Watershed Stories-Students Speak for Streams
By Kolleen Yake, Education Coordinator Walking ten years of sometimes muddy, more recently dusty trails alongside the streams and rivers of the Pacific Northwest, I have been gifted with the task of helping local teachers and students get their hands dirty and their feet wet. My official title is that of Education Coordinator but a more accurate moniker might be Creekwalker. Or Stream Guide. Or Stream + Student Matchmaker. Basically, my job is to connect students to streams in whatever ways create meaning for the students while also preserving the health of our local streams. Embedded within a watershed education program that is coordinated in partnership with the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council and The Freshwater Trust, my creek walking helps to get kids out of the classroom and back into nature. By creating streamside opportunities for learning and exploring, the education projects and programs of The Freshwater Trust and the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council help local students develop an inspired and informed sense of place for our home watersheds. Inviting children back outside while engaging them in hands-on education, we provide the building blocks for a generation of thoughtful stewards who can take an active role in protecting stream health for years to come. In order to create opportunities for students to participate in our unique watershed projects, we work collaboratively with teachers, school districts, natural resource partners, and community members to provide teacher training, funding, stewardship projects, and educational programming. By uniting education, community and local stewardship, The Freshwater Trust and the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council take a proactive role in cultivating the next generation of stream stewards. Engaging our children in hands-on watershed education along Central Oregon streams is a valuable way to bring learning home for youth by making educational concepts real and tangible by utilizing our own rivers as an outdoor classroom. In addition to creating a fun and inspirational way for youth to learn about required concepts in ecology, creative writing, and art, our projects also succeed in simply getting children back outside. Our nation’s youth spend far less time outside than we did when we were young. In fact, from 1997 to 2003, the percentage of children in the United States ages nine to 12 engaging in outdoor activities declined by 37 percent, while obesity rates soared. With ongoing school budget cuts, we can only expect students to spend even less time outdoors. In addition to providing an applied learning platform without parallel, the natural world of our high desert landscape provides children with a healthy dose of fresh air. One specific way we get kids outside and inspire them to learn about their home rivers is through our Student Stewardship Projects. Children who participate in Student Stewardship Projects get to walk through the woods, dig in the dirt, and peer through the waters of our local streams to discover, with their own hearts and hands, what the high desert landscape has to offer. Through hands-on education, Student Stewardship Projects: • Elevate student motivation for learning; • Increase student participation in meaningful stewardship projects; • Provide students with essential skills, experience, and watershed knowledge; and • Cultivate civic responsibility by uniting students and community around their home waters. Inspired by experiential education philosophies and a national movement to get children back outside, we work year-round to reconnect students to our natural world in the high desert. Since 2005, we have helped thousands of students learn more about our rivers. To celebrate the inspirational work of the students we have worked with throughout the year, The Freshwater Trust and the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council are hosting the second annual watershed summit in Bend. Students Speak: A Watershed Summit is a unique and special day for our students to take the spotlight to share their streamside stories, artwork, and stewardship experiences. The watershed summit will be held on May 13th at McMenamins Old St. Francis School. To find out more about how you can participate in our education programs, volunteer, or donate, contact Kolleen Yake, Education Coordinator, at 541.382.6103 #33 or kyake@restorethedeschutes.org. Please visit us at www.thefreshwatertrust.org Kolleen Yake is an Education Coordinator with The Freshwater Trust and the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council. Kolleen holds a B.A. in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a M.A. in English Studies with an emphasis in Environmental Analysis from Western Washington University.
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Central Oregon Family News May 2010 Page 7