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.

A Day in the Life of Netly-Libau Marsh – A Documentary

2021, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Xavier Schneider, a student at Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School, wanted to create an educational resource to teach Manitoba students about the importance of the Netley-Libau marsh that borders Lake Winnipeg. He decided to create a documentary to not only educate people, but to take them there on a virtual “visit”, as well. This resource can be used by students, teachers, and anyone who wishes to learn more about the importance that this vast wetland holds for the Lake Winnipeg watershed.

“Located at the mouth of the Red River and the south end of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, Netly-Libau Marsh is one of the largest and most important coastal wetlands in North America. This is its story.”

COURTYARD REVITALIZATION AND SCHOOL GARDEN

2020, VEGERVILLE, ALBERTA, CANADA
Revitalization
A woman by the name of Margaret Fuller once said “if you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it,” and this sentiment is exactly what inspired the Vegerville Composite High School’s Environmental Club to spring to action when they realized some green spaces on campus were being underutilized.

After taking inspiration from other high schools across Alberta that utilize school-community gardens for student education, Ava, Hailey, Ryan, and Aaron took charge on creating a plan to transform an existing campus courtyard area into a space to enjoy nature and grow food. Not only do the upgrades include ground work; with the combined funding from the Caring For Our Watersheds contest and other sponsors, the club is excited to start construction on an atrium to enclose the area to allow students to enjoy it over the cold Alberta winters!

Not only will the space be a beautiful reminder to take pause and enjoy the watershed we live in, but the addition of a garden will provide agricultural learning opportunities for students- valuable skills for a sustainable future. The Vegerville Composite High School Environmental Club has truly demonstrated how they care for their watershed with this long-term project that will allow students to discover and connect to the natural world for years to come.

Watershed-Themed Children’s Book

2019, West Sacramento, California, USA

River City High School student Sonya Shifrin has a passion for the environment and the arts. For her Caring for Our Watersheds project, she chose to combine her artistic talents and her enthusiasm for natural resource stewardship to create a watershed-themed book for children.

Sonya, who was a finalist in the 2018 Caring for Our Watersheds competition, created watercolor illustrations for each page of her book, which introduces watershed concepts and encourages students to care for their local watershed with examples of what they can do in their daily lives to make a difference. With funding from Nutrien, Sonya was able to print copies of her book and donate them to each of the elementary school libraries in the Washington Unified School District.

watershed childrens book example

Watershed Science Trip

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

Watershed Science Trip Student Photo

MET Sacramento student Simon Downes-Toney knows how a field trip can solidify and enhance classroom learning about watershed issues and also get students excited about science. As this was one of the largest snow-years on record, it presented an excellent opportunity to learn about the snowpack that is critical to California’s water supply.

Measuring snow depth and density at levels in the snowpit

Simon organized a trip to Claire Tappan Lodge, where students measured snow temperature and density at different levels within the snowpack, snow purity at different field locations, and graphed and analyzed their data. Simon’s proposal and funding from Nutrien allowed for more students to attend the trip and learn about how scientists track, study, and predict water supply with this critical resource.

Building a Compost Bench

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

As a student at The MET Sacramento High School, Shamar Russell spends part of his week at an internship in the community. Shamar interns at the Creative Connections Arts Academy (CCAA), where two needs he saw in the garden area sparked an idea for his Caring for Our Watersheds project.

Shamar wanted to teach the children of CCAA about composting, but there was not a good space to build a 3-section compost bin. There was also a need for seating for a teaching space in the garden area.

compost bench

Shamar decided on a project that would fulfill both needs: a compost bench! While the bench has a smaller capacity for composting garden waste, it still can be used as a focal point to teach about composting to the students. It also serves as a place where students can sit for a lesson in the garden or where students and teachers can rest after planting, weeding, or harvesting.

The current design allows for a potential worm bin, or the bottom can be removed if ground contact is desired for more traditional composting. Signage will be included to point out this unique new feature of the garden space at CCAA. Caring for Our Watersheds funding helped Shamar purchase lumber and hardware to build the bench.

Vermicomposting

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

Kevin Alvarez-Vazquez, a student at the MET Sacramento, was concerned about the amount of food waste from his school that ends up in landfills. Food waste that decomposes in landfills releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent than carbon dioxide. Kevin knew that traditional outdoor composting can convert food waste into nutrient rich soil, but he wanted to demonstrate an alternative that can be done indoors or outdoors, vermicomposting.

Kevin built a worm bin with special adjustments for indoor use, as he did not want extremities of weather to cause worms to die and needed maintenance to be an easy, regular part of the school day.

Kevin plans to educate advisory groups at his school and to create a flyer, with a “how to” diagram and materials list on one side and information about the benefits of vermicomposting on the other. Caring for Our Watersheds funding helped purchase materials and worms for the bin.

Engaging Students in Recycling Through Art

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

When MET Sacramento student Naam-Thaan (Angel) Ketphanh noticed that trash cans in each of her classes were filled with both trash and many recyclable items such as plastic bottles and aluminum cans, she realized her school did not have an effective recycling program. Angel was determined to make a change and came up with a plan to improve recycling at school.

Angel first purchased blue recycling bins for each advisory classroom. Knowing that just placing the bin in class would not necessarily increase awareness and improve recycling habits, Angel decided to engage students with an art contest. Students from each advisory would decorate bins using colored sharpie pens and the winning advisory would get a pizza party. Her contest would bring awareness to the new bins and Angel could encourage use through reminding students what they could and should recycle. Angel also plans on collecting money for the recyclable items at a recycling center, which would supplement advisory budgets for special student events.

Pollinator Garden

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

When Anahi Orozco, Giselle Pantoja, and Ryan Mengell, students at George Washington Carver High School, starting researching topics for their Caring for Our Watersheds project, they learned a lot about the importance of pollinators in agriculture and that their numbers have been rapidly decreasing. Learning about issues like Colony Collapse Disorder (in honeybees) as well as habitat loss inspired them to help support bee populations, including many species of native bees that can also serve as successful pollinators.

They planted a pollinator garden on campus with several different species that would provide nectar sources throughout the year and installed a bee nesting box that would provide nest sites for different sizes and species of many California native bees.

Establishing this garden will also benefit the pollination in the school’s nearby garden, and serve as a educational component of garden class. Caring for Our Watersheds funding helped purchase plants, soil, and the nest box for their “Bee Friendly” garden.

Biochar – A Garden Demo Study

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

When George Washington Carver High School students Camille Chappell and Nathan Castro first learned about biochar, they became intrigued. Biochar is a soil amendment that can improve soil health, boost plant growth, and has the potential to sequester carbon in the soil for hundreds to thousands of years.

In an effort to learn more about and educate others about this charcoal-like substance and its potential environmental benefits, Camille and Nathan created a biochar demonstration garden and designed a study comparing plant growth of a plant grown in biochar amended soil and one in regular soil. They took measurements at least twice a week and collected data on the amount of leaves and flowers present. They synthesized their data into a presentation that they gave to their class. chi

The presentation served as a catalyst for discussion and raised awareness about biochar and its potential to both improve plant growth and act as a carbon sink. This project gave Camille and Nathan an introductory experience with designing and conducting a scientific study as well as gave them and their classmates a chance to take a closer look at this interesting substance that is getting more attention in the fields agriculture and climate change science.