Have you ever wondered about the accuracy of the educational software that your children are using? One of the things that made MECC so good at what they did and made them so widely used in nearly every corner of the educational world is the fact that the software was based on facts. This means, real world, hard facts that are available to everyone who researches this aspects of the particular title.
No where is this more evident than in the title, Odell Lake. Even today, the details of the ecosystems described in the Odell Lake manual are nearly identical to the real world state of the lake today.
Odell Lake is a mountain lake near Willamette Pass in Oregon. The lake itself is one of absolute regal beauty and is a hot spot for summer travelers and water sports fans.
The lake started out as a point on the Oregon Central Military Road (Now Oregon State Route 58) and is named after the Oregon Surveyor General, William Holman Odell who initially surveyed the lake. This lake is a classic Glacial lake and is the home of a number of species of fish including the endangered “Bull Trout”, as specified by the US Forestry Service.
In the game Odell Lake, you play the game as a particular fish, one of the six main species, including, Blueback Salmon, Shut, Dolly Varden, Mackinaw Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Whitefish. The idea that the predator / prey type educational game could be used to educate the kids on the the delicate balance between the different species of fish is one which is not only key to understanding the environment but also is a lesson that the kids carry into their own adulthoods and remember with fondness as they see some of the places described in the games.
This ecosystem is very important in a lake such as Odell Lake, where the entire size of the lake, 1/2 mile wide by 6 Miles long, does not lend itself easily to the upsetting of the balance. Thus is the plight of the Bull Trout in the lake these days. The cold water environment of the lake means that there is a natural habitat for those fist in the lake and the surrounding forest is one which provides additional supplemental nutrients to the lake.
If you notice that we do not talk about the Dolly Varden in this article outside of the details of the game. That is due in part to the Dolly Varden in the lake being re-classified as the Bull Trout. They are actually their own species at this point, Salmonidae Confluentus.
For more information, or to play the Odell Lake game, check it out at:
