Spring time  in Pacific Valley is nothing less than spectacular.

Pacific Valley students traveled to local gardens this week to visit with master gardeners and observe garden plans and management. The first site visited was the garden at Treebones Resort on the south coast of Big Sur. Treebones gardener, Katie, showed students the composting rotation and explained the garden site was selected becsuse of it provided a warm micro climate for good plant growth. The garden is all organic and designed by Cindalee Bidwell.

Big Sur Unified School District, formerly Pacific Unified School District, recently changed it’s name to Big Sur Unified School District. Local residents felt the new name better described the universal nature of the district’s geographical location. The California Department Of Education formally accepted the name change this week. So it’s now official. The Big Sur Unified School Dustrict
includes Pacific Valley School and Big Sur Charter Independent Study School. Both schools are located on the Big Sur Coast and cover both ends of the 78 mile stretch of scenic coastal lands.

Pacific Valley High School and Middle School students are preparing for their salmon fishing field trip scheduled for Tuesday, May 29th.  Since students and chaperones have to leave Pacific Valley at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday to reach the salmon boat in Monterey Bay by 4:30 a.m., they plan to have a sleep over at Pacific Valley on Monday, May 28th.  Students are to arrive at Pacific Valley Campus by 7 p.m. on Monday, May 28th with sleeping bags, healthy snacks and warm clothing for the fishing trip.  Students will enjoy campfire songs and tales before retiring at 9 p.m. in order to get a few hours sleep before their early morning revelee.  Art and Science Teacher, David Allan, better known as Captain Lingcod, will supervise the trip with two hearty dads who have agreed to chaperone.

Students requested the trip as part of their citizen scientist program established this year. Students have published a Pacific Valley  Field Guide of local  wildlife, flora and fauna. They have also monitored the overwintering monarch butterfly population, posted sightings of the rare local endangered Smith’s Blue butterfly and assisted in the establishement of the Big Sur Unified’s Earth Day Hike for Health. Students are also gearing up to establish a pollinator’s preserve for local pollinators. Pacific Valley School is located in the Los Padres National Forest nesteled between the Santa Lucia Mountains and Pacific Ocean.  The campus is a haven for a variety of natural environments.  It sports a stand of coastal redwoods, a five acre spread of coastal flatlands next to the rocky cliffs of the Pacific Ocean.