate. Which means we have warm, short summers with temperatures ranging from 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) and long, cold winters with temperatures reaching minus 65 degrees Fahrenheit (-53 degrees Celsius). Our average January temperature is minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 degrees Celsius). Hours of daylight vary greatly throughout the year. The longest days come around the summer solstice, June 21st. On the solstice Fairbanks receives just over 21 hours of daylight. While on the winter solstice, December 21st, we receive just over 3 hours of daylight. We are in a semi-arid region averaging just over 10 inches (25 centimeters) of precipitation per year. Our average snowfall is 65 inches (165 centimeters). Snowfalls are generally light and powdery.
Fairbanks is surrounded on three sides by hills. Much of the top layer of soil is wind-blown silt called loess. We are located in an area of discontinuous permafrost which means that some area have permafrost and some don't. By definition permafrost is any ground that has been continually frozen for two or more years. Permafrost around Fairbanks may be only a few feet (90 centimeters) thick to up to 200 feet (61 meters) thick.
Some of the animals that live around Fairbanks include the following: black bear, grizzly bear, moose, wolves, lynx, snowshoe hares, porcupine, shrews, voles, red fox, red squirrel, weasels, black-capped chickadees, raven, bald eagles, boreal chickadee, junco, ptarmigan, grouse, martin, mink, river otter, beaver, muskrat, and arctic ground squirrels. These are a few of the animals that live around Fairbanks. We sometimes see moose in our yards and on the road. Shrews get our garages and cats bring in voles from outside. Red squirrels live in the trees around our homes and black-capped chickadees visit our bird feeders throughout the year. Red fox often cross our path on the way to school. We are lucky to live in an area with so much wildlife.
For those interested in finding out more information about the trees around Fairbanks, here is some more information:
..............Paper Birch –
Common names: white birch, canoe birch, silver birch
Genus and species: Betula papyrifera
White Spruce –
Common names: Canada spruce, cat spruce, single spruce
Genus and species: Picea glauca
Tamarack –
Common names: Alaska larch, larch, hackmatack
Genus and species: Larix laricina
Black Spruce –
Common names: bog spruce, swamp spruce
Genus and species: Picea mariana
Quaking Aspen –
Common names: trembling aspen, popple, squastongue
Genus and species: Populus tremuloides
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Our Biome is Temperate with precipitation from every other day to once a week at N 41 degrees 01'991" and W 081 degrees 36'191" and 981ft elevation near the Great Lakes. We have analyzed our wetland soil and water for nitrates, phosphates, potassium, pH, and dissolved oxygen.
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Trinity Catholic School, Columbus, Ohio
Ohio Biome-Deciduous Forest
In Ohio our animals are birds, deer, foxes, raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, turtles, skunks and opossums. Our climate has four seasons. It is cold in winter, warm in spring, hot in summer and cool in the fall. Our plants include flowers, bushes, trees and grass. Some non-living materials in our biome are rocks, dirt and water. An interesting fact about our biome is that tree leaves change color and fall off in the fall.
Written by Jessie, Trinity Catholic School Fourth Grader
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
We live in Bronx, NY and it is very city like with lots of tall buildings and few trees, shrubs, and grass. A lot of our trees have been planted around the school in select areas and they are either pine or a variation of maple trees. Our soil around the school is mostly silt soil but there are areas with equal amounts of clay and sand soil along with the silt soil. (This is what we tested and experimented last year using the GLOBE lessons.) We live in a Urban/Suburban (dense settlement).
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Surat Thani Province, Thailand
We are come from Surat Thani province where is located at the southern part of Thailand. Geographically the center of the province is the coastal plain of the Tapi river, mostly grassland interchanged with rubber tree and coconut plantings. In the west are limestone mountains and mostly covered with tropical rain forests. To the east also have the hills of the mountain. There are high rainfall and the tree is extending from 50 to 80 meters above the forest floor. Their also have a lot of organic matter that falls to the forest floor, plenty of nutrient and mineral for trees and animal. There are high biodiversity of the living things. There are many islands in the Gulf of Thailand belong to the district, including the tourist islandsKo Samui, Ko-Pha-ngan, as well as the Ko Ang Thong marine national park. Then we have Mangrove forest on the sea side as well.
Temperature has ranging between 22 -35 degree celcius. We do not have winter season. We will get low temperature when there are clouded or the rain fall for a long time or in some area which highly area it result to get temperature below than 22 degree celcius.
In fact, students have more questions I will send it to you later.
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Notre Dame School - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo City In the Dominican Republic is an urban biome in a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (tropical and subtropical, humid). The average temperature is 34 degrees Celsius, the most frequent clouds are cumulus and nimbo cumulus, the soil has a lot of sand and clay, the "Roca Caliza" (Lime Stone) is found every where, specially when they are building towers our students stop by and collect some samples. The troposphere ozone average is 43 parts per million, around the city there are lots of Sweietenia Mahagony trees and at the beach that faces the Caribbean Sea the "Palma Real" is everywhere. Two years ago we noticed that our average temperature raised 1.3 grades Celsious and the low temperature season is longer it usually ended in February and now it goes till March. The Mahogany trees also experience the green up season at the end of March and not in January or February as it was the normal pattern.
![]()
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Szkoła Podstawowa nr 10 - Tarnobrzeg, Poland
Our school is set in the middle of a town with the population of about 50 000.
Our town is in the south-easter part of Poland on the bank of the longest Polish river- Vistula. Although our climate has four seasons we can notice that summers have been hotter and winters milder for the last few years. In the neighbourhood of the town there are deciduos forests with: oaks, birches, maples, rowans and same spruces and pines. In the forests you can meet foxes, deers, hedgehoges, wild boars, lizards and grass-snakes. Temperatures range from 35 to -20 centigrade. More and more often we experience severe storms and winds. The soil is mostly sand and clay soil.
![]()
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Christensen Middle School - Livermore, California
We are in Livermore, California. The San Francisco bay area is experiencing an
unseasonal heat wave. We may get to 103 F on Tuesday. Seeing pictures of the Kilimanjaro glaciers was a cooling site!
Our area's overall habitats are oak woodland and chaparral. However, the soil near our school is highly alkaline. The Springtown Nature Preserve boarders our school's neighborhood. Several rare and listed plants and animals are found there, including the Livermore tar plant, downingea, salt bush, and bird's beak, the red legged frog and fairy shrimp.
![]()
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Happy Valley Elementary School - Santa Cruz, California
Happy Valley Elementary School is located in a rural area 3 miles east of Santa Cruz, California. We are in the Santa Cruz Mountains and enjoy a variety of animal and plant life. Trees include redwoods, fir, pine, maple, and several planted fruit trees. We have a wide variety of birds as well. They include crows, red tailed hawks, finches, herons, quail, and blue jays. The animal life includes lizards, snakes, spiders, squirrels, gophers, coyotes, deer, bobcats, and stray cats. There used to be salmon in Branciforte Creek which runs through our school, but they have not been seen in quite a few years.
Our weather is considered Mediterranean and is quite mild. Rainfall averages around 100 cm per year with a temperature range from -2 degrees C to 39 degrees C.
![]()
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Roswell Kent Middle School - Akron, Ohio
We have four seasons throughout the year. During the winter it is cold, warm
and rainy in the spring, hot and dry in the summer, and cool in the fall.
This makes our biome temperate and also deciuous becacuse our trees loose
their leaves during the fall and winter. Our soil is low lime glacial drift
Wisconsinian age. Our coordinates are north 41.03781, west 081.50113 and our
elevation is 337m.
![]()
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Forest Brook Middle School - Houston, Texas
Houston is in the Gulf Coastal Plains Biome and its vegetation is temperate grassland. Much of the city is built on forestland, marshes,swamps or prairies. Surrounding areas still exhibit these features. Much of Houston is flat, making flooding a recurring problem. It stands about 50 feet above sea level. The city once relied on groundwater for its needs, but land subsidence forced the city to turn to ground level sources such as, Lake Houston. Houston has four major Bayous passing through the city. Bufalo Bayou,which runs into downtown and the Houston Ship Channel; and three of its tributaries: Brays Bayou runs along the Texas Medical Center; White Oak Bayou runs through the Heights and near northwest area Sims Bayou runs through the Southof Houston and downtown Houston. The Ship Channel goes past Galveston and into the Gulf of Mexico.
We have mild winters and hot summers.
![]()
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Joy Middle School - Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Local biome: boreal forest
![]()
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Mount Vernon, TAG School - Mount Vernon, Iowa, USA
Mount Vernon is located in East Central Iowa in the Temperate Grassland Biome. We experience all of the seasons and have cold winters and warm summers. However, the weather has not been typical lately. The last two years we have experienced a lot of rain which led to severe flooding and our summer was a lot colder this year than normal. In addition, our winter two years ago we had a record amount of snow and last year we didn't have as much snow but extrememly cold temperatures.
The average high temperatures range from -1C in December to 31C in July. The average lows range from -10 in December to 21C in July. We average about 33 inches of rain a year.
Although we are in the grassland biome there is not much native prarie land left. We have very fertile farmland and raise a lot of corn and soybeans. We also have eciduous and Coniferous trees.
Some animals in our biome include squirrels, rabbits, opposums, skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyote, and deer.
![]()
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools
Innoko River School, Shageluk, Alaska, USA
1. Sometimes we get a lot of rain during the fall where we live—Destiny Workman. A lot of our weather comes in from the Aleutians.
2. It can get windy in the fall
3. We have deciduous trees, lots of snow, short, tall thick trees, we always see moose around. We have birch, cotton, willow, alder, aspen (deciduous trees), black/white spruce, tamarak, coniferous trees.
4. Tundra and forest, we are a mixed biome/tundra and needle-leaf forest in a Boreal Forest.
5. We know two languages—English/Deg Hitan, language Deg Xinag.
6. We Native Dance after the river is frozen. We live a subsistence lifestyle, living off the land. Fish, moose, beaver, bear, grouse, porcupine, swans (don’t eat Marten, wolves etc).
7. We do not live in igloos. We live in regular houses, colored houses. Some are frame, plywood and some are log. We ride snowmachines to school and to work with, we like to walk around or go sliding, snowboarding, skiing on our hills. In the summer we fish for salmon, our winter eats, and go swimming on hot days.
6. We like to hunt grouse in the fall.
9. We build a fall Fish fence after the ice freezes on the river: very traditional, girls can’t walk on the ice, we also can’t make it so perfect so all the fish can’t go through, got to save the fish for next year.
10. We enjoy these part of the culture.
11.Seems to be less snow than about 10-years (but we had a lot of snow last year) There used to be so much snow that the snow covered the doorway, it was much colder, -70. The sky was much darker
12. Spirit (culture) Camp: We have one every fall, we go hunting and do activities that our Tribal Council puts together, we go hunting, camping and for fun, make sand castles. The Council plans activities for the youth. It’s called Spirit Camp because they tell old stories, learn the old ways that they used to do. We go fishing at this camp. We also went to get birch bark for baskets. We also went berry picking. We gather punk (burn it and the mosquitoes go away!), and dry wood for our camp fire.
![]()
Click on Orbie to return
to the List of Schools



