Global Rivers Environmental Education Network Flint River GREEN Global Rivers Environmental Education Network -Introduce yourself and the program. Mentors can use this time to describe their career briefly. There will be time for expansion on your career while working individually with students and after testing is complete. -Teachers: Please be sure to set aside time for career exploration throughout the unit with students. -Introduce the Flint River Watershed Coalition and lead into what a watershed is.

Flint River GREEN What comes to mind when you first think of the Flint River? Global Rivers Environmental Education Network How do we know whether these are true? Is the Flint River a healthy ecosystem? -What comes to mind when you think of the Flint River? (Break into small groups and generate lists) -Begin to sort opinions versus facts and allow students to determine whether the “facts” are true or false. Be sure to ask for evidence! -Ask the students to make a claim about how healthy the Flint River is. -To answer the question, we first need to know how a river works…

How Does a River Work? How Does a HEALTHY River Work? Indicators: Physical Biological Chemical Transition from how a river works, to how a healthy river works? What indicators are there? These are the evidence!

Where did those thoughts about the Flint River come from? (List) Primary or secondary sources? Reliable sources? Are they facts or opinions? Watch video. This video was produced by the Flint River Watershed Coalition with help from a local foundation. https://youtu.be/vO82Dk1LgQs Look for evidence in this video that tells us about the health of the Flint River

Is this fact or Opinion? True or False? Have students use evidence from the video to support these claims. Do they believe the video? What evidence can they gather on their own? The Flint River Watershed Coalition says, “The Flint River is a Healthy, Vibrant Ecosystem for ALL!” Is this fact or Opinion? True or False? What was the evidence?

What evidence can students gather? Testing at the Stream: Describe the general methods for testing and what a day at the stream will look like? -Could do an example of a test or go through each of the tests with the students here depending on time. -When practicing testing in the classroom: emphasize safety (PPE), Precision, & Accuracy What evidence can students gather?

Analyzing Results: Temperature: Dissolved Oxygen: Biological Oxygen Demand: Turbidity: Nitrates: Phosphates: pH: Total Dissolved Solids: Fecal Coliform: Describe how the results from each of these tests can be combined to calculate an overall Water Quality Index value for one time and place along the stream. -If time, ask the students to think about each of these tests – Example activity, hand out student guides from the GREEN notebook or ask them to do internet searches. and break into 9 groups (1 for each of the 9 tests) and ask each group to answer the following questions: What does this test tell us about the health of the stream? What is the standard for good stream quality for this test? What factors contribute to a good or bad value for this test?

Water Quality Index Ratings Analyzing Results: Water Quality Index: Water Quality Index Ratings 100-90: Excellent Water Quality 89-70: Good Water Quality 69-50: Average Water Quality 49-25: Marginal Water Quality 24-0: Poor Water Quality “Where do you predict the score for the Flint River typically falls?

www.flintRiverGREEN.org If time, allow students to explore Flintrivergreen.org. -Data collected through Flint River GREEN is stored on this website and used by scientists in a variety of ways. -Ask students to analyze a data set – the “Now what?” Numerical data must still be interpreted. Try to figure out WHY they got these values (was it due to weather, land use, testing error, etc? If you get a low score, how can you improve water quality? If you get a high score, how do you maintain it?) -Ask students to be sure to look beyond the stream for answers!

Looking beyond the stream: What is a Watershed? Define Shed: n. A structure built for storage AND v. to get rid of something AND n. a divide. Watershed: a geographical area within a divide, draining ultimately to a particular body of water. Stores and transports water…and everything else! Image highlights direction of flow, downhill

How Does Land Use Impact Water Quality? Students should research their watershed/subwatershed, land use practices, and land cover near their school, neighborhood, sample site and beyond. Wikiwatershed, eWatershed (tutorial on fliuntrivergreen.org), ArcGIS and USGS are great resources, but also have students walk around their school yard to identify factors affecting water quality (both positive and negative).

The Flint River Watershed Shiawassee River Headwaters A look at the headwaters of the Flint River, all of its tributaries and the confluence at the Shiawassee River

Connection to the Great Lakes Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron Saginaw River Flint River Flint River joins the Shiawassee River and connects to the Saginaw River at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, then flows to the Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron

Connection to the Atlantic Ocean What’s your “Water Address?” _____ (drain/stream) > Flint River > Shiawassee River > Saginaw River > Saginaw Bay > Lake Huron > Lake Erie > Lake Ontario > St. Lawrence Seaway > Atlantic Ocean

Why should We Care?

Take Action: What can you do? As an individual? As a school? As a community? We strongly encourage student-led projects that result from Flint River GREEN testing. Check with the FRWC for additional funding and resources specifically tailored to such projects!

Storm Drain Stenciling - Benthic Monitoring Clean Ups - Events Questions: AUTUMN MITCHELL, PROGRAM MANAGER FLINT RIVER WATERSHED COALITION amitchell@flintriver.org Seeking Volunteers: Storm Drain Stenciling - Benthic Monitoring Clean Ups - Events