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Department of Ecology News Release - September 2, 2004
04-171
OLYMPIA - Students and volunteers will learn about the environment this coming school year while they get their hands dirty planting trees and shrubs along the Chehalis River.
The Department of Ecology has sent a $25,000 grant to the Chehalis Basin Education Consortium to help pay for the hands-on environmental education project, which will benefit the environment by creating shade to cool the river water to make it healthier for salmon.
“Studies show that students become more engaged with their learning when they are allowed to move outdoors into the natural environment and away from desks in a classroom," said Kathy Jacobson, an environmental educator with the Chehalis Basin Education Consortium. “And in this case, the salmon get something out of it, too."
Students and volunteers will tackle a mile-long stretch of shoreline near the new Centralia sewer treatment plant owned by Centralia Utilities. The site is formerly part of a cattle ranch, where past removal of trees and vegetation has reduced shading, contributing to warm water temperatures in the summer.
The groups will plant up to 3,000 specimens of 19 different native trees and shrubs common to the area. In addition, the project calls for follow-up visits by students and volunteers to monitor the health of the newly planted vegetation and to sample water quality.
Jacobson said the project builds on four years’ experience of teachers and students conducting water quality monitoring around the Chehalis River basin.
“Now, the students are actually helping restore the river’s health," she said.
Other parts of the project include field trips for students and the community, teacher education, and using high school students to lead interpretive walks for 4th through 8th graders. Progress reports will be published in “Drops of Water," a bi-monthly newsletter produced by the Chehalis River Council.
Project leaders are the Chehalis Basin Education Consortium/Educational Service District 113, the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust and Centralia.
Additional funding and in-kind contributions for the project are being made through a settlement agreement between Ecology and TransAlta Centralia Mining LLC. Funding also is anticipated from the Educational Service Disctrict 113, the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
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Contact: Sandy Howard, public information manager, 360-407-6239
Kathy Jacobson, Chehalis Basin Education Consortium, 360-586-3538
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
