Nancy Hadlock has plenty of volunteers eager to help her catch bugs. Sun Diata and Emiliano Martorell successfully locate a specimen into the kill jar. "I have no idea what that is. That's why we're doing a study," Ranger Jay Snow, at right, advises students Jay and Samuel Kim. At 4,000 feet of elevation temperatures were cooler and teams worked around dramatic rock formations. Fourth grader Eddie Moon is through the looking glass and into the world of Death Valley National Park rangers. Death Valley ROCKS' new trailer can carry the necessities for up to 70 students. Photos by CHRISSY OHLINGER / Special to PVT Advertisement

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. -- Death Valley National Park needed 40 bug catchers in a hurry for a study they were doing in the park. They were in a real pinch, so they called in the experts.

April 2, 38 fourth graders from Los Angeles, Calif., came to the park as participants in a new program called "Death Valley ROCKS," an acronym for Recreation Outdoors Campaign for Kids through Study.

DV ROCKS is designed to help inner city kids who would otherwise not have an opportunity to experience wilderness areas.

JT Reynolds, park superintendent, believes "It is important for the National Park Service and Death Valley because this is one of our core missions; to ensure that our park is relevant to all Americans."

By giving kids a personal experience in the park and helping take care of it, Nancy Hadlock, education specialist, hopes to establish caring for wilderness areas as vital in the student's lives.

"This is real science. They know they are really truly contributing. It makes them better stewards of the park," said Hadlock.

"The outdoors is a very good classroom. We believe it is better than a sterile classroom. If we invite teachers and students to work with us, we get a very good learning product," said Reynolds.

The fourth graders camped out at Furnace Creek Wednesday night. Early Thursday they boarded a bus to go to Stovepipe Wells and broke into three teams to go to different elevations to collect bugs. The first group stayed at Stovepipe Wells at zero feet.

The other groups continued down the road just a few miles and took sites at 3,000 and 4,000 feet. They caught spiders, ants, centipedes, caterpillars and beetles.

The invertebrates give rangers an idea of what new kinds of insects might be living in the area. Studies like this can reveal entirely new species, according to Ranger Jay Snow. A new species of ant was found recently in the park that had never been found before in California.

The kids needed little prodding.

They looked under rocks and shook bugs out of bushes. They divided into four-member work crews. Each had a shaker who used a black garbage bag to shake the bushes, a writer who took notes, a sucker-upper who sucked the little critters up into a jar, and a collector who held onto the kill jar.

Being a sucker-upper was by far the most popular job, but it took a little practice. Sun Diat discovered the drawback of his position immediately.

"Yeah, we got our first specimen ... Pfft!" he said. "And dirt in my mouth."

Snow stressed the importance of taking meticulous notes and following procedures exactly. The data collected would be of no use otherwise. Time, date, weather conditions, elevation, and location of each specimen were critical to collecting useful data.

Putting the bugs into the alcohol kill jar was necessary. If left alive they would eat each other, and one fat centipede at the end of the day wouldn't help the rangers with their study.

Snow also stressed how the kids' contributions were a legitimate scientific study and would be analyzed to help the park.

"We may be finding new species. It is exciting work. It is serious work. You will help generations to come," he said. "You are explorers."

After coordinating the trip with Hancock Park Elementary School teachers Wendy Gorton and Tiffany Wong, Hadlock, Snow and seasonal employee Holly Mills visited the school the week before the trip.

The Death Valley ambassadors took workbooks, showed a Power Point presentation, sang Death Valley songs and explained the project that they would work on. By learning about place and history, the kids could better appreciate the unique desert environment and importance of preserving Death Valley.

Before arriving, the kids were asked to make a triangle out of their index fingers and thumbs and count how many stars they could see in that area. They found anywhere between zero and seven stars. The first night in Death Valley the kids were asked to repeat the experiment. They found up to 90 stars in the same triangle of their fingers.

"It's really pretty. I like to see all of the stars," said fourth-grader Emily Sterns. "During the night I heard a coyote howl and the wind made the tent move a little. I got creeped out and then I got over it."

The kids were able to experience a desert starry night in part because of the support they received. The park supplied staff for the events and bought the equipment necessary for up to 70 kids to camp, including tents and a trailer used to transport and house the equipment.

Everybody got to keep the sleeping bag as a souvenir. These running expenses could not be covered in the park's budget.

Fundraising specialist Candace Lieber at the Death Valley Natural History Association found a way to fund Death Valley ROCKS running expenses by partnering with Kettle Potato Chips.

Kettle's new flavor of potato chip was voted to be Death Valley Chipotle and will be available this spring in stores. Kettle Foods will donate $1 to the DV ROCKS program for every Facebook user who downloads a Death Valley temperature gauge.

The first 10 who report to Kettle Foods the Death Valley temperature over 120 degrees will win free potato chips for a year.

Local Pahrump residents can help share their love of the desert and Death Valley with kids by supporting the Death Valley ROCKS program.

Facebook users can go to www.kettlefoods.com or individuals can make a donation to support the program by contacting Candace Lieber at 775-537-6743 ext. 208 for deposit information.