The River Mile Network
An Education Program of the National Park Service
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The River Mile Community Gathering |
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How's My Waterway: Exploring Your Local Waters
Kiki Schneider
Wednesday December 15, 2021
Note earlier date!
3:30 to 4:30 PM Pacific Time
Presenter:
Kiki Schneider
IT Specialist
US Environmental Protection Agency
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This session will focus on EPA's newest water data tool called How's My Waterway. This user-friendly app makes complex water data easily accessible to anyone. We encourage educators, the public and individuals working in the water sector to learn HMW so they can use it as a tool to help teach/assess water quality, restoration and environmental stewardship and make science based decisions.
How's My Waterway provides a comprehensive overview of water quality data and information in the United States on three different scales: community, state and national. HMW pulls in data from several sources with the goal of answering questions about aquatic life, eating fish, swimming, drinking water, restoration and protection. How's My Waterway can be accessed here: mywaterway.epa.gov
The main goals of the session are to: Provide the public with usable, meaningful information that is user friendly and easy to understand. Communicate progress that states, tribes, and EPA are making towards restoring or protecting water quality. Engage the public in understanding impacts on water and issues related to water. This session will feature a demo of the tool, and Q and A at the end by those who helped develop the tools.
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Washington Invasive Species Council
Thursday, December 9
9:00AM to 3:00PM
Please note that this is an online meeting and you are encouraged to register in advance. Registration is available on Zoom. When registering, it is not necessary to disclose your name unless you plan to testify. Instead, you can simply register as “anonymous”
Testimony, correspondence and other questions about the council materials should be directed to Julia McNamara, Board Liaison, at julia.mcnamara@rco.wa.gov.
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Exploring GIS Projects in Schools
Thursday, December 9th
5:00pm - 6:00pm
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Join the Esri Education team as they explore extended projects for students of all ages. They will share available tools, apps, strategies and resources to help you plan projects in your school or classroom.
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Investigating Crayfish + Freshwater Ecosystems
Virtual Science Educators Training
February 2 and 10, 2022
3:30-6:00 PM Pacific Time
FREE
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Learn to engage grade 2-12 students in fascinating crayfish studies in this hands-on STEAM workshop. Rick Reynolds, veteran educator and author of Investigating Crayfish + Freshwater Ecosystems, will team up with other partners from The River Mile Network to step you through student activities including scientific investigations in your local watershed. Gain confidence to participate with The River Mile's Crayfish Study to support important research by scientists and wildlife managers.
Join The River Mile's Crayfish Study! Financial assistance for crayfish project implementation is available.
Free Washington STEM Clock Hours are available.
Idaho Professional Development credit available at the going rate.
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It's back! Virtual Bird Fest 2022!
We will have programs throughout the week starting as early as 6:00 am Pacific Time to serve groups throughout the time zones!
In-Person Bird Fest 2022 in Grand Coulee, WA is Cancelled
Keep an eye out for more information in January 2022!
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Bird Fest 22 Call for Presenters
Do you have a program about birds you'd like to share? Consider presenting!
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Learning Opportunity
SOIL 511 Soil: A Natural and Societal Resource
This learning opportunity serves degree- and non-degree-seeking graduate learners wanting soil science knowledge but having minimal science background. Understanding soil physical, chemical, and biological properties promotes informed soil management while supporting individual to global societal values. Read more...
The official SOIL 511 Ecampus course description and registration info site:
For a nondegree seeking learner, a 3-credit graduate online [Ecampus] course is $560/credit X 3 = $1680. Adding a 1-time registration fee of $35, total cost for an 11-week online graduate-level course is $1715---see attached file for more information and important URL links to complete graduate registration. There is a separate graduate matriculation fee of $350 for those who start a formal degree or certificate program.
Ecampus course tuition is the same for Oregon residents and non-residents.
All Ecampus courses, except blended/hybrid courses] are asynchronous within a stated 11-week instructional term. The Spring 22 term runs from 28 March to 10 June 2022. Students work at their own pace to complete weekly assignments. Most are in a Discussion Forum format and require learner-learner and learner-instructor interactions after learner-curriculum activity.
For anyone who wants more details about SOIL 511, I can gladly forward a 6-page Detailed Syllabus. Topics are listed for each week. It also describes course learning outcomes, student resources and responsibilities (Disability Access Services/DAS; Library online searches, Expectations for Student Conduct), and rationale for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) discussions throughout the course.
A longer description of course inception, 2012, to actual course development and teaching, 2016 to current day, was included as an OSU College of Agricultural Sciences contribution to the UN International Year of Plant Health series, 2020:
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Invasive Red Swamp Crayfish Found in Lewiston, Idaho By Students from Lewiston High School
Robert Bayless & Elizabeth Connerley
Lewiston High School
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On October 22, 2021, our Ecology/Environmental Science class from Lewiston High School went to Kiwanis Park ponds in Lewiston, Idaho, to catch crayfish during our unit on ecosystems and as part of our participation in The River Mile Crayfish Study. These are stormwater retention ponds next to the Snake River, which is the natural border between Idaho and Washington. We expected to see our native species, the Signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, because in past years and classes that is the only species that has been caught in our area. However, we caught one Red Swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, along with the four Signal crayfish. We collected most of these from traps, although one student grabbed a crayfish by hand out of the water. We sent a tissue sample to the University of Illinois in order to do DNA analysis and confirm that it was a Red Swamp Crayfish.
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After seeing the evidence of the invasive species, a couple of us decided to continue our research to find out if it was an isolated case or if there are more of the non-native crayfish living in the ponds. We have used wet cat food and canned corn as bait, but we observed that the canned corn seems much more effective. Most of the time, we set the traps late at night, and we check them around the same time we put them out and have found that to be more effective than earlier in the day. Over the last month and a half we have continued sampling, and we noticed that as the water-cooled off and became cold, we began catching a lot of the Red Swamp crayfish and realized we saw less of the signal crayfish. With these observations and others, we have lots of questions that we might be able to answer with continued investigation. Why does the Red Swamp crayfish seem to be more active in the colder weather? How are the two species' behaviors different? How did this species get here? |
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Crayfish play an important role in freshwater ecosystems. They are omnivores and detritivores, and a food source for various fish species, birds, and even some mammals. But not every crayfish is the same, and when a non-native crayfish invades an ecosystem, it tends to outcompete the native crayfish. It can have a big impact on other species, too, because they may not have the same predators that keep their populations down. They also live differently in the ecosystem and can impact the water quality.
Participating in The River Mile Crayfish Study as citizen scientists has allowed us to see that even high school students can do science in real life. After our discovery, Mrs. Morton, our teacher, told the other people involved in the study and they contacted other scientists and invasive species experts in our state to alert them of the presence of Procambarus clarkii in the ponds. Hopefully the invasive crayfish are only in the ponds and we can help manage this invasion before it becomes a problem in neighboring rivers and streams. This is really neat because we are doing something important for our community.
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Proposed Consent Decree Places EPA in Charge of Creating PCB Cleanup Plan for Spokane River
DECEMBER 3, 2021
SRFADMIN
Beginning in 2011, litigation led by the Sierra Club and then joined by the Spokane Tribe in 2013 has sought to force development of a PCB Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Spokane River. A TMDL is often called a water clean up plan. Grounded in the Clean Water Act, it’s a tool to develop a pollution budget to assure water quality standards for rivers are met. Once in place, permitting and other tools are used to assure discharges into the river system are within acceptable pollutant limits.
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Which role models are best for STEM?
Researchers offer recommendations in new analysis
Conclusions provide roadmap for diversifying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
Date: December 1, 2021
Source: New York University
Summary:
An analysis of the effect role models have on students' motivation in studying STEM subjects points to new ways to deploy these leaders in order to encourage learning across different populations.
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An analysis of the effect role models have on students' motivation in studying STEM subjects points to new ways to deploy these leaders in order to encourage learning across different populations. The recommendations provide a resource for parents, teachers, and policymakers seeking to maximize role models' impact in diversifying the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
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Growing carbon footprint for plastics
Date: December 2, 2021
Source: ETH Zurich
Summary:
After analyzing the global plastics supply chain, researchers found that the impact of plastics on the climate and health is greater than thought due to the increased use of coal for process heat, electricity and as a raw material in production.
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Plastics are useful, cheap and extremely popular. Global demand has quadrupled in the last forty years and is expected to continue to rise, with correspondingly negative consequences for the environment and human health. The public is generally aware of the environmental harm caused by plastics at the end of their life cycle in particular, such as when they release greenhouse gases and air pollutants when burned, or pollute water and soil in the form of microplastics.
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Freshwater Explorer
A tool for exploring the quality of freshwater resources
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EPA's Freshwater Explorer is an interactive web-based mapping tool that provides information about background and observed salt and mineral content for freshwater streams, lakes, and wells in all 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It can be used by anyone, including citizens and non-governmental organizations, to better understand national and local water quality issues and provides water quality information to help federal, state, territory, tribal, and local partners make decisions about freshwater resources.
EPA Scientists Develop Interactive Tool that Provides Water Quality Information about U.S. Freshwater Resources
Article Published August 10, 2021
Freshwater is essential for life on our planet, providing drinking water and supporting agriculture, industry, and aquatic life. This lifeline connects humans and ecosystems with the resources they need to prosper, so when freshwater degrades, it can have significant consequences. To better understand the quality of our freshwaters, EPA scientists have developed Freshwater Explorer...
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The River Mile Network Opportunities |
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Join the Crayfish Study and Contribute Valuable Data!
The River Mile Network under the supervision of Dr. Eric Larson, University of Illinois, is pleased announce that our new online data collection forms are ready for use!
Data from this project will help inform researchers about the species distribution throughout the Columbia River Watershed and beyond.
The project leaders are especially interested in locating and identifying species below Dry Falls in Eastern Washington AND in the Okanogan River region. They believe there is an undescribed species of crayfish in those places which have not been documented (geolocated and photographed for identification). You and your students may be the first to record new species of crayfish!
Join the study by completing the on-demand virtual crayfish training. For those in Washington, Oregon or Idaho, once you have completed the virtual on demand training you can be added your state permit. The permit allows for year-round data collection.
Without the research permit data may be collected May 1 to October 31 in Washington with a valid state fishing license and in waters open to crayfish fishing.
Anything you can do to help researchers will be of benefit!
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Volunteer Opportunities with The River Mile Network
There are a number of volunteer opportunities to help The River Mile Network. As the network continues to grow it is getting harder for a few people to make everything happen.
- 2022 Crayfish Conference Chair
- Washington State Coordinator
- Federal Business Coordinator
- Watershed Facilitators
- Development Assistant--Finance
- Development Assistant--Online Library
- Development Assistant--Website
- Newsletter Editor
In addition, we are looking for persons or groups that are willing to test new materials.
If you are interested in helping The River Mile in any of the above opportunities, please E-mail us!
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Connect with Others
There are several ways to connect with people, agencies and information on The River Mile Website.
Check out the "Connect with Others" page or join The River Mile Community.
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Have an upcoming event
you'd like us to promote?
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Our network partners are always on the move. If you would like to see your next event in our quarterly newsletter, please email us at Newsletter Submissions
Want to see it on The River Mile's website?
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Name | Company | Phone | Fax | Email | Website |
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Your copy should address 3 key questions: Who am I writing for? (Audience) Why should they care? (Benefit) What do I want them to do here? (Call-to-Action)
Create a great offer by adding words like "free" "personalized" "complimentary" or "customized." A sense of urgency often helps readers take an action, so think about inserting phrases like "for a limited time only" or "only 7 remaining!"
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