Streams Of Consciousness Rocky Mountain Academy Students Study Water Ecology

“Channel sinuosity” has nothing to do with MTV.

Nonetheless, teenagers can tune into it. This week, students at Rocky Mountain Academy happily are learning about the way streams curve through the landscape.

They’re taking part in Streamwalk. It’s a workshop designed to help people learn about the environment - and gather useful information in the process.

“It’s not just a gee-whiz program,” said Fred Rabe, the scientist who designed the elaborate lesson. “It requires quite a bit of effort.”

This week, the Rocky Mountain students are measuring the health of Cabin Creek and Brush Creek. Both streams wind their way across the sprawling Boundary County campus.

“Can I do this without getting wet?” Barbara Constant asked Tuesday.

It was the second of three days of field work, and Constant hadn’t managed to grab a pair of waders. So she didn’t get to gather insects from the bottom of Cabin Creek.

That was the happy duty of fellow student Jeremy Dutcher, who kicked up rocks in the stream. That washed critters and sediment into a net held by Rabe.

Constant joined in as they spread their biological bounty in white trays. The students used tweezers to sort out the insects from the brown debris.

“There’s one,” said Constant. “Oh, it’s cute. Can I put it back in the water?”

“Put it in the alcohol,” instructed Rabe, a retired University of Idaho professor.

Streamwalk was established by the Environmental Protection Agency. Over the past five years, the University of Idaho Water Research Institute has put it to work in Idaho.

Streamwalk is commonly used by citizens worried about threats to water quality, such as cattle grazing, septic tanks or road building.

For example, Bonner County residents will use Streamwalk later this summer to check out Cocolalla Creek.

Rocky Mountain Academy, a private school, is the first high school with which Rabe has worked.

Workshop expenses are paid for with $5,000 from the EPA, and $5,000 from the water institute.

Science teachers at Rocky Mountain jumped at the chance for their students to participate.

“They’re learning how to get along, they’re developing lifelong skills here,” said teacher Russ Hersud.

Hersud said the workshop fits his own learning-by-doing philosophy. Lisa Prochnow, director of the Clean Lakes Coordinating Council, said the workshop may be used next year at Sandpoint High School.

Rabe requires the students to identify the insects, determine which are most plentiful, and decide what that means about the health of the stream.

They also measure the speed and depth of the water, the number of pools and riffles, the stability of banks, the amount of cover that nearby trees provide.

When the students are done working in the field and laboratory, they’ll write up a report. It will include Shannon Lundberg’s drawing of Cabin Creek, which includes notations about the amount of cover provided by the birch trees.

“Streams need the proper amount of shade,” Lundberg said as she sketched. “I’m realizing that one little change (in the environment) can make a big difference.”

Lundberg was designated as map maker because “I’m kind of the artistic type, and they thought I’d enjoy it.

“It’s not bad,” she added. “But I kind of wish I was looking for insects.”

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