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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 future generations.
Watershed Education
The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council coordinates place-based education opportunities to help local students reconnect to the natural world. Providing hands-on education projects, the Watershed Council guides local students to forge a lifelong, caretaking bond with their local watershed. By helping students develop a sense of self while they also develop a sense of environmental stewardship, the Watershed Council seeks to ensure the health of Oregon's rivers and streams for generations.
We work collaboratively with many local partners such as the Deschutes National Forest to connect youth to the natural world. As one way to build momentum and support to create more outdoor education opportunities, the Watershed Council is helping to create the Deschutes Children's Forest. Click here to view the Deschutes Children's Forest video.
The Watershed Council invites 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. All of our environmental education program materials and projects are structured to implement the goals and objectives defined by the Oregon Environmental Literacy Plan. Our diverse toolkit of environmental educational programs includes:
Students Speak: A Watershed Summit
Mt. Bachelor Village Resort
Bend, Oregon
10am-2pm
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
The
Watershed Council is coordinating Students Speak: A Watershed Summit on
May 15th, 2012 at Mt. Bachelor Village Resort in Bend. Thanks to a
long-term partnership with Wolftree, local students will be invited to
present their watershed projects in art, science, music, 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 provides a community forum for students share their experiences
from the natural world with the wider community of parents, natural
resource professionals, and civic leaders. Thanks to local sponsorships
and community support, the 2012 summit will engage hundreds of local
students in watershed science, music, artwork, and community outreach.
Parents,
teachers, and community members are all encouraged to attend the
watershed summit and support the students who will be participating in
the summit this spring. An important part of the Watershed Council's
interdisciplinary approach to watershed education, students will prepare
innovative community presentations to share the outcomes of their
student stewardship projects at the 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.
For information about the 2012 summit, contact Kolleen Yake at the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, kyake@restorethedeschutes.org.
Salmon Watch: High school and middle school students are invited to learn about fish and healthy habitat conditions along the beautiful Metolius River.
Hometown Waters: Middle school students explore the unique hydrology and geology of the Deschutes River, Tumalo Creek, and Whychus Creek.
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, music, hands-on stewardship project, or outdoor exploration.
The Watershed Council 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, the Watershed Council takes an active role in cultivating the next generation of informed watershed stewards.
By working collaboratively with teachers, school administrators, and community partners, the Watershed Council 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 2002, we have helped thousands of students learn more about the rivers and streams that meander through central 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.
Our most recent and exciting education project began in 2010 and has already connected hundreds of students to Ryan Ranch on the Deschutes River. A collaborative project made possible due to a partnership with the Deschutes National Forest and Discover Your Northwest, the Ryan Ranch Conservation Education Project provides interdisciplinary activities in art, science, writing, exploration, and photography to help local students better understand the Deschutes River.
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