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The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council believes that community education is at the core of long-term conservation and watershed restoration. Without education, the accomplishments of today will be lost in the future generations.
Upcoming Community Events:
Stream Stewardship Day
10am-2pm
Saturday, June 5th, 2010
Please join the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, our premier sponsor- the Oregon Lottery- and our many other valuable partners for Stream Stewardship Day on Saturday, June 5th. Meet at 10:00 am at McKay Park in Bend for coffee, pastries, and more information about your stewardship site and specific stream stewardship activities. Volunteers will have opportunities to help restore riparian vegetation, remove instream debris from the Deschutes River, and pull non-native weeds from riparian areas along Tumalo Creek, Whychus Creek, and the Deschutes. All stream stewards, young and old, are invited to join us!
Contact Kolleen Yake at the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council at kyake@restorethedeschutes.org for more information.
Watershed Education
The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council works closely with The Freshwater Trust to forge a lifelong, caretaking bond between students and their local watershed ensuring the health of Oregon's rivers and streams for generations.
In central Oregon, the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council helps to coordinate and implement the collaborative watershed education programs of The Freshwater Trust (www.thefreshwatertrust.org). Together, we invite students of all ages to participate in discovery-based watershed experiences through a dynamic toolkit of education programs that are directly linked to current innovative curricula and state mandated learning standards for Oregon schools. Our diverse toolkit of question-based educational programs includes:
Salmon Watch: High school and middle school students are invited to learn about fish and healthy fish habitat along the beautiful Metolius River.
Hometown Waters: Middle school students explore the unique hydrology and geology of the Upper Deschutes Watersheds.
1000 Drops: Elementary students discover the cycle and path of water as it flows through central Oregon.
Student Stewardship Projects: Local students are inspired to design a project to examine a watershed issue or concept through their own creative research, artwork, hands-on stewardship project, or outdoor exploration.
UDWC supports students in stewardship projects by providing them with opportunities and resources to develop and implement student-driven watershed projects that address authentic community needs. By uniting education, community, and local stewardship, UDWC takes an active role in cultivating the next generation of informed watershed stewards.
Coordinating creekside projects for students to explore their local watershed through authentic, experiential, place-based learning experiences, UDWC seeks to offer the ingredients for students to develop their own unique sense of place for the Deschutes River, Tumalo Creek, Whychus Creek, the Little Deschutes River and more. By working collaboratively with teachers, school administrators, and community partners, UDWC gives students the opportunity to engage in hands-on activities outside of the classroom walls and discover fundamental concepts through exploration through a variety of disciplines with an overarching watershed theme. Participating teachers are well supported with curricular materials, high quality workshops, trainings, and small grants for outdoor education that best suit their teaching strategies and methodology.
Since 2005, we have helped thousands of students learn more about the rivers and streams that meander through Oregon. Sisters High School students sketched streamside vegetation on Whychus Creek, High Lakes Elementary 4th graders hand built their own muddy watersheds in Shevlin Park, REALMS students wrote and published poetic musings about the Tumalo watershed, students from Pine Ridge Elementary peered into the watery depths of Elk Lake, and LaPine Middle School students enthusiastically restored riparian vegetation to Tumalo Creek. The students who have participated in our watershed education projects better understand our home waters by wading in them, restoring them, and crafting artwork alongside them.
Students Speak: A Watershed Summit
10am-3pm
Thursday, May 13th, 2010Keynote Speaker: Richard Louv
UDWC, The Freshwater Trust, and Wolftree are collaborating together to coordinate Students Speak: A Watershed Summit on May 13th, 2010 at McMenamins' Old St. Francis School Bend. Local students will be invited to present their watershed projects in art, science, videography, and hands-on stewardship. Built upon outdoor education and experiential education practices that support the philosophies of internationally known author of Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv, the watershed summit will be a unique and inspiring event that will be open to the wider community.Thanks to our title sponsor, Play Outdoors, this year's summit will engage hundreds of local students in watershed science, artwork, and community outreach.
Parents, teachers, and community members are all encouraged to attend the watershed summit and support the students of all ages who will be participating in the summit this spring. An important part of UDWC's interdisciplinary approach to watershed education, students will prepare innovative community presentations to share the outcomes of their student stewardship projects at Students Speak: A Watershed Summit. Teams of students will get the spotlight to tell their watershed stories in their unique own way. The event will bring regional and statewide recognition for the students’ inspired and engaged work in watershed stewardship. The watershed summit will provide a meaningful, relevant, and timely connection between local students and current on-the-ground watershed restoration projects throughout central Oregon. Contact Kolleen Yake at the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, kyake@restorethedeschutes.org or Blake Lowrey at Wolftree, blake@beoutside.org for more information.
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