6th CREW final product work

Hello Families!
We have been working very hard this past week to finish up our fall expedition final product.  As you know, last week we traveled down to Sweetwater Creek.  At our field site we worked closely with the Nez Perce Water Quality Coordinator, Restoration Manager, Botanist, and several field technicians to asses the current water quality and vegetative conditions.  This was a very fruitful day for us, as we collected both quantitative and qualitative data pertinent to our restoration project.  This week we have been processing the data, and writing up a formal management plan for the section of Sweetwater Creek we will be working with.  This plan spans the next three years, so the next two sixth CREWs will be maintaining the work conducted this year, as well as developing additional restoration sites.

morning briefing between the experts and our CREW

A typical section of Sweetwater Creek (notice the lack of native vegetation)

Hannah collecting initial qualitative data

This field is a primary restoration site for our CREW.  Our restoration plan's goal is to restore this entire field with native vegetation.

Macro Invertebrate collection

more macro invertebrate collecting

Lauren collecting instream samples of macros

Noah recording pH data

in-class analyses and synthesis of Sweetwater Creek data

CREW synthesizing the restoration plan

Water quality and ideal steelhead conditions group collaborating to synthesize the field data from SWC.

Collaboration between the short term/long term timeline group and the field logistics group.  It was imperative that groups communicate effectively. 

Sara analyzing satellite imagery of SWC

Synthesizing this management plan required a lot of critique and revision

To celebrate our academic accomplishments we held the first annual 'Economic Growth Day' .... as you can see, we are quite the serious bunch

MOSS Field Group 2 Recap

Hello Again!
So I'm sure that some of you noticed that most of the pictures I have posted were from one field group.  This is a direct result of me being with one group during the day.  I just received photos from another parent that was mixed in with the other field group.  The following photos are from the other half of our crew.  Enjoy!

MOSS day 4

Hello Families,

Today was fantastic!  We started the morning off by reviewing the scientific method, which led into our inquiry.  At MOSS, Thursday is always an inquiry day.  This means that the students come up with an inquiry question, develop a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, analyze data, and present their findings to the school.  I’m not sure what question the other field group came up with, but my group’s question was something like, ‘Is Payette Lake a suitable habitat for Sharley (Sharley is the lake monster that lives in Payette Lake)?’  Now at first this may seem ridiculous, which it is, but we concluded that Sharley’s main diet would consist of trout.  So to figure out if Sharley could live in Payette Lake, we needed to know whether or not trout could live in Payette Lake. To figure this out we conducted a water quality survey to determine if the hydrologic conditions were suitable for trout.  We sampled at several locations along the lake and afterword decided to go on a little hike around the lily marsh.  This… is where the day got interesting.  We decided to have a solo hike.  This is where students are spaced out by about 30 seconds, and hike along a trail with an adult in the front, middle, and end.  Now, at the end of the solo hike I calculated that about 95% of my students were present.. Uh oh…. So after a few miles of tracking through the snow I caught up with the student that is clearly NOT related to Meriwether Lewis.  Both in good spirits, we hiked up to Osprey Lookout, and caught up with our field group back at MOSS.  In the classroom we analyzed our water quality data, and prepared our presentation.  Now, this isn’t any old presentation.  We have created a masterpiece of a skit that involves dance, pantomime, and scientific data analysis.  I must say, from my perspective, this has been the most interesting day at MOSS!

starting out at our first water quality assessment site

testing at the second sample site

the lily marsh

Osprey Lookout (the location of the Sharley's larval form)

MOSS Day 3

Hello Families!

Today was an amazing day at MOSS!  It was a little warmer than yesterday, which really allowed us to be more mindful and intentional with our thinking in the field.  We started the day with a classroom discussion around ecosystem services within the riparian zone.  Following this we broke out into expert groups and developed conceptual understanding and skills with pH, turbidity, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and macroinvertebrate diversity as an indicator of water quality.  Each group learned the concepts and sampling methodology and then taught those concepts to the rest of the class.  Around 11:00 we worked with a scale watershed model and analyzed the different variables that influence soil retention and bank erosion.  After this we packed up, hopped in the cars, and drove out to a stream system south of McCall.  At this site we used the sampling methods we learned in class to conduct a watershed assessment. Our central focus was to determine whether or not that river was a suitable habitat for steelhead.  I find it very important that our work at MOSS directly tie into our expeditions and support our kids in developing understanding and skills necessary to carry out final product work, and today fit right in line with that thinking.  The watershed assessment concepts and skills we developed today will be put to real-world use next week when we conduct our assessment on Sweetwater Creek (which we still need drivers for if you are interested).  After all of our hard work we had a nice canoe session this afternoon (and yes all the Palouse Prairie kids sang the canoe song – brilliant).  To cap the day off we had a fun geocaching activity.

-Mr. Pierce

morning discussion to review ecosystem services

breaking out into expert groups

initial instruction of sampling methodology for temperature and turbidity

yours truly providing background information on pH

Taylor using a thermometer to test temperature differences between clear and turbid waters

Lena and Cathan sampling dissolved oxygen

scale experiment to look at erosion and soil retention

Aesthetic value is most certainly an ecosystem service

never leave 6th grade girls unattended for more than 15 seconds...

Lena, Jonna, and Tobias sampling dissolved oxygen, temperature, and pH in the Payette River

Jordyn and Rhett sampling

Lauren and Ashton sampling

Sara collecting data on water velocity

our biodiversity assessment revealed the presence of many sensitive insect species, a good indicator of high water quality

Noah and a dragonfly larvae

Sarah 'Darnit' Darney collecting biodiversity data (a fancy word for bug hunting).

Back at MOSS, we analyzed our data, and concluded that this system was suitable for steelhead.