More than 165 students from Nathaniel Greene Elementary School participated in the Youth Watershed Summit on World Water Monitoring Day. The event was co-hosted by the Rivanna Conservation Society and the Nathaniel Greene Elementary School.
Students spent half a day in and around South River at Bluet Crag Farm on Dundee Rd. With the help of the Rivanna Conservation Society, Culpeper Soil and Water District, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Blue Ridge Wildlife Consultants, students engaged in a number of hands-on activities designed to let them observe and draw their own conclusions. The field trip was also part of the Youth Watershed Summit and World Water Monitoring Day with the data collected entered into the International Database for water health.
Splitting into teams, each student was involved in one of the following activities: chemical monitoring of stream health, collecting macro invertebrates, calculating stream flow, journaling, photography, environmental art, and touring a wetlands restoration project.
In chemical monitoring, students assessed the dissolved oxygen, temperature and pH of the river water while another group evaluated the health of the river on the basis of the macro invertebrates collected. Stream depth and width were measured and compared to the stream flow capacity. In the environmental art and journaling groups, an emphasis was placed on observing all the organisms and their surrounding ecosystem. Students touring the wetlands restoration viewed the construction and resultant effect on the environment. Flip cameras were used by the students in the photography group to record the event and to interview their classmates as to the purpose of their activities. At the conclusion of the day, students returned to their homeroom and taught each other about their activities. It was a great day for all the students; please read some of their comments:
