Seeing
Science Through the Eyes of Faith
Words by Jolene Polyack
On a sunny, breezy day in April, the Sierra Foothill Conservancy opened its gates to the McKenzie Preserve for the general public to explore free of charge. The McKenzie Preserve, located on Auberry Road above Friant Dam, offers a 3+ mile trail that leads hikers to the plateau of Table Mountain. For me, a hike is a hike – usually beautiful and offering breathtaking vista points along the way (otherwise, they wouldn’t be popular trails), but this particular hike was different.
There were amazing sites such as acorn grinding holes (formally called bedrock mortars), wildlife, including an eagle’s nest, fabulous views of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and dried Vernal pools with rings of flowers where the water lines would normally be if this wasn’t a drought year. Yet hiking with Kerry Arroues, Chapter President of the local group Reasons To Believe, and a retired soils scientist, led our group on a most unusual hike. Viewing the landscape around us through his eyes made the entire experience more enhancing. Arroues began with a simulation of what we would see. In a roller pan that he had filled with dirt he created a dry river bed running through it by simply pushing the dirt to the left and right. He mixed water, plaster-of-Paris and black dye to create the look and behavior of lava and poured it down the simulated river bed. The lava flowed through the river bed and in some places outside of the river bed and then hardened. Arroues poured plain water over the entire roller pan to simulate a rain storm and you could see the dirt begin to become unstable and slide down to the base of the river, leaving the “lava flow” as the highest place in the landscape. The hardened lava was much more resistant to weathering than the surrounding areas of granite, which eroded away and left an “inverted landscape” of volcanic rock above the surrounding areas. Sediment from the eroded rocks and soil ended up lower in the landscape illustrating the formation of soils in the San Joaquin Valley. This presentation turned out to be very helpful as we made the ascent to the top of Table Mountain. Erosion of the less-hard granite rock had revealed the smooth river rock from an ancient river that underlies Table Mountain. The hardened lava that had flowed down an ancient stream is now broken into jagged formations. Without him, we would not have realized what we were looking at or how it had gotten there.
A quote from the national Reasons To Believe website explains the goal of the organization , “Across the U.S. and around the world, Reasons To Believe (RTB)consists of scientists and scholars known for integrating science and faith. Using the latest scientific research with solid theology, RTB scholars engage skeptics and equip believers with powerful reasons to believe in the God of the Bible as the Creator and Savior. Each event allows RTB speakers to present aspects of a testable creation model. Popular topics include origin of the universe, the harmony between science and faith, fine-tuning of the universe, creation vs. evolution, and origins of life.”
The RTB Fresno Chapter serves all of Central California. The Fresno Chapter holds several events per year. In 2014 they’re planning a Mono Hot Springs backcountry field trip and stargazing at Glacier Point in Yosemite. While they focus on integrating science with faith, their field trips and events are open to everyone regardless of their science or faith background. There is no pressure or preachy-ness to the events, but they do offer a completely unique experience in a matter-of-fact way to believers and non-believers alike. Most of their events are free.
According to Arroues, "I’ve been a soil scientist for most of my life. The earth provides an undeniable history lesson to those who know what to look for. I am thrilled that I can teach others how even more amazing God’s world is when you see it through the eyes of one who has spent a career experiencing, learning and enjoying it.”
Arroues can be reached at [email protected] or call (559)836-1587. For more information on the McKenzie Preserve visit the Sierra Foothill Conservancy website at www.sierrafoothill.org .
Words by Jolene Polyack
On a sunny, breezy day in April, the Sierra Foothill Conservancy opened its gates to the McKenzie Preserve for the general public to explore free of charge. The McKenzie Preserve, located on Auberry Road above Friant Dam, offers a 3+ mile trail that leads hikers to the plateau of Table Mountain. For me, a hike is a hike – usually beautiful and offering breathtaking vista points along the way (otherwise, they wouldn’t be popular trails), but this particular hike was different.
There were amazing sites such as acorn grinding holes (formally called bedrock mortars), wildlife, including an eagle’s nest, fabulous views of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and dried Vernal pools with rings of flowers where the water lines would normally be if this wasn’t a drought year. Yet hiking with Kerry Arroues, Chapter President of the local group Reasons To Believe, and a retired soils scientist, led our group on a most unusual hike. Viewing the landscape around us through his eyes made the entire experience more enhancing. Arroues began with a simulation of what we would see. In a roller pan that he had filled with dirt he created a dry river bed running through it by simply pushing the dirt to the left and right. He mixed water, plaster-of-Paris and black dye to create the look and behavior of lava and poured it down the simulated river bed. The lava flowed through the river bed and in some places outside of the river bed and then hardened. Arroues poured plain water over the entire roller pan to simulate a rain storm and you could see the dirt begin to become unstable and slide down to the base of the river, leaving the “lava flow” as the highest place in the landscape. The hardened lava was much more resistant to weathering than the surrounding areas of granite, which eroded away and left an “inverted landscape” of volcanic rock above the surrounding areas. Sediment from the eroded rocks and soil ended up lower in the landscape illustrating the formation of soils in the San Joaquin Valley. This presentation turned out to be very helpful as we made the ascent to the top of Table Mountain. Erosion of the less-hard granite rock had revealed the smooth river rock from an ancient river that underlies Table Mountain. The hardened lava that had flowed down an ancient stream is now broken into jagged formations. Without him, we would not have realized what we were looking at or how it had gotten there.
A quote from the national Reasons To Believe website explains the goal of the organization , “Across the U.S. and around the world, Reasons To Believe (RTB)consists of scientists and scholars known for integrating science and faith. Using the latest scientific research with solid theology, RTB scholars engage skeptics and equip believers with powerful reasons to believe in the God of the Bible as the Creator and Savior. Each event allows RTB speakers to present aspects of a testable creation model. Popular topics include origin of the universe, the harmony between science and faith, fine-tuning of the universe, creation vs. evolution, and origins of life.”
The RTB Fresno Chapter serves all of Central California. The Fresno Chapter holds several events per year. In 2014 they’re planning a Mono Hot Springs backcountry field trip and stargazing at Glacier Point in Yosemite. While they focus on integrating science with faith, their field trips and events are open to everyone regardless of their science or faith background. There is no pressure or preachy-ness to the events, but they do offer a completely unique experience in a matter-of-fact way to believers and non-believers alike. Most of their events are free.
According to Arroues, "I’ve been a soil scientist for most of my life. The earth provides an undeniable history lesson to those who know what to look for. I am thrilled that I can teach others how even more amazing God’s world is when you see it through the eyes of one who has spent a career experiencing, learning and enjoying it.”
Arroues can be reached at [email protected] or call (559)836-1587. For more information on the McKenzie Preserve visit the Sierra Foothill Conservancy website at www.sierrafoothill.org .