Watershed Explorations with Soundview School

Soundview students present their field investigation findings at the Water Symposium.

by Chris Kiser.

The past week of Mountain School was full of Watershed and Water Quality Studies! 23 Soundview students from Lynnwood grades 6th - 8th arrived Monday morning ready to explore and study the streams and water bodies in the Upper Skagit River watershed around the Environmental Learning Center.

Learning on the first day centered around developing an understanding of watersheds and the various biological, chemical, and physical dynamics that contribute to overall water movement and stream health. Students were introduced to the idea of inquiry and scientific field investigations, spending solo time carefully observing, recording, and comparing lifezones with different water influences in their field journals.

Students spent the entire second day developing questions about various aspects of watershed dynamics in the North Cascades ecosystem and conducted their own field investigations in order to draw conclusions from their research. Using a variety of field tools, Soundview students tested such chemical parameters as pH levels, dissolved oxygen, water temperature, or turbidity. Some student groups chose to focus their research on exploring the populations of benthic marco-invertebrates living in different stream habitats, while others conducted observational studies exploring the riparian vegetation, canopy cover and overall stream and sedimentation flow.

On the third day, students gathered together to share their findings in a public symposium on Water in the North Cascades. All groups demonstrated a remarkable understanding of the inter-relationships between a variety of different parameters affecting water movement and quality, evaluating their findings and suggesting ways to improve their studies in the future. 

All student data was added to a comprehensive database compiling Mountain School student research in conjunction with long-term Park Service data of the area. Thank you Soundview students for your eager scientific inquiry into the watershed dynamics of the North Cascades and for contributing to Park research in this important field!