May 18, 2011

Briar Cliff Students Experience Outdoor Classroom in Arkansas Ozarks

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – A Briar Cliff University environmental science class recently returned from the seventh annual field botany trip to the Arkansas Ozarks’ Upper Buffalo region.

On the study tour, Jordan Watkins, BCU environmental science major from Sioux City, Sarah Hummelgard, BCU biology and secondary education major from Battle Creek, Iowa, and Brian Hazlett, Ph.D., BCU’s director of environmental science and professor of biology, encountered wild flowers in Lost Valley, hiked to Hawksbill Crag and canoed a section of the Buffalo River.

The Buffalo River has more than 300 species of fish, insects, freshwater mussels and aquatic plants. The region also has caves with hidden formations and underground waterways, tall cliffs creating long waterfalls and old pioneer farmsteads, providing forage for elk, deer, turkey and other wildlife.

For more information about Briar Cliff’s environmental science program, please contact Dr. Hazlett at brian.hazlett@briarcliff.edu.

Briar Cliff University is a Catholic institution with an enrollment of more than 1,150 students from 29 states and 11 countries. Students are educated in the Franciscan tradition of excellence in the liberal arts and career preparation in an environment of care, compassion and service. For more information, please visit briarcliff.edu.

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