Program teaches students about watershed

By Sarah Kehoe | The Olympian • Published March 24, 2009

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Ten-year-old Raynie Ehret gazed down, smiling, at a rare species of fish called the mudminnow that is found only in southwest Washington.

"They are really cool and I love how small they are," said the Meadows Elementary School fourth-grader.

Raynie and about 250 other third- through 12th-grade students from North Thurston Public Schools were chosen by their teachers to participate as delegates last week at the GREEN Student Congress.

"We encourage teachers to choose a diverse group of students to be delegates," said Nisqually River Education Project program coordinator Sheila Wilson. "The hands-on approach of learning about the environment through workshops reaches students who aren't normally interested in this subject."

The student congress, held at The Evergreen State College, was developed 17 years ago by Global Rivers Environmental Education Network programs South Sound GREEN and the Nisqually River Education Project. The programs work with schools to educate students about Puget Sound's watershed. Those efforts include getting students involved in problem-solving activities, such as water-quality monitoring.

"I liked that water monitoring taught me how to fix water that was too warm or cold for fish to survive," said Raynie, who collected data throughout the year. "I am really interested in preserving our environment and want to learn how to help people make the world a better place."

The congress began with a morning meeting in the lecture hall rotunda, where students shared the results of the water-monitoring projects done through their schools. On- and off-campus workshops followed, and students were divided into groups according to their preferred workshop. Workshops consisted of a variety of nature experiences, such as exploring animal habitats and looking at volcanic rocks at Mount Rainier. Raynie and nine other students chose to look for the mudminnows just south of the college's entrance.

One mudminnow habitat was a roadside ditch by Evergreen Parkway and Overhulse Road and the other ditch was part of Green Cove Creek along Cooper Point Road. Students were taught about diet, habits and the preferred habitat of mudminnows by Jamie Glasgow, director of science and research ecology at Wild Fish Conservancy in Duvall. Glasgow, who discovered the fish by Cooper Point Road in May 2005, stressed the rarity of the fish and urged the students to help preserve the species.

Students were allowed to touch and catch the 2-inch yellow, silver and blue fish.

"I have already caught two mudminnows and a bug, and I am working on finding more things to catch," said Tyler Thompson, a fourth-grader.