Creeks as Classrooms
The Anchorage Waterways Council (AWC) partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 2008 to develop a Creeks as Classrooms model for the Anchorage School District (ASD). Year one built on AWC’s relationship and experience with Polaris K-12, where a successful program continued to evolve. Begich Middle School and King Career Center, both located very close to Chester Creek, participated in the pilot program along with Polaris K-12. Year two was funded again by the USFWS and the Bullitt Foundation.
In 2011, ConocoPhillips stepped up with a $20,000 donation to continue and expand the program. The goals have been to train and certify a few science teachers in water quality monitoring procedures (our CEMP program) and have the teachers and students collect data near their schools, enter the data into a database accessible on the web, and use the data and other technologies to analyze, visualize, display, and share findings in a variety of venues. The data collected will contribute to AWC’s water quality information, it will be used by and shared between the participating classes and other users, and a variety of activities involving improvement of riparian habitat will be undertaken. These include trash cleanups, invasive plant removal, stream velocity and profiles, and macroinvertebrate sampling.
At the start of the 2011 school year, there are five schools participating: Polaris K-12 (Little Campbell Creek), Begich Middle School (Chester Creek), King Career Center (Chester Creek), Mears Middle School (Campbell Creek), and Rogers Park Elementary (Chester Creek).
Thanks to our program funders:
