Urban Tree Planting

2021, Sacramento, CA, USA

Anh Nguyen and Nicholas Vang, students in Grant High School’s GEO academy, are concerned about climate change. They live in a highly urbanized area, with little natural vegetation, and therefore wanted to add elements to the landscape that might help minimize the effects of climate change. They did some research and learned that doubling Sacramento’s urban tree canopy has the potential to remove thousands of tons of Carbon dioxide annually. The students decided to plant trees in their community, as they would absorb CO2, provide shade, and help reduce the heat-island effect. As they were choosing different species to plant, they decided to also include apple trees that would provide fresh fruit to residents as well as habitat and nectar for pollinators. The students also planned to reach out to the diverse cultural groups that they are connected to (Hmong, Lao, Vietnamese) to make information about tree planting and watershed benefits accessible, even to those who do not speak English.

Pollinator Patch Project

2021, Sacramento, CA, USA

Grant High School students, Andrea Sanchez, Janeth Guerrero, and Santiago Garcia, proposed the “pollinator patch” project, a garden at school in which specific plant species would attract pollinators and also be utilized by students in the Horticulture class. Thus, the patch would serve as prime habitat, but also an educational space for students in the GEO Academy where students could learn to identify species, as well as techniques for planting, harvesting, and bouquet design. The students also created a website that describes the plants, the pollinator species that would visit them, and horticultural processes. Their fellow students that had returned to campus, Bryant Vang, Daniella Rodriguez, and Fernando Montez, helped to plant and water the garden.

Grant High School Garden Tour

2020, Sacramento, CA, USA

Students from Grant High School’s GEO Academy organized and led educational field trips for elementary students to explore and study in the school’s garden. Activities included seed and plant anatomy and adaptations, compost and soil food web investigations, and a “Nutrition Scavenger Hunt”’ of plants and their vitamins. Students also transplanted, harvested, and tasted vegetables, while learning about food safety practices. Caring for Our Watersheds funding helped bring 100 elementary students from 2 schools to have this awesome hands-on experience.

Forest High School Coop Project

2021, Foresthill, CA, USA

In order to help teach sustainable agricultural practices to students in Ag Biology, Farm to Fork classes, and the FFA club at Foresthill High School, students Heidi Lysen and David Reinhart worked together to plan and build a chicken coop and enclosure as part of their school garden. The chickens will provide natural pest control for the garden and provide manure to compost and enrich the soil. Heidi and David are grateful for the friends, family, and Caring for Our Watersheds funding that helped them accomplish this project for their school.

Community Thrift Event

2021, Cincinnati, OH, USA

From the beginning, Stefanie and Caitlin knew the harmful effects of fast fashion on
the Millcreek watershed were what they wanted to address. From clothing waste in landfills,
dyes polluting our waterways, and water waste, this is a very important issue to tackle. Their
initial plan was to put on a “Community Thrifting Event.” They had planned on going to
collect clothes, repair old ones, rent out space, and hold an in-person event. However, Covid
numbers in their area just weren’t low enough where they felt comfortable putting on this
event.

Instead of putting on one event for people to thrift, they decided to focus on teaching people the importance of thrifting continuously. They presented a video to six science classes in our school, as well as sharing it with their local community through youtube. They also created a Kahoot to quiz the classes after the video, fostering a class discussion around the effects of fast fashion and thrifting. The winners of the kahoot each won a reusable tote bag to hopefully take with them on their future thrifting endeavors!

They also created a thrifting guide, for secondhand spots in the Cincinnati area, with information regarding prices and available items. Using a QR code, we passed out these thrifting guides in the form of a business card, making it an accessible and easy
way to get into thrifting.

Go To Bat For Our Watershed

2021, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Located in Southwestern Ohio, the Mill Creek Watershed has suffered greatly due to pollution over the past 100 years. Named “the most endangered urban river in North America” and “one of the most severely polluted and physically degraded urban streams in the United States,” primarily caused by non-point source (NPS) pollution (including lawn chemicals and pesticides), the Mill Creek needs help.

Mark Keller and Owen Vickers, students at Wyoming High School put together a proposal to help save the Mill Creek Watershed. In their proposal, they made an argument that creating habitats where bats can thrive may be the answer to enhancing the health of the watershed. With a flourishing bat population that can eat thousands of insects a night, they suggest that pesticide use and pollution caused by runoff into the watershed can be greatly reduced.

Their proposal, Go 2 Bat for Our Watershed, included developing an educational program that will help improve the reputation of bats as an important and useful member of our ecosystem, education of people about the benefits bats provide, and providing resources for people to encourage bat habitats in their yards and gardens. The campaign included creating a website (go2bat.org), development of promotional materials, including posters and flyers which were distributed at the Wyoming schools, social media (Twitter and Facebook) and school blog posts. They also raffled off 10 bat houses among those who registered on their website with their email addresses, to further promote the use of bat houses and increase traffic to their website. The website received 182 unique visitors within the first 20 days of the campaign, with 26 users signing up for the bat house promotion. Although their campaign primarily targeted the community of Wyoming, Ohio, they made recommendations for additional promotional opportunities to raise awareness among a larger audience and other communities, making an even bigger impact to help save the Mill Creek Watershed.

Increasing Cleveland’s Depleted Tree Canopy

2021, Cleveland, OH, USA

The project is titled Increasing Cleveland’s Depleted Tree Canopy, which has massively decreased over the last eighty years. Ehthyu and Emeraude decided to focus on trees because they create a safe environment and help reduce stormwat er runoff by absorbing pollutants from their roots, which helps keep pollution from getting into the Lake Erie Watershed. Trees provide oxygen, habitat to the wildlife, and benefit our environment in so many ways. Increasing the number of trees in our community and spreading awareness about the importance of trees in our environment was the number one goal of this project.

Ehthyu and Emeraude developed three original virtual lessons about trees and their importance in our environment and taught them to local fifth graders over a week in April. The students were given brochures, which contained more information on trees and how to plant them so that the students can have more knowledge on trees and know how important they are to the environment. Each student was also provided a red oak seedling, so that they also can contribute to this act of increasing the Cleveland’s tree canopy by planting trees. Each of the seedlings came with a brochure so they will know how to take care of their trees, until they will grow and reach full maturity. The students were engaged in the lessons as they were taught and seemed to be interested to know how much trees can help create a healthier environment.

Eastern white pine seedlings were also distributed that were received from the Project Plantit! Program through Dominion Gas to community members directly and through a local organization called the Bellarie-Puritas Development Corporation, along with the brochures to spread the word and encourage people to start planting. The rest of the seedlings were distributed to as many people as possible with brochures. Three trees were also planted on the John Marshall High School campus grounds. They were mulched and watered afterwards so they can thrive, and they will be maintained, and the growth of the trees will be monitored throughout the years. Through this project, Ehthyu and Emeraude had the opportunity to educate people through the lessons they developed and the brochures they designed and produced. They spread the word about the importance of trees, how trees can benefit the environment, and how trees keep the watershed clean. It was a great and fun project that was enjoyed by all. Ehthyu and Emeraude are grateful for the funding and this opportunity.

Lighting Our Way to a Greener Future

2021, Cincinnati, OH, USA

The project “Lighting Our Way to a Greener Future” is all about energy conservation. The concern was that the sidewalks and landscaping around Mount Notre Dame High School weren’t well lit, and the school was planning on placing new lights. This group decided to place solar powered lights around the school instead of a standard light, which emits harmful emissions into the environment.

The first step was finding a light that works. Two lights were ordered, and after careful consideration and testing, as well as price comparison, NekTek Solar Powered Lights were chosen. A map was filled out of where lights were needed, and it was decided that a total of 60 lights would be ordered. After ordering the lights, they were put together and registered for a one-year warranty. Using the help of the maintenance crew and Earth Action Team at MND, the lights were placed around the school. In the next several days, the lights were observed, and changes were made based on positioning and exposure to sunlight.

Posters were also created to help spread awareness about the project, as well as encourage MND students that this is something they could easily do at home. This project demonstrated how caring for our watershed can be simple. There are steps that everyone can do in their lives to help. Overall, placing the lights helped reduce the amount of energy used at Mount Notre Dame. This project tackled several Sustainable Development Goals and successfully cared for our watershed.

Let’s Catch the Rain

2021, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Morgan and Allison worked to reduce non-point source pollution and combined sewer overflow while promoting water conservation by adding rain barrels to a local elementary school and their community garden. At Vermont Elementary School they added two fifty-gallon rain barrels, and the elementary school kids are able to use the recycled water to water their school garden. In addition, Morgan and Allison taught a lesson to the students about the importance of saving water and the effects of runoff. The rain barrels they installed are painted with designs picked out by the fourth graders themselves to add a fun touch (they chose fish and raindrops with the Wyoming School District logo!). They got a group of volunteers to come and help them paint the rain barrels, and using the new research and innovation center at their high school, they made templates of the fish and Wyoming logos to assist them in painting.

At the community garden Morgan and Allison first added a gutter system to the pre-existing shed to collect water. Then they connected to two fifty-gallon rain barrels to the downspout to divert the rainwater. Gardeners are able to help conserve water and reduce runoff by using the recycled water when watering their plants.

To better spread the word about their project, water conservation, and the impacts of surface runoff, they created posts on the school Instagram page and a community Facebook group. Additionally, they created a sign placed next to the rain barrels at the elementary school so curious students and parents can learn more. Lastly, they created a website that can be reached through the QR code on the sign and through links on the social media posts. The website includes information on the Mill Creek Watershed, information about water conservation, tutorials on how to install rain barrels with links to the products, and a description about their projects.

Informative Watershed Video Game

2021, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Chinemerem, a student at Miles Macdonell Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba, wanted to create a fun and interactive way to learn about his watershed. He decided to create a video game to help educate students about the Lake Winnipeg Watershed.

“Throughout this journey, I have learned a lot about watersheds, done plenty of research as to what makes a great game, and have remolded my original idea into what it is today.”