Students speak at watershed summit

If there is a way that science can be blended with the arts, the instructors and students of the Sisters High School IEE (Interdisciplinary Environmental Education) and biology classes have found the path. The proof of that was demonstrated Tuesday, May 15, at Mount Bachelor Village Conference Center in Bend during the annual Students Speak Watershed Summit.

Schools from throughout Central Oregon took part in the event, including Sisters Middle School, Sisters High School, Crook County Middle School, Powell Butte Charter School, REALMS Middle School and W.E. Miller Elementary School of Bend.

Students Speak was presented by the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council (UDWC) and Wolftree, with support from The Roundhouse Foundation, The Clabough Foundation, Ray's Food Place, USFS and Bend Research. Wolftree and UDWC have been connecting students with Central Oregon rivers and streams throughout the year to get them outside for hands-on research and learning, guide them through education and art activities, and help them understand the role they play in their home watershed.

Students presented their work in water and wildlife conservation to other students and instructors who were invited to ask questions and comment at the end of each presentation.

At 10 a.m. the program opened in the "Winter's Hope" conference room with with REALMS students making their presentation of the conservation work they accomplished at Ryan Ranch Meadow on the Deschutes River south of Bend. Their audience and evaluators were students from SMS, Powell Butte School, and Mrs. Spear's IEE class from SHS.

After the presentation by REALMS, Erica Lowery of SHS said, "I was really impressed by how much information REALMS knew about Ryan Meadow Ranch. With each student, I could have a conversation and ask questions about their work, and with each of their responses, you could see how much passion each kid has toward the project."

In another conference room, Glenn Herron's SHS biology class was presenting the research they carried out in the Trout Creek Conservation Area, while their audience was students and instructors from Crook County Elementary and Rima Givot's biology class SHS.

These student presentations, by students for students, began over six years ago in a special event on flying squirrel conservation put together by Wolftree at Marshall High School in Portland. Each year the program became more detailed and focused on wider fields of natural-resource investigations, then eventually migrated over the Cascades to Sisters, and evolved into a watershed summit.

Hunter Blacklock of Sisters Middle School gave his presentation on the investigations his group carried out on Deschutes Land Trust's conservation area on Camp Polk Meadow. He gave a historical perspective on the past flooding of the meadow and the restoration of the creek in February of this year.

He also reflected on the work his class did on planting hundreds of willows on what is now the banks of the creek now that it has been put back in the meadow. He said, "When we went back to Camp Polk Meadow we saw the results of all our hard work, a healthy riparian zone full of grasses, sedges, rushes, willows and trees - and we also saw tons of frogs!"

A group of 15 IEE students spent the last four weeks working with Bess Ballantine and Colleen Fox from Wolftree and with Rima Givot, collecting baseline data in Camp Polk Meadow.

"We split into three groups, each studying different aspects of the meadow and creek," the students' presentation stated. "One group investigated what riparian plants are present and their distribution along the creek and meadow, hoping to aid the Deschutes Land Trust in calculating the survival rate of the riparian plants.

"We counted over 2,000 willows along about 500 meters of the creek, while the water quality group took measurements of the water chemistry and sampled macroinvertebrates at regular intervals along the creek to assess the stream health in the new channel.

"The IEE students also worked to give back to the land. They pulled over 1,000 mullein plants (an invasive species) from the meadow! We also introduced 32,000 steelhead fry at Wolftree's Whychus Discovery Outpost."

The day ended with Samra Spear's IEE students presenting a selection of hand-clapping, foot-stomping musical presentations composed on the banks of Whychus Creek.